Other stories in "Wildflowers"

• Chasing wildflowers
  As forests and prairies erupt into blooms, devotees rush to see them all.
• Bloom County
  On the Door Peninsula, a vast array of wildflowers reward those weary of winter.
• Out of the forest and into the frying pan
  As days get warmer, mushroom hunters get ready to root out the wily morel.
• Spring in full glory
  For a piece of quiet, visit a state natural area.
• Tiptoeing through the toothwort
  With lenses, nature-lovers try to capture the fleeting joys of spring.

Where to find spring wildflowers

Some can be seen everywhere; others are more elusive.

Here are just a few of the best places to look for wildflowers. Minnesota's scientific and natural areas (SNAs) also are very good places to find unusual flowers, as are Wisconsin's state natural areas.

Nature Conservancy sites host many interesting plants; call 612-331-0750 in Minnesota, 1-608-251-8140 in Wisconsin, www.nature.org. Wildlife refuges, nature preserves and environmental learning centers also are good places to look.

Spring ephemerals

In Minneapolis, off Interstate 394 at Theodore Wirth Parkway and Glenwood Avenue, the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden is thick with blooms in spring, and a naturalist leads regular walks; 612-370-4903, www.minneapolisparks.org.

Near Northfield, Minn., the hiking trails of Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park are perennial favorites; there's a loose-leaf wildflower guide in the park office to help novices get started.

North of St. Charles, Minn., Whitewater State Park has all the blooms and naturalists to help identify them.

Not far away, south of Plainview, Carley State Park has masses of Virginia bluebells, as does the west bank of the Zumbro River south of Zumbro Falls.

On the Wisconsin side of Lake Pepin, the first four miles of shady County Road AA south of Maiden Rock (also Rustic Road 51) has an amazing variety of plants in May.

Farther down the Mississippi, near Trempealeau, Brady's Bluff in Perrot State Park is carpeted with jeweled shooting stars, and its shady base harbors many ephemerals.

Late-spring wildflowers

State parks along the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers are a good place to look for columbines, May apples, large-flowered trillium and wild geranium. Try Interstate and Frontenac in Minnesota, Wyalusing in Wisconsin and Pikes Peak in Iowa.

To see a lot of trilliums, check Apple River County Park just north of Amery, Wis., off U.S. 8 along Rustic Road 28.

In the boreal forests of the North Shore, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Door County and Isle Royale, look for bunchberry, bluebead lily, Canada anemone, bearberry and coral root, as well as lady's-slipper. The delightful gaywings and goldthread grow in Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor, in Door County.

Prairie wildflowers

In April, River Terrace Prairie SNA, a scientific and natural area near Cannon Falls, has so many pasque flowers it's hard to walk among them.

In May, the sun-drenched goat prairies of southeast Minnesota and sandy spots along the Wisconsin River have a lovely selection. Look for pussytoes, hoary puccoon, Indian paintbrush, prairie smoke, blue-eyed grass, wood betony and jeweled and white shooting star at Mound Prairie SNA near Houston, Minn.; Great River Bluffs State Park near La Crescent, Minn.; and the International Crane Foundation near Baraboo, Wis.

At Blue Mounds State Park in southwest Minnesota, the yellow flowers of prickly pear cactus appear in June.

Bog plants

Buckbean, bog rosemary and pitcher plants are found along the boardwalks that cross the swales of the Ridges Sanctuary. Along the bog at Lake Bemidji State Park, visitors also find wild calla, wild iris and the insect-eating sundew; in June, there are nearly 40 varieties of flowering plants.

Bog plants also are found along the boardwalks at Hayes Lake State Park near Roseau, Minn., and Big Bog Recreation Area near Waskish; the Dr. Roberts Nature Trail in Itasca State Park; and Iron Springs Bog SNA near Itasca, which has a conifer swamp where many unusual plants grow, including ladies-tresses orchids. Itasca Wilderness SNA, in the park, has an amazing selection of woodland and bog flowers that includes ladies-tresses as well as four types of bog orchid, striped and spotted coralroot and yellow and showy lady's-slipper.

Orchids

Such orchids as the yellow lady's-slipper and showy lady's-slipper can be found in many boglike habitats in the northwoods. The Ridges Sanctuary has 25 species of orchids, including the striped coralroot and ram's head and pink moccasin lady's-slipper. In Lake Bemidji State Park, the stemless lady's-slipper, dragon's mouth orchid and grass pink can be found.

From the end of May, thick clumps of yellow lady's-slipper can be found in forests around Lake Michigan, including Mackinac Island and spots in Door County, including Potawatomi State Park near Sturgeon Bay and the Clearing near Ellison Bay. Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth has a nice display, and in northwest Minnesota, the Wildflower Route between Greenbush and Baudette displays many showy and yellow lady's-slipper, as well as the rare ram's head and calypso orchids.

When looking at orchids, be careful not to trample their roots, which can inhibit flowering for years.

Uncommon species

The dwarf trout lily is found only in Minnesota and only in three counties: Goodhue, Rice and Steele. Look for it at Nerstrand-Big Woods State Park and River Bend Nature Center in Faribault.

In Door County, Wis., there are thousands of dwarf lake iris at Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor and a few at Whitefish Dunes State Park. Arctic primrose and cancer root also grow in Ridges Sanctuary.

The small, white lady's-slipper can be found at the Nature Conservancy's Schaefer Prairie, less than an hour west of the Twin Cities near Glencoe, as well as Ordway Prairie, near Glenwood.

Last updated on July 31, 2008