Sometimes you'll find a big surprise in a vacant lot or in a gully along the road. The six weeks or so of greening takes place at different times in different places, so that if you miss the first show there's another one coming soon nearby. Both are among the first arrivals and are found in wet woods and muck. These herbs are really collections of tiny flowers crowded together on a fleshy spike called a spadix, which is protected by a large bract or spathe. Chris Beatty Flowers generally bloom first in the forest where leafless trees allow the sun to the ground while breaking the wind chill.
Tree trunks radiate the day's heat to the ground to protect bursting seeds from frost.
Each flower has its own way of doing business. The first to pop above the layer of wet, dead leaves is always skunk cabbage, able to spontaneously generate enough heat to propel it through the frozen ground. Above ground, the plant emits a stink that mimics that of a freshly thawed carcass. The flies that respond will pollinate the hosts a full month before the sweet fragrances of other species bring on the butterflies and bees. Two wild members of the iris family, cousins to Crocus and Gladiolus, are represented here.