Spring Secrets Along the Woodland Walk

By Beth Monroe, Public Relations and Marketing Director, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Dog Tooth Violet Erythronium ‘Kondo’

Tulips tend to be the rock stars of the Garden. Colorful and showy, they stand out and we adore them. When tulips are in bloom at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, people enjoy photographing them like paparazzi stalking the latest celebrity.

I was one of those people until Garden horticulturist George Cowart asked me if I wanted to see something really special. He pointed out flowers I had walked past and never noticed in the Flagler Garden. These beauties were indescribably delicate, dancing in the morning sun like fairy flowers.

Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Album’

I had heard of spring ephemerals before, but had never really searched for them in the Garden. They’re called ephemerals because their flowers and leaves do not last long; they’re designed to take advantage of early spring sunlight reaching the forest floor before a thick canopy of leaves develops overhead. Once George began pointing them out, I noticed ephemerals in many places.

Bishops Hat Epimedium myrianthum

These spring ephemerals bloom in early April in the Flagler Garden’s Woodland Walk. You may have to search a bit, but it is well worth the effort.

Bishops Hat Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Rose Queen’

Trillium catesbaei