Maryland Native Plants for Spring

Claytonia virginica – Spring Beauty

Claytonia virginica, Spring Beauty, is low-growing spring ephemeral that features clusters of white to light pink flowers and narrow grass-like, green leaves. The leaves usually grow in pairs. The flowers emerge in the early spring, and the leaves continue to grow after bloom. However, the plant goes dormant in the late spring. Spring Beauty prefers organically rich, moist soils. It naturalizes by bulb offsets and self-seeding,

Spring beauties are a wonderful addition to a woodland border bed where there is spring sunlight before the leaves come out on the trees. It’s a sweet little solitary plant and will spread a bit but is best partnered with another plant that will emerge later in the spring and fill in the garden space while Claytonia dies back. Dryopteris marginalis and Aster divaricata are two that come to mind! Claytonia is also a wonderful early pollen source for native bees!

~Lauren