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Welcome back to the Ohio spring wildflower bloom report. April showers bring May flowers. That’s certainly the theme for April’s start this year – rain. It’s been a chilly and soggy week in the Buckeye state, but our spring flora continues to wake up. The weather forecast for this weekend is trending dry and sunny so we encourage you to get out and see what new wildflower faces you can find. Don’t forget the total solar eclipse on Monday either! |
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South RegionSouthern Ohio continues to be the gem of the state with the best diversity of bloomers! Species starting to appear across the south include Carolina vetch, wild ginger, trailing arbutus, crinkleroot, Canada violet, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wild columbine, pennywort, and yellow trout-lily. Dozens of other wildflowers are continuing to come into their own in more and more locations such as wild blue phlox, Dutchman’s breeches, large-flowered trillium, bluebells, dwarf larkspur, twinleaf, Jacob’s ladder, and wood poppy to name just a handful. |
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Spring’s first wave of bloomers is waning in the southernmost parts of the state but largely reaching or at peak across the region. Some choice sites to hike include Whipple, Davis Memorial, Shoemaker, Lake Katharine, and Scioto Brush Creek state nature preserves, Shawnee State Forest, East Fork State Park, Forked Run State Park, Arc of Appalachia’s Chalet Nivale and Ohio River Bluffs, as well as Wayne National Forest’s Ironton District. |
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Central RegionThe Central Region is kicking into gear with more and more new bloomers making their first appearances. We can report that the marsh marigold display at Cedar Bog will be at peak very soon and well worth a visit. Wildflowers waking up in this region include large-flowered trillium, sessile trillium, yellow trout-lily, numerous violets, twinleaf, yellow fumewort, large-flowered bellwort, squirrel corn, miterwort, early meadow-rue, and giant blue cohosh. Species such as spring beauty, bloodroot, white trout-lily, purple cress, cut-leaved toothwort etc. continue to flourish. Some choice sites to seek out early spring’s first bloomers across central Ohio include Blackhand Gorge, Christmas Rocks, Clifton Gorge, Davey Woods, Gallagher Fen, Cedar Bog, and Shallenberger state nature preserves. State parks are also great sites such as Alum Creek, Cowan Lake, John Bryan, and Malabar Farm. |
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North RegionSigns of spring are slowly but surely appearing in the north region. As always there’s a lag as you head further north but we can report more and more things have peaked above the soil. Harbinger-of-spring, spring beauties, bloodroot, purple cress, hepaticas, Dutchman’s breeches, white trout-lily, false mermaid, smooth yellow violet, common blue violet, and cut-leaved toothwort have all been reported. Virginia bluebells and twinleaf aren’t too far behind. Your patience will be well rewarded in the weeks to come! With some warmer weather, it will soon be time to visit prime wildflower sites. A few great places to view northern Ohio’s early wildflower blooms include Augusta-Anne Olsen, Eagle Creek, Goll Woods, Johnson Woods, Kendrick Woods, Lawrence Woods, and Lou Campbell state nature preserves. |
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Want to keep track of what you see at Ohio’s state nature preserves, parks, wildlife areas and forests? Download our handy spring wildflower checklist. |
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The Ohio Wildflower Bloom Report is updated weekly from March to the middle of May. We encourage you to take spring wildflower photos and upload them to social media using the hashtag #OhioWildflowers and #OhioHeartOfItAll. Follow @ohioDNR and @ohioDNAP on Instagram and Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Ohio Division of Natural Areas & Preserves on Facebook to learn more about Ohio’s spring wildflower season. |
