17 Spring Ephemeral Wildflowers Native to the Northeast

Growing up in Pennsylvania, the hemlock, maple, and beech forests were places where I could play, explore, and learn. While all the seasons were special, the spring held a special place in my heart. As the ground thawed and tree buds began to swell, new green growth began to poke out from landscapes cloaked in fallen leaves.

Over time, I realized that thousands of wildflowers emerge in the spring and bloom for a few weeks or months. These plants, known as spring ephemerals, create an ever-changing, colorful landscape from February through June.

Knowing a few of these plants makes walks in the woods even more special. Once you spot a patch of bloodroot or a streamside covered with trout lilies, you can revisit it each spring to catch the awe-inspiring displays of blooms. And if you have a moist, shady spot at home, you can even add a few of these northeast native spring wildflowers to your garden.

Bloodroot

	botanical name Sanguinaria canadensis
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 6-12”
	hardiness zones 3-8

While this plant takes its common name from its bright red roots, the above-ground leaves and blossoms put on quite a display. In the early spring, a single flower bud appears on a straight stem, with a deeply lobed leaf wrapping around it. The bud opens into a simple white flower with 8-16 distinct petals as the leaf continues to hug the flower’s stem.

The blooms only last for a few days before they begin dropping petals, but the leaves open around this time. They have a distinct U-shape and many knobby lobes.

If you dig up bloodroot plants, you’ll find bright red rhizomes. Native Americans used these roots as a red dye, and people have utilized the plant to treat medical issues from asthma to sore throats. These rhizomes also spread under the ground, so you can often find colonies of bloodroot growing in moist, shady areas.

Dutchman’s Breeches

	botanical name Dicentra cucullaria
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 6-12”
	hardiness zones 3-8

Like many spring ephemerals, dutchman’s breeches grow in moist, rich woods. You can often find them growing in the forest duff beside creeks or on moist slopes. The deeply-serrated leaves almost have a lacy appearance and appear on reddish stems.

In early spring, white blossoms appear along the length of a red stem. The blooms look like pants hanging upside down on a clothesline, blowing with the wind. These flowers are related to other well-known Dicentra species, including bleeding heart and squirrel corn.

Virginia Bluebells

	botanical name Mertensia virginica
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 12-18”
	hardiness zones 3-9

If you’re lucky enough to stumble upon a patch of blue blossoms in the spring, you’re probably looking at Virginia bluebells. These spring ephemerals produce clusters of nodding, blue, bell-shaped flowers and form colonies that often blanket moist forest floors. Although most fully open blooms are blue, the buds typically start out pink or purple.

The blossoms attract all kinds of pollinators, from bumblebees to butterflies. It’s not uncommon to see a patch of bluebells covered with a dozen different types of pollinators.

If you want to grow Virginia bluebells, choose a shady, moist area rich in organic matter. Adding a few inches of compost can help replicate the type of soil that these perennials thrive in. Keep the soil moist, and don’t be alarmed when the plants die back in the summer.

Rue Anemone

	botanical name Anemonella thalictroides
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 4-10”
	hardiness zones 4-9

The rue anemone’s tiny, three-lobed leaves emerge from the ground in the early spring. A few weeks later, their small white or pink blooms appear. The white or pink petals are actually sepals, and they remain on the plant for multiple weeks.

Rue anemone grows from small rhizomes, so it slowly spreads. Look for them growing in moist, rich areas with dappled light or shade.

Yellow Trout Lily

	botanical name Erythronium americanum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 4-6”
	hardiness zones 3-9

The yellow trout lily gets its name from its bright yellow flowers and green and purple speckled leaves that resemble a trout’s body swimming under a rippling stream. Young plants produce a single leaf, while mature plants produce two.

The small yellow, lily-like flowers bloom for only a few days. However, since the underground rhizomes often form large colonies, a single patch can bloom for multiple weeks. The blooms are striking, with back-turned yellow petals and sepals revealing brown stamens that dot the petals with pollen.

Trout lilies require rich, moist soil, so they work well in woodland gardens. While you can grow them from seed, corms are a better option if you want to add these slow-growing plants to your garden. 

Mayapple

	botanical name Podophyllum peltatum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 12-18”
	hardiness zones 3-9

One of my favorite moments of spring is seeing mayapple leaves poking up from the ground. The emerging plants look like closed umbrellas, with the green leaves wrapped tightly around the stem. As mayapple continues to awaken from their winter slumber, they open up to display two large umbrella-like leaves.

Since this spring ephemeral grows from rhizomes, it often forms large colonies. The plants prefer rich, moist, and well-draining soil, so you’ll often find them growing on wooden hillsides.

Mature plants produce a single white flower from the section of the stem where the leaves split. This flower nods downward and eventually turns into a large green berry that ripens to yellow.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

	botanical name Arisaema triphyllum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 12-24”
	hardiness zones 4-9

A highly unusual flower, the Jack-in-the-pulpit makes you do a double take. The true flowers occur on a spike formally known as a spadix or, informally, a Jack. This spike is surrounded by a hooded modified leaf known as a spathe or pulpit. The spathe can be numerous combinations of green, deep red, and purple. 

This stunning flower also has a unique ability to switch between male and female. Young plants produce only male blooms, but mature ones can have male and female on the same spadix. A single plant can also switch from male to female flowers from one year to the next.

When Jack-in-the-pulpit isn’t flowering, you can look for one or two leaves with three distinct leaflets. While young individuals fade by midsummer, mature plants may produce a cluster of bright red berries that remain into the fall.

Cutleaf Toothwort

	botanical name Cardamine concatenata
	sun requirements Partial shade
	height 4-12”
	hardiness zones 3-8

Also known as pepper root, cutleaf toothwort is a beautiful member of the mustard family. The plants are some of the first to emerge each spring, with their deeply dissected and toothed leaves popping up from the forest duff. Eventually, the plants produce clusters of four-petaled white or light pink flowers.

Cutleaf toothwort can complete its life cycle in as little as a month and disappear until the following spring. Since it’s one of the first spring ephemerals to bloom, it’s often done flowering as flowers like Virginia bluebells and Dutchman’s breeches are reaching their peaks.

Spring Beauty

	botanical name Claytonia virginica
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 4-10”
	hardiness zones 3-9

While many spring ephemerals need pristine soils or specific conditions to grow well, spring beauty is a little more forgiving. While the spring beauty won’t grow well in full sun, you can spot them popping up in shady, disturbed areas and small patches of forest.

The plants are low to the ground and produce small five-petaled flowers. Each flower has a white background with thin, light pink stripes running along the length of the petals. Spring beauty grows from underground tubers, and you can often spot large patches of the plants.

Smooth Soloman’s Seal

	botanical name Polygonatum biflorum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 2-5’
	hardiness zones 3-7

When you first spot smooth Soloman’s seal, you may not even notice the cute bell-shaped flowers. However, you can’t miss the row of large leaves alternately arranged along the plant’s single stem. If you tilt your head and look under this layer of leaves, you’ll see the small flowers hanging down from the stem.

There are a few plants that look similar to smooth Solomon’s seal. Hairy Soloman’s seal (Polygonatum pubescens) has similar leaves and flowers but is smaller in size and has fine hairs on the undersides of its leaves. False Solomon’s seal has similar leaves, but it produces a terminal flower cluster.

The plants spread slowly by rhizomes, so you may see multiple stems emerging in a similar area. These plants can tolerate more sun than many other spring wildflowers, so they’re a good option for areas that receive just a few hours of daily shade.

Wild Geranium

	botanical name Geranium maculatum
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 8-24”
	hardiness zones 3-8

While some people love scented geraniums with colorful ruffled leaves or bright red annual geraniums, the simple wild geranium will always be my favorite. These perennials produce simple, deeply dissected leaves and large pink flowers with pink petals. The rhizomatous plants often form large groupings, creating a forest floor covered with delicate pink flowers.

After the flowers drop, elongated seed pods take their place. These pods have an even more slender tip, which is why they are commonly known as cranesbills.

While some of the northeast native spring wildflowers on this list are difficult to cultivate at home, wild geraniums will grow well in many gardens. Although it’s often found in wooded areas in the wild, it can also grow well in full sun in colder growing zones.

Round-Lobed Hepatica

	botanical name Hepatica americana
	sun requirements Partial shade
	height 6-10”
	hardiness zones 3-8

Round-lobed hepatica is easy to recognize even before its flowers appear. Look for low-lying leaves with three distinct, rounded lobes. The leaves are typically green, but they can display dark red or purple mottling.

As the growing season progresses, the plants send up small flowers in shades of blue, pink, purple, or white. Each flower appears on a single stem, but the perennials often produce close to a dozen flowers at once. The flowers have 5-12 colorful sepals that resemble petals and long stamens topped with showy white anthers.

The flowers close up at night and during rainy days, so don’t be alarmed if they seem to disappear overnight.

Large-Flowered Trillium

	botanical name Trillium grandiflorum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 12-16”
	hardiness zones 3-8

Also known as great white trillium or white wake-robin, this trillium species produces impressively large flowers. The white blooms, which can reach between two and four inches wide, sit atop three green bracts. As the flowers age, they develop a light pink hue.

Large-flowered trillium slowly spreads via rhizomes, so you can find large clusters of these plants in areas they’ve occupied for many years. Look for the three distinct leaves and the large white flowers.

Bellwort

	botanical name Uvularia grandiflora
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 12-20”
	hardiness zones 3-8

Since bellwort plants remain visible throughout the summer, they aren’t true spring ephemerals. However, they’re some of the first flowers to emerge each spring, so people often group them with this category of wildflowers.

Bellwort spreads by rhizomes, so you’ll often see clumps of plants. Each plant has an upright stem that droops toward the ground and long leaves that do the same. The blooms appear on the ends of the stems and feature long yellow sepals that hang down.

After the plants lose their blossoms, the stems become more upright.

Red Trillium

	botanical name Trillium erectum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 12-18”
	hardiness zones 4-7

Like all trilliums, red trillium has three large leaves on a level plane. The oval leaves taper to a fine tip towards the outer edges. Red trillium flowers consist of three deep red petals that curl backward and central yellow anthers.

While many spring ephemerals prefer moist soil, red trillium thrives in drier sites. Since it likes acidic soil, you can often find it growing near other acid-loving species like rhododendrons and azaleas. If you want to grow it at home, choose a shady spot with a soil pH below 6.5.

Solomon’s Plume

	botanical name Maianthemum racemosum
	sun requirements Partial shade
	height 1-3’
	hardiness zones 3-8

Also known as false Solomon’s seal, this plant has a single stem and large, alternately arranged leaves that make it look very similar to the smooth Soloman’s seal. However, it’s easy to tell the plants apart once they begin to flower.

Solomon’s plume produces a cluster of small, white, star-shaped flowers on the end of its stem. The perennials tend to produce larger flower clusters as they receive more light, so plants in deep shade may have small flowers.

These plants slowly spread via rhizomes and can make a good ground cover. Although many people refer to Solomon’s plume as a spring ephemeral, its foliage and berries remain visible throughout the summer and into the fall.

Painted Trillium

	botanical name Trillium undulatum
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1-2’
	hardiness zones 3-8

While all trilliums are beautiful, painted trillium is stunning. This species features three white petals with wavy edges and bright pink steaks near the center. The central steaks fan outward in thin lines, almost like the pink was carried through the petals in the plant’s veins.