Early spring is when all of my favorite wildflowers bloom. My garden has a few – hepatica, spring beauty, trillium – but the best place to see nearly every Minnesota ephemeral is the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden. I visited on a sunny afternoon three weeks ago.

White trout lily:

and yellow trout lily:

Wild ginger’s shy flower:

Hepatica rising out of the carpet of oak leaves:

False rue anemone:

Bloodroot is my absolute favorite, possibly because they’re so delicate and so short-lived. This time I decided to take video of flowers blowing in the wind, with birds singing and bees buzzing in and out:

There was even a turkey roaming around, not at all concerned that I was watching:

Earlier this week, I returned to see what’s happening now. There are many more varieties, and the brown groundcover is quickly being replaced by new, green growth.

The bloodroot I filmed is long gone, the leaves growing large but being overtaken by invasive periwinkle:

Many varieties of violets:

Two-leaved toothwort:

I was wondering whether there are any jack-in-the-pulpits and literally before I finished that thought, I found one hiding among the leaves:

Marsh marigolds:

Several kinds of trilliums:

And coming soon: lots of wild geraniums.