Welcome to springtime

If you are like me, every spring you get anxious for temperatures to warm up and stay there. I want my nights to stop dipping below 32 degrees. I want the April woods to break out with wildflowers across the forest floor.

The flower you see here is one that I look for every spring. It is a bright yellow like no other. The color and design on the leaves are similar to a trillium but are a distinctly different shape.

This is a native wildflower called the trout lily. It is also called a dogtooth lily. Younger trout lily plants that do not bloom tend to be shorter and send up a single leaf that looks similar to a fawn's ear and are actually called fawn's ear. A trout lily in bloom is usually between 6 or 8 inches tall.