Take a walk in the woods this month and check out the forest floor. There in the dappled sunlight, popping up through last year’s leaves, you may spot the short-lived flowers of native perennials known as “spring ephemerals.”

Spring ephemerals are native woodland wildflowers that bloom during the brief window of time between snowmelt and tree leaf-out. As the spring sun warms the ground, these cute little plants grow quickly, flower, are pollinated and set seed.