Red maple flowers (Acer rubrum)
Staminate catkins of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) floating in a pond.
Tea-leaf willow pistillate flowers (Salix planifolia)
Prairie willow staminate flowers (Salix humilis)
More flowers on shrubs and trees from around here. Trees like red maple (Acer rubrum) and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) and shrubs such as tag alder (Alnus incana), hazel (Corylus spp.), and willow (Salix spp.) are the first flowers of spring appearing before the more familiar spring ephemeral wildflowers that grow in forests.
Soon there will be other flowers in bloom. Hepatica (Anemone americana), stalked sedge (Carex pedunculata), and wood rush (Luzula acuminata) will come into flower in the next few days. These low growing plants occupy spaces on the forest floor and today on one of my rambles I noticed that many already have unopened flower buds.
Not Very Far Away 