Searching the county for spring wildflowers at home in Minnesota

This is the time of year for unique, short-lived wildflowers.

Forest ephemerals flash up in the woods close to the ground, taking advantage of the sunlight before trees leaf out.

Bloodroot -- so named because of the orangish-red sap it stores -- has dainty white flowers that generally fall off within a few days.

"These flowers, they're very clever," Jen Knight, seasonal naturalist for the Dakota County Parks, told a Friday evening wildflower class at Lebanon Hills Park. "They have a very strict schedule. They have a lot to do in a little bit of time."

"It's been a late spring around here," said Dakota County Parks Education Coordinator Krista Jensen. "We're a couple weeks behind on what we would normally see." She said the early ephemerals are different from the flashier flowers that appear later in the season.

Jensen will lead a wildflower walk at Schaar's Bluff in Spring Lake Park Reserve on May 28, an event she said has proved popular due to the undisturbed areas where native species flourish.

"They're kind of a gentle welcome of spring. You have to look closely or you might not see them," she said. And yet "after a winter, you appreciate so much all these little spring wildflowers that blossom even if it is still freezing at night. They are true Minnesotans."

The Dutchman's breech is one of Jensen's favorites. Its odd little drooping white flowers get their name because they resemble puffy pants. "They look like funny little hats that a nun would have worn back in the day," Jensen said.

Marilyn Stacey of Lakeville often identifies bloodroot at her cabin near Detroit Lakes, Minn., but "the prairie smoke I'd never heard of or seen before," she said. "That was very cool."

"From a distance, it looks really wispy, smoky, magical," Knight said about the mauve or pink flowers sometimes called "feather dusters" or "old man's whiskers." "At the height of its bloom, all those strands are sticking straight up," she said.

Jensen expects those who join her for the wildflower walk to see Dutchman's breeches, maybe bloodroot or spring beauties. Soon violets and buttercups will start to appear, she said, and the walkers may see some wild geranium and wild strawberries as well.

Identification handouts and field guides will be available on the walk, but for anyone out looking on their own, she recommends Stan Tekiela's "Wildflowers of Minnesota" as "a good beginner-to-intermediate book" and the less region-specific "Newcomb's Wildflower Guide."

Johnson said blooms are appearing on pasque flowers, hepatica, bellwort, wild ginger and trillium, which she especially likes. "If you get a big space of trillium they're just beautiful, covering the forest floor with all those white blooms."

She said wild geraniums, which like a lot of sun, and wild columbine should start appearing shortly along the forest's edge.

"They have that sweet nectar," she said of columbine. "A lot of kids like to suck on those."

"It's a great time to get out there looking," she said. "It's a delightful time to get out there."