here and gone

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Here one day, gone the next. In a way, that describes us all, but for some, their time is far more succinct, a mote of dust drifting across a fading sky, here and gone, ethereal.

A walk through the woods at Ijams Nature Center finds a welcomed group of old friends: the so-called spring ephemerals. Woodland wildflowers are starting to peek through the detritus of the forest floor. Cutleaf toothwort and bloodroot were up and blooming. But their time is short; their days in the sun brief.

Woodland perennials like bloodroot, toothwort, hepatica, spring beauty, squirrel corn, Dutchman’s britches, celandine poppy, twinleaf, Virginia bluebells, Jack-in-the-pulpit and several species of trillium must grow, bloom and produce seeds quickly before the forest canopy leafs out and covers their homeland with shade.

These early beauties will come and be completely gone in a matter of weeks, living most of their year as rootstocks. But for a brief time, their presence carpets the Tennessee woodlands with a sea of vitality.

Their message is clear: Make good use of your time it soon will be gone.

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