Wednesday, April 24, 2013

More Spring Ephemerals

Trillium luteum, I've concluded is among the earliest Trilliums to begin flowering each year. Some are flowering this year for the first time while others have stopped flowering or alternate... I should probably research the soil chemistry they do best in. I transplanted a few to a wetter plot of the garden hoping they'll be better able to go to seed; their former garden would dry out completely over the summer the the seed pods would never develop.

Trillium grandiflorum, started flowering this week for me. They're still in the garden that gets too dry over the summer so I need to transplant them at some point. They're actually dividing nicely where they are though, plants that originally sent up one shoot are now sending up three or four.

Woodland Phlox, Phlox divaricata, started flowering too. I think this is actually a cultivar of it I picked up somewhere, because usually their flowers are more blue than purple. I actually started Phlox from seed indoors and was amazed how easily they germinated, and then how easily I forgot to water them on week and now I'm down to one.

Woodland Poppy, Styloporum diphyllum, flowers are open and loaded with pollen. I wish they'd spread more like some of the other plants I own. A few of them apparently died out from last year. They're on my list of plants to buy more of.

Round Leaf Ragwort, Senecio obovatus, I originally started with two or three of these and now they've spread out into an okay sized ground cover. This is one of those shade plants that will grow in dry conditions and you can't believe how brilliant and yellow they are. I've seen honeybees visit them but more often flies and smaller sorts of bees visit them.

Wild Bleeding Heart, Dicentra eximia, I'd bought years ago but they didn't over winter right. So I'm trying them out again. This species actually flowers all summer long though the majority of the blooms happen in the spring time. They're distributed by ants too so hopefully they establish and grow well.