What are the first plants to bloom in the Spring in Ontario? Hepatica and Bloodroot lead the pack as reliable harbingers of warmer days. Keep an eye on local trails—these fleeting woodland beauties are well worth an early spring outing.

The arrival of the first spring flowers has long inspired nature writers and naturalists. One of the most vivid descriptions appears in the writings of Ernest Thompson Seton (1860–1946). In his well-known book Two Little Savages (1903), the main character Yan discovers the awakening of spring and learns to recognize early flowers and birds under the guidance of an experienced woodsman.

“Trillium, red and white, American dog-tooth violet, Virginia spring beauty, ground ivy – all the plants received names for the first time and became real friends instead of elusive and beautiful but depressing mysteries. […] That spring morning became for Yan the beginning of a new era. He finally felt alive. And the strongest, most astonishing impression in him was not evoked by the shabby yet kind stranger, nor by the new birds and plants, but by the scent of wintergreen.”

In another of Seton’s books, Woodland Tales, he devotes a section directly to “What to Observe in Spring” and describes the very first flowers, such as hepatica (liverwort), which is among the earliest:

“Early in spring we can see them. Three sunny days on the edge of a snowbank bring them forth. People who find them say that this is one of the spring flowers that appears before the others, and they call it Liverwort…”