Growing up in central KS, I read every nature themed book I could gather. Most in those days featured natural history subjects from eastern North America–a few from the west. I longed to see the Smokey mountains in the spring, walk along the C and O canal, or see warblers dripping from trees during migration. Imagine my surprise and elation when I identified my first bright yellow male goldfinch as a 12 year old in my own backyard—I thought those birds were “back East”. Of course as my experiences grew I came to realize that much of what was discussed in nature themed books was indeed part of my own Kansas environment. Still until I enrolled at KU in 1969, I had never seen any of the “woodland ephemerals” so talked about in any coverage of spring in eastern deciduous woodlands. I saw my first ephemerals in my second spring at KU in Baldwin Woods. I ritually, return every spring to check on these populations of small, early wildflowers. Their appearance each year grounds me. Here’s some recent photos:
- False Rue Anemone
- Rue Anemone
- Dutchman’s Breeches
- Erythronium albidum
