You have only a couple of weeks to catch the fleeting Trout Lily. Photo by Dave Otto

Some of our most beautiful woodland flowers are called spring ephemerals because their visible presence is fleetingly brief. They emerge from the forest floor in the chilly late winter to take advantage of the full sunlight that’s absent once the forest canopy is in full leaf.

By mid-April, some of these early risers will have flowered, made fruit, dispersed seed and returned to dormancy. The Trout Lily is a classic spring ephemeral. I failed to interrupt my busy indoor pace a few years ago and I missed the pageantry of this little woodland lily. That had a dramatic impact on me. I no longer take lightly the passing of seasons. The budding, flowering, leafing, fruiting and return to dormancy of plants are cherished as special separate annual occurrences.
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