Sure, May flowers, the product of all those April showers, get a lot of attention. But hold up: plenty of cottage-country beauties burst to life in April. Here are six native wildflowers to spot before Labour Day rolls around.
1. Hepatica
Hepatica has a fuzzy, flowering stem and produces pink, white, or purple-to-blue blooms. Ants pollinate these plants by spreading the flower’s seeds.
2. Trillium
Everyone can recognize white trilliums, but red trilliums are actually more common—at least on the Canadian Shield. They don’t produce nectar; they attract carrion flies (their pollinators) thanks to their stench. (Red trilliums reek of rotting meat.)
3. Sweet white violet
Thirty species of violet call Ontario home, but this variety is among the first to bloom. It also smells sweeter than other violets—hence its name.
4. Spring beauty
Spring? Check. Beauty? Check. Each petal of this pretty flower has pink stripes. Ladybugs and other insects, fresh out of hibernation, use the bands like a runway guiding them to the bloom’s nectar.
5. Bloodroot
This plant’s thick root—long used to make red dye—sends out multiple green shoots year after year. Bloodroot’s dense colonies of white flowers bloom in small clumps between April and May.
6. Trout lily
It takes five to seven years for a trout lily plant to bloom, and less than one per cent of green trout lily sprouts flower at all. When they do, you’ll spot the large, nodding yellow blossoms on the forest floor.
How do I make my garden more pollinator-friendly?
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