Appetizers

It barely feels like spring to us, but there are already pollinators out foraging for pollen and nectar. Early spring is a lean time for animals, and these insects are no exception. What’s on the menu? 

    Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) were the first flowers to bloom in my yard in late February. 

Snowdrops undeterred by ice

These little plants originated in Europe. Their early show is so popular that people have spread them all around the world. Tiny but tough, the flowers emerge unharmed from drifts of snow dropped by late snowstorms, offering pollen for intrepid bees and flies. 

    Next the witch hazel trees (Hamamelis x intermedia) opened their spidery yellow blooms. 

Witch hazel perfumes the yard while waiting for shivering moths

I have two, both spring-blooming nonnatives, hybrids between Chinese and Japanese species. Their bright flowers and sweet scent indicate that they’re advertising for insect pollinators, but they can’t count on bees to do the job reliably this early in the year. They’re pollinated by owlet moths of the genus Eupsilia. These moths cope with March’s cold temperatures by using an adaptation unusual among insects: they warm themselves by shivering.

Owlet moth Eupsilia tristigmata-photo willapalens

    Crocuses opening in mid-March were greeted by bees who were ready to go, climbing in to grab some sustenance. 

A bee visits my favorite Dutch crocus variety, 'Pickwick'

Larger-flowered Dutch crocuses (Crocus vernus) in white and purple seem to be more popular with the bees than smaller snow crocuses (C. chrysanthus and tommasinianus) that are spreading around the front yard. All of these come from Greece, Turkey and the Balkans. 

Snow crocuses are smaller and more modest

    By the end of March, dusky purple hellebore flowers (Helleborus cultivars) are starting to open. 

Hellebores have captured gardeners' imagination with early blooms in subtle shades

You’ll have spotted a trend—these too are nonnatives. So far I hadn’t offered a single native flower for those early foragers. I’m always looking to extend the garden’s season of bloom at both ends. I’d like to offer native flowers as food for pollinators consistently from earliest spring until snow starts to fall in December.

    Lots of natives are about to start flowering. As I trundled my wheelbarrow back and forth in the warm sun this weekend, bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) leaves unfurled and flowers opened before my eyes. 

Bloodroot flowers come wrapped in grayish green first leaves

Emerging leaves of yellow trout lily (Erythronium americanum) presaged the arrival of its pendant trumpet-shaped blooms. 

Trout lilies don't bloom for long, but while they do they're sublime

These are two spring ephemerals, native woodland plants that take advantage of the sunlight that reaches the ground before trees leaf out. They’re among New England’s earliest bloomers.

    When May comes, there’ll be a banquet of flowers for pollinators to sample. In my yard, the crabapple (Malus ‘Donald Wyman’) and white-blooming redbud (Cercis canadensis f. alba) will cover themselves in glory. 

I prefer the white flowers of this redbud to the more common magenta

Native shrubs will add to the show, from venerable highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) to newer additions: black elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), Carolina allspice (Calycanthus floridus), and spicebush (Lindera benzoin). 

Carolina allspice, also called sweetshrub, has unexpectedly dark red flowers

But in February and March, it’s up to the nonnatives to provide the first meals for hungry bees.