Karen Wils photo The shy hepatica flower begs forgiveness for the cold months.

ESCANABA — A posy is an apology.

Flowers are forgiveness.

May is the month of blooming flowers according to Native American calendars, and we all know that “April showers bring May flowers.”

A silent but sweet-scented magic show is just beginning throughout Upper Michigan. The wildflowers are starting to bloom.

From the earliest buds pushing up through the snow to the last freeze-dried golden rods of autumn; the show is always a grand one.

After so many months of a snow white ground, the delicate greens and tiny confetti of colors that the wild flowers bring is a welcomed sight.

Maybe the wildflowers grow as an apology for the harshness of winter? Maybe a violet and a trailing arbutus are amnesty for sleet and snow?

Years ago, it was an acceptable thing for a husband to bring flowers to his wife after he upset her in some way. The flowers were a gift to forgive and forget all wrong doings.

I think wild flowers are like that, a gift from Mother Nature to make amends in the North Country. Perhaps that is why the U.P. is blessed with some of the most spectacular wildflower shows on earth.

The bloodroot flower is one of the very first blossoms to beg our pardon. This hardy, little plant belonging to the poppy family thrives in sun-dappled woodlands. Even before the leaves on the trees bud out, the bloodroot make their appearances.

Up from the drab, brown mat of decaying foliage on the forest floor, springs the bloodroot. Its waxy-white flower unfurls from the protection of its leaves. The bloodroot’s stem produces a staining red juice once used for making dye by native tribes.

The bloodroot shyly whispers an apology for all the nights below zero.

The light purple hepatica flower erupts after the first rains. Dainty and delicate, it sits like a bejeweled fairy princess on the green moss.

The sunlight has returned to the woodland’s floor. On tiny flocked stems patches of hepatica sing out “we’re so sorry for the cold north wind.”

The marsh marigolds fill the wetlands with a happy yellow smile. Some folks call these flowers “cow slips.” Just after the peepers (frogs) start singing, the marigolds start smiling. It is worth a ride in the country to watch the tree buds bursting and the creeks and ponds blooming with marigolds.

“Forgive us for the thick ice cover on the lakes, rivers and wetlands,” these flowers seem to say and offer their bright color as consolation.

The hardwoods fill with tall trillium flowers. Their heavenly white petals of three once helped Bishop Baraga explain the “Holy Trinity” three-in-one concept to people of the early church.

Now the trilliums stand like monuments to the snowdrifts. For blizzards in March and a foot of snow in April, the trilliums apologize for.

I’ll accept their apology and enjoy their colors and be ready for a summer full of wildflowers!

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.