Download a copy of IN BLOOM - a weekly listing of wildflowers that have been spotted in the National Lakeshore (pdf file, 93 kb)

Search the extensive Wildflowers of Sleeping Bear Dunes database on the web site of the Friends of Sleeping Bear Dunes.

It is a pleasure to go through the seasons with the wildflowers in the park. The earliest blooms in the woodlands include carpets of spring beauty, followed by bouquets of hepatica with samples of bloodroot, and then the yellow of trout lily. One of the earliest in the pine/oak forest is the fragrant trailing arbutus, recumbent and protected from cold with thick, hairy leaves. 

Wetter sites produce the yellow cowslip or marsh marigold. In many places in the park, the forest floor is white with trillium. The green and brown flowers of the Jack-in-the-pulpit blend well with the shaded green of the beech /maple forest. Later in June the dunes are spotted in surprising colors of bright blue harebell, orange dune lily, yellow puccoon and false heather, purple beach pea, and rosy pink of wind anemone.

By midsummer the fields will have yellow St. Johnswort, purple cow vetch and milkweed, white pearly everlasting, and orange butterfly milkweed. In the fall, there will be purple asters and yellow goldenrod. By October and into November, in the oak and pine we see the flowering shrub witch Hazel. These yellow blossoms may be seen with snow on them. Lists of flowering plants can be obtained at the visitor center.

Some wildflowers, like this Pitcher's thistle are endangered species and found only in the dunes surrounding the Great Lakes.