April 13, 2025
Author: Phyllis Root
Photographer: Kelly Povo
We’ve been stalking spring for weeks now, and while we’ve seen signs of it, we found proof positive last weekend when we visited a hillside along a bike trail in southern Minnesota. We’d been to the hillside before in search of snow trillium, a species of special concern. On that previous trip we were too early to see more than buds, but this year our timing was perfect. Countless elegant, small, white, three-petaled flowers dotted the hillside, so many even I, who love to count, was overwhelmed. Snow trillium bloom early and vanish, so we counted ourselves beyond lucky to see this incredible display.
The snow trilliums weren’t alone. Here and there sharp-lobed hepatica bloomed, some white and some purple, their new bright-green leaves unfolding. Small trout lily leaves poked up, most singles but a few in pairs with a bud. (Trout lilies only flower after a plant has achieved two leaves, which explains the vast number of single, non-flowering trout lily leaves we often see in the spring.) Dark red columbine leaves were beginning to open, and Dutchman’s breeches plants no more than two inches high already had tiny buds that looked like miniature peanuts.
But the snow trillium were the glory of the show, climbing up and up the hillside. We climbed, too, marveling, while below the Le Sueur River sparkled brownly in the sun.
You would think an exuberance of snow trillium would be enough for our flower chasing hearts, and it was. But we wondered, too, if it was past time to catch another early bloomer, pasqueflower. The way back to the cities could take us past Ottawa Bluffs, a Nature Conservancy site not far from St. Peter where we’d seen pasqueflowers before, so what could we do but drive there and climb a steep, steep hill crowned with burr oaks to see if pasqueflowers were already done blooming. Halfway up the hill pale purple pasqueflowers began to appear, some singly and some in twos and threes, more and more of them the higher we climbed.
At the top of the hill we caught our breath, admired the flowers, looked out over the Minnesota River and wetlands far below, then began our descent among the small purple flowers still blissfully blooming away.
A wealth of snow trilliums, sharp-lobed hepatica, the beginning buds of Dutchman’s breeches and trout lilies, and pasqueflowers to finish up the day. Not only has spring arrived, it’s about to burst forth in all its flowering splendor.
And we can’t wait to see it.
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