Many of us who pass the winter in the lowlands of the Northeast mark the advent of spring by the first blooms of our native trees and wildflowers. The wetland willows, red and silver maples, skunk cabbage, and marsh marigolds are all vernal pioneers, often blooming well ahead of the official equinox date.
Spring comes later to our mountain areas—greater elevations and northern latitudes slow the surrender of winter’s grip. In these high places where frost can dominate more than half the year, the blooming of the first flowers is especially poignant. How much greater is our delight to discover these icons of renewal in the tougher terrain where our own endurance is tested by weather and wildness?
As the season unfolds—from northern hardwood forests to boreal forests to alpine habitats—here’s a sample of the floral greeting that awaits you.
April and early May in the Berkshires The 19th-century naturalist John Burroughs wrote, “Certain flowers one makes expeditions for every season.” In April, the lengthening days invite the first mountain flower forays to Mount Greylock in northwestern Massachusetts. The soil on these slopes is enriched by limestone and fosters an especially rich flora, admired for centuries by naturalists, poets, and hikers.
Here, in the northern hardwood forest, before the sugar maple, yellow birch, and American beech leaves unfurl, you may see hepatica making its debut. Blooming in fuzzy-stemmed clusters amidst last summer's three-lobed leaves, these flowers seem delicate for fickle April weather. Sporting six to 11 (or more!) petals, hepatica also boasts remarkable variability in flower color. Starbursts of stamens are set against petals of startling blue, pink, mauve, lavender, or soft white. Emerging from the winter-worn dullness of fallen leaves, hepatica sounds the first sweet notes of Greylock’s blossoming season.
Hepatica in bloom. Photo by Allison Bell.
SEE FOR YOURSELF
