Ephemerals

I happened to glance out my second story window and a few tiny hot pink dots caught my eye.

Under a flowering crab apple tree, struggling to push through dead hosta leaves, were some tiny beautiful cyclamens, supported by spindly, crooked stems. The leaves are beautiful too - heart-shaped and drizzled with silver.

These hardy cyclamen are considered ephemerals - flowering plants that last just a very short time. They are woodland plants that need to go through their life cycle: making leaves and flowers and seeds in the short few weeks of full sun before the trees above leaf out and cast the area in shade. Cyclamen don't last more than a few years in my garden, but I keep buying new ones for the jolt of beauty they provide.

Purple iris reticulata and snow drops will show their flowers for just a short time before disappearing for another year. Just a few inches tall, they both bloom while there is still snow on the ground, and sometimes under the snow in stubborn winters.

This yellow iris is another ephemeral. It blooms for a few short weeks, attracting early bees and flies, then disappears. Long grass-like leaves come later.