Photos: Spring wildflowers in southern Minnesota state parks

April’s cool, wet weather delayed the show — but early spring wildflowers are now in full bloom across southern Minnesota. Two great places to view them are Nerstrand Big Woods and Carley state parks.

Nerstrand Big Woods, near Nerstrand, Minn., is home to a wide array of spring woodland wildflowers — including the endangered dwarf trout lily.

It’s related to the common, larger white trout lily, which carpets the forest floor in the park. But the dwarf trout lily, as its name suggests, is much smaller. It’s found at a handful of sites across three southern Minnesota counties — and nowhere else in the world.

Carley State Park, near Plainview, Minn., is known for the sea of bluebells that bloom each spring in the lowlands along the North Branch of the Whitewater River.

Early spring wildflowers in southern Minnesota

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Early season prairie wildflowers are in bloom, too, across southern Minnesota — including pasque flower and prairie smoke.

Early spring prairie wildflowers

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And there are countless other parks and natural areas across the state, including in the Twin Cities, where wildflowers can be seen.

If you’re not able to get out this week or weekend to see the flowers in bloom in southern Minnesota, no worries — the show will go on. Later-season woodland wildflowers like trilliums and lady’s slipper will bloom in the coming weeks, and prairie flowers will be in bloom through the summer.

And the wildflower display will creep northward across the state as the last snow melts and the weather warms in northern Minnesota.

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