Flower flash mob: Don't miss Minnesota's spring ephemerals

Minnesota's spring ephemeral flowers come and go quickly. A sprinkling of white. Posies of purple. A carpet of pink. They have only a short time to soak up the full warmth and light of the sun before woodlands leaf out into a canopy of shade. Most don't rise more than six inches above the leaf litter, but they can leave an impression with their delicate details, colors and quantity, depending on the location.

Look for ephemerals at Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary in Minneapolis, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska, in wooded bottomlands along the Minnesota River Valley and in wooded areas at state and county parks throughout Minnesota.

Here are three to look for:

Bloodroot

As one of the first plants to emerge in the spring, the leaves of bloodroot press together almost like hands in prayer before opening to reveal white-petaled flowers and bold blue-green lobed leaves the size of a palm. Its name comes from the red sap that oozes from reddish stems if you pick one of these blooms. It was historically used as a natural dye.

Hepatica

Minnesota has two varieties of hepatica: sharp-lobed and round-lobed to distinguish their three-lobed leaves with mottled coloring which inspires common names of liverwort or liverleaf. Both feature flowers up to an inch across ranging from white to pinkish petals or purple flowers. They're in the buttercup family.

Virginia spring beauty

Clusters of these tiny pink flowers can look candy striped as they open above lance-like leaves and can spread across swaths of hardwoods. The flowers are about half an inch across and open when the sun is out. They're best seen during the day as they might be closed by evening. Fun fact: here's a spring beauty mining bee that gathers the pink pollen.

A similar flower, Carolina spring beauty, grows within 30 miles of Lake Superior, but the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources lists it as a rare species.

To learn more about Minnesota wildflowers, check out the Minnesota Wildflowers website.