After starting 2026 with round after round of serious winter weather, you might be longing for spring to get here as soon as possible. If you count the start of spring purely in terms of spring wildflower sightings, it could be here sooner than you might expect.
Up in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, flowering plants known as spring ephemerals show up as early as February, when bare tree branches still let plenty of sunlight through to the forest floor, according to the park’s website. Wildflowers that bloom in the park during this sort of «early spring preview» include trillium, lady slipper orchids, crested dwarf iris, columbine, bleeding heart, jack-in-the-pulpit and violets.