In 2015, a friend told Wisty Rorabacher about an astonishing sight at the Green River recreational area and urged her to go check it out. There, Rorabacher found “an entire hillside covered in Dutchman’s breeches.”
Around that time, Rorabacher, 76, walked a parcel of Colrain land owned by relatives. “I saw hepatica,” she said, “and fell in love with those plants.” Hepatica, nicknamed liverleaf or liverwort, has three lobes, like the organ that processes blood and regulates nutrients.
Rorabacher’s horticultural passions predate her move to Greenfield. She and her partner of many decades, Judy Draper, lived on 200 acres in Arkansas for 18 years. “That’s where I fell in love with wildflowers.”
In truth, though, Rorabacher’s affinity for the natural world began in childhood. “I loved being outdoors, noticing how my body worked, and testing my balance. I loved running and feeling my strength, or just sitting on a fallen log and pretending it was a horse.”
While she appreciates many kinds of plants, the green shoots that appear as winter recedes capture Rorabacher’s imagination. “The annual appearance of these plants is unique to our part of the country,” she said. “Here in the northeast, and up into Canada, we can witness something magical, if we take the time to look.”
European varieties like tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths are impressively showy, noted Rorabacher, but her favorite plants are natives that spring up on the edges of, and in, local woods. “True ephemerals last a week or two, maybe a little more,” she said. “Beneath deciduous trees, for a brief period, the forest floor basks in maximum sunlight until the trees leaf out. And what’s down there is rich, natural soil.”
By mid-June, “those blossoms disappear without a trace. But while blooming, they’re great for early pollinators.” After witnessing the breathtaking sight at the Green River, Rorabacher returned to the area many times. “It’s filled with treasures like toothwort, trillium, and spring beauty.”
The cut-leaved toothwort, in the Brassicaceae family, is related to the broccoli we eat for dinner. Trillium is a genus of about 50 flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae, and the Virginia spring beauty is in the family Montiaceae.
(A more comprehensive list at the end of this column indicates plants that appear at the Green River recreational area each spring.)
Rorabacher favors native plants in her Prospect Street yard, as well, including in the tree belt where some onlookers posited that things wouldn’t grow well due to salt from wintertime roads. “They’re doing just fine here,” she said. “We’ve got blue-eyed grass, butterfly weed, and Golden Alexander.”
In Arkansas, Rorabacher moved plants within her and Draper’s property “with a 100% success rate.” The trick, she said, is to scoop the plant from the soil by hand, gather a lot of dirt, follow the roots by feeling with fingers, and try not to sever them.
“Yet after volunteering at Nasami for the past four years,” Rorabacher said, “now I would collect seeds from a plant instead of digging it up.” (Nasami Farm Nursery Native Plant Trust in Whately is highly regarded among horticulture enthusiasts.)
As with the moving of plants, seed collection must be undertaken according to strict rules, said Rorabacher, and with permission always obtained. “One should never take more than ten percent of available seeds from any plant,” she noted, adding that plants should never be taken from public land. “Only private land,” she specified.
Rorabacher’s fertile tree belt contains amsonia, echinacea, and pussytoes. “Some people yank out pussytoes, seeing them as weeds,” said Rorabacher, “but in a mass, they’re just fantastic. There are different kinds, too.”
The tree belt is rounded out by baptisia, also known as false indigo, of the legume family Fabaceae, and wild oats, which grow as erect grasses with long flat linear leaves.
And that’s just the tree belt, folks.
Alongside the driveway, there’s a stand of Jack-in-the-Pulpit plants. “We started with one,” she said, “and didn’t even plant it on purpose. It came in with the pussytoes. Now we have about 20.”
Nearby, there’s blue cohosh which produce blue berry-like fruits and bluish-green foliage, and maidenhair fern (Adiantum, from the Greek word meaning “unwetted,” referring to the ability to shed water without becoming wet).
There’s a steep drop-off behind her house, but the intense angle didn’t dissuade Rorabacher from taking advantage of available soil. The intrepid grower put in ramps, blue cohosh, and false solomon’s seal.
“There’s also bleeding heart and penstemon,” said Rorabacher, pointing down the precipitous patch. “I saw dirt, so I put in plants.”
Rorabacher’s small backyard boasts a surprising variety of plants, which she pointed out despite scant evidence of greenery in early spring. “This tiny nub is mayapple,” she said, “and we’ve got foamflower, columbine, hepatica, and rattlesnake plantain.”
Rorabacher discovered other recent arrivals. “Look at this tiny early meadow rue,” she exclaimed, “and tiny, tiny, bloodroot! We also have wild oats, ramps, canada mayflower, and partridgeberry. But you’d better not blink on the partridgeberry, because it blooms for one week, tops.”
Circling back to the excitement of discovering ephemerals at the Green River recreational area, Rorabacher said, “It seems that very few people know of that spot. But I want people to know about them, and to witness the wonder while staying on paths, walking with respect, and looking for the many signs we’ve put up.”
Rorabacher is a veteran signmaker, a practice that may stem from her decades of teaching young people.
“In addition to seeing the plants, I’d love people to get involved with protecting the plants,” said Rorabacher, explaining that invasive knotweed plants threaten native species. She’s trying to organize a project whereby the knotweed would be addressed.
Rorabacher delights in nature’s cycles. “I love getting to know a place rather than always traveling to new places. It’s exciting to see how things fit together. Life is unfolding, and we get to watch the elements, even in a tiny backyard.”
Note: Visitors to the Green River recreational area in spring may encounter some or all of the following: trout lily (Erythronium americanum, also known as dogtooth violet); squirrel corn (Dicentra canadensis, small yellow clustered bulblets resembling corn kernels); Dutchman’s breeches (dicentra); ramps (wild onions); small pussytoes (Antennaria howellii, in the sunflower family); blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides); early meadow rue (Thalictrum dioicum); Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum); burdock (Arctium); Virginia creeper (or woodbine, Parthenocissus quinquefolia); Hooked crowfoot (Ranunculus recurvatus); bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), and a stunning favorite, purple trillium (or wake robin, Trillium erectum).
Eveline MacDougall is the author of “Fiery Hope” and a plant enthusiast, musician, and mom. She enjoys hearing from readers at eveline@amandlachorus.org or PO Box 223, Greenfield MA 01302.