Arabis lyrata (Lyre-leaved rockcress)
(Arabidopsis lyrata)
 
Don't let its delicate looks fool you — Lyre-leaved Rockcress is one tough little plant. This low-growing native perennial tops out at just 6–12 inches, forming a tidy rosette of lobed leaves close to the ground before sending up slender stems of small white four-petaled flowers each spring. A full sun lover, it thrives where others give up: rocky outcrops, sandy barrens, and thin acidic soils that would make most garden plants cry.
 
Those early blooms are a valuable nectar source for native bees and spring butterflies emerging from winter when not much else is flowering yet. It's also a documented host plant for the West Virginia White butterfly (Pieris virginiensis), a New England species of conservation concern that depends specifically on native rockcress for reproduction — the invasive garlic mustard, a look-alike that has spread across the region, tragically lures the butterfly into laying eggs that then fail to develop. Planting Arabis lyrata isn't just pretty, it's genuinely meaningful.
 
photo by Fritzflohrreynolds