Skunk Cabbage

Skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is some of the earliest ‘green’ sprouting from the cold ground in spring around here. I start looking for it in March. There wasn’t any up at Brookside Gardens in the first week of the month. By March 16, they were making an appearance at the Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm.

The leaves will be large and turning the previously brown leaf mulch bank into a vibrant green very quickly. Skunk cabbage are a welcome color change and a sure sign of spring (but stay far enough away from them to not smell them)!