SPRING: Spring is here! The snow and ice are disappearing, and soon the beautiful colors of nature will be everywhere.

Sure, by about September we’ll be tired of seeing the green everywhere, but right now, it’s something we’re all looking forward to. Just like the bright colors of spring flowers — yellows of daffodils, witch hazel and forsythia, purples of crocuses and creeping phlox, the pinks and reds of camellia, azalea, bergenia and primrose.

The Western

Pennsylvania

Conservancy has lists of spring wildflowers one might find in the region.

One is the snow trillium, the woodland plant is only found in the western part of the state. The small member of the lily family. Don’t pick them! Some are endangered and if the leaf-like bracts are picked, the flower is unable to produce food for next year and it will die.

The yellow trout lily grows in large colonies on the forest floor. ‘The leaf markings have a mottled appearance similar to a brown or brook trout, and they also bloom during trout fishing season. Not all of the plants will produce a flower. The plants reproduce with both runners and seeds, and like the trillium, ants help to propagate the seeds. It can take the plant up to five years to start producing a flower.’

The golden-ragwort has purple buds, making the name of the flower a question until it blooms. It’s a member of the sunflower family commonly found where soil is wet and the shade isn’t deep.

Red maples are one of the first trees to bloom, bringing their reddish hue to the landscape. Aspen, birch and tulip poplars soon follow.