Tall coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris): This specimen, only inches high now, will top four feet by late spring and produce bright yellow star-shaped flowers throughout the summer.

Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum): This plant was one of three dozen plugs planted a year ago that rabbits treated as a salad bar. Together with several other survivors it has come back bigger and bolder. Can their lavender flowers be far behind?

Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica): These shade-loving ephemerals bloom in spring, then disappear in summer after spreading their seed.

Roundleaf ragwort (Packera obovata): Roundleaf ragwort and its cousin golden ragwort (Packera aurea) bloom in early spring. For the rest of the growing season and even into winter, their rosettes of dark green leaves serve as groundcover in sun and part shade

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum): Colonies of mayapple flourish in woodland areas throughout the east. As spring progresses, its white flowers ripen into the “apples” after which it’s named. It goes dormant in summer.

Woodland poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum): Woodland poppy, or celandine poppy (not to be confused with lesser celandine, an invasive) is another shade-loving plant that blooms early.

Common blue violet (Viola sororia): The diminutive violet, another herald of spring, is found not only in our region but across the entire eastern half of the continent.

Golden alexanders (Zizia aurea): The buds of what will be clusters of yellow flowers are beginning to appear. Golden alexanders host the larvae of the black and woodland swallowtail butterfly species.