Updated April 22nd, 2022
What’s in bloom in your MetroParks’ garden parks?
Heads up! This article was last updated 2 years ago.
The Dayton region has certainly experienced April showers – now let’s talk about April flowers. Spring ephemerals, plants that bloom for only a short time in the spring, are popping up in the gardens and along the trails of your Five Rivers MetroParks.
Need help identifying a spring plant? Download the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Wildflower Field Guide.
Here’s a list of what you can spot in Wegerzyn Gardens, Aullwood Garden, and Cox Arboretum MetroPark.
WEGERZYN GARDENS METROPARK
The gardens at Wegerzyn Gardens MetroPark feature an array of spring beauties. Walk through the Children’s Discovery Garden and formal gardens to see what’s in bloom.
- Tiarella (in bloom)
- Tulips
- Hyacinths (in bloom)
- Ornamental Onions
- Daffodils (in bloom)
- Anemone (in bloom)
- Epimedium
- Camassia
- Chionodoxa (finished blooming)
- Red Bud (showing color)
- Magnoila soulangea and star
- Dogwood (buds, no color)
- Hellebore/Lenten Rose (currently in bloom)
- Iris reticulata (finished blooming)
- Tiarella
- Shooting Star
- Jack in the Pulpit (foliage only)
- Bleeding hearts (in bloom)
- Flowering quince (in bloom)
- Vinca (white and blue) – (in bloom)
- Violets (white, blue, pale blue) – (in bloom)
- Grape Hyacinth (blue and lavender) – (in bloom)
- Red lamium (in bloom)
- Brunnera (in bloom)
- Crabapples (in bloom)
After you visit the gardens, visit the Swamp Forest boardwalk and walk the 1-mile Marie Aull Trail to see what’s blooming in this natural space.
- Daffodils (early blooms are fading)
- Bluebells (budding – some blooms)
- Redbud (showing color)
- Dogwood
- Blood root (in bloom)
- Trillium grandiflorum-Great white trillium
- Trillium sessile-Wake robin (few in bloom)
- Wild Ginger
- Waterleaf (foliage only)
- Hepatica (in bloom)
- Spring beauty (in bloom)
- Lesser celandine (in bloom)
- Trout lily (foliage only)
- Dutchman’s britches (foliage only)
- Celandine poppy (in bloom)
AULLWOOD GARDEN METROPARKS
Walk on the trail along the river to the gardens adjacent to the Aull House. See what’s in bloom in the garden, including:
- Hellebore/Lenten Rose (in bloom)
- Chionodoxa (in bloom)
- Iris reticulate (finished blooming)
- Primrose
- Anemone (currently in bloom)
- Epimedium orange, red and yellow (in bloom)
- Red Bud (showing color – pink and white)
- Daffodil (currently in bloom)
- Rue Anemone (currently in bloom)
- False rue anemone (currently in bloom)
- Magnoila star
- Frittillaria
- Tiarella
- Dogwood (budding)
- Tulips (in bloom)
- Camassia
- Brunnera (in bloom)
Along the short trails near the Aull House that wind through the woods, you may notice:
- Blood root (in bloom)
- Trout lily – yellow (in bloom)
- Trillium grandiflorum/Great white trillium
- Bluebells (bud only)
- Spring Beauty
- Twin Leaf
- Squirrel Corn
- Dutchman’s Breeches
- Trillium sessile/Wake robin
- Wild Ginger
- Blue Eyed Mary
- Mayapple
- Hepatica
- Shooting Star
- Jack in the Pulpit (foliage only)
COX ARBORETUM METROPARK
This garden park has something to wild to boast besides the impressive trees and planted flowers that will be popping up everywhere this spring. Head to the red (.6-mile), yellow (1.8-miles) or blue trails (1.1 miles) to wind through areas where you’ll see beautiful spring wildflowers.
- Toad-shade trillium (in bloom)
- Rue Anemone (in bloom)
- Yellow Trout lily (in bloom)
- White trout lily (in bloom)
- Spring beauty (in bloom)
- Bloodroot (in bloom)
- Cut-leaved toothwort (in bloom)
- Dutchman’s breeches (in bloom)
- Anemone-yellow (in bloom)
- Purple cress (in bloom)
- Virginia bluebells, white bluebells (budding – some in bloom)
- Golden ragwort (in bloom)
- Common violet (in bloom)
- Jacob’s ladder (in bloom)
- Harbinger of spring (in bloom)
- Liverwort (in bloom)
Check back frequently for an updated list of what’s in bloom in your Five Rivers MetroParks garden parks.
