I was working on a property in Terrace Park, Ohio today and made this wonderful discovery.
What a beautiful yellow flower with an interesting leaf structure, which I found a discription of “Jesters collar”, which I must agree is accurate.
I was not familiar with this flower, but was able to identify it as Winter Aconite or Eranthis hyemalis. This beautiful woodland flower is native to Europe growing in rich organic soils, which are moist but, well drained. Winter Aconite is known to bloom before the crocus and goes dormant by late Spring.
Terrace Park is at a lower elevation of Cincinnati with a small river running along its border. Notice that these blooms are not open yet, but wait, it gets better.
One of the next properties I went to was in Indian Hill, Ohio. To my delight, there were more Winter Aconite, and these were open! 
Indian Hill, as the name indicates is at a higher elevation and borders Terrace Park. The distance between the two properties is no more than two miles, but notice the huge difference between the blooms. This is a great example of how elevations and exposures make the difference.
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