Friday, May 3, 2013

Growing, Ephemerals vs Biannuals

I planted a couple dozen seeds of Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, two years ago, and I'm starting to see them germinate. It's an ephemeral who's seeds are normally distributed by ants. That means it's pretty, but also takes the better half of a decade to reach a flowering age. I believe the delayed germination gives the ants a chance to relocate their nest and it would be interesting to map how often colonies of likely seed distributing ants move their nests. I know Aphaenogaster species appear to be best at it and I know they often relocate ever few years.


Here is Tall Bellflower, Campanulastrum americanumas, as it looked in late winter. This little rosette of leaves was just a seed I'd planted around this time last year.

It's a biannual meaning it completes it's life cycle in just two years. Such plants tend to be aggressive spreading and hopefully this one will be no exception.

Tall Bellflower is right. It's grown over a foot in just a month. They can grow to be 5' tall, and start blooming from July to October. Assuming it doesn't require cross pollination with another plant I'm hoping it spreads like a weed.