Tag Archives: spring ephemeral

Skinny Trillium

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Many gardeners tend to ignore the narrow leaf Trillium lancifolium in favor of the larger, more impressive species, but we think this smaller toadshade is quite garden worthy. Below are two clones we’ve named and introduced in the past. One is in full flower here at JLBG, and the other is right behind in mid-March. Hardiness is Zone 6a-9b.

Those of us who have studied trilliums extensively in the wild, feel that all Trillium lancifolium are not created equal. In other words, what is currently known as Trillium lancifolium is most likely 2-3 different species. These are botanically known as cryptic species, since they are hiding in plain site. Advances in DNA now allows researchers to confirm field observations, so don’t be surprised if you see more new trillium species being named from this complex.

The first image below is Trillium lancifolium ‘Lancelot’, a selection from North Florida that forms dense clumps, compared all of the other plants from this population, which grew as solitary stems. The flowers are also butterscotch instead of the typical purple.

Trillium lancifolium ‘Lancelot’

Trillium ‘Black Panther’ is a JLBG selection from a cross of genetics from a Florida population with a Tennessee collection. It also forms dense clumps.

Trillium lancifolium 'Black Panther' in the garden
Trillium lancifolium ‘Black Panther’

Still Pulling More Toothwort Images

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We love the amazing winter flowering toothworts of the former genus, Dentaria. The latest taxonomic work moves these into the genus Cardamine, which means quite a few tag changes here at the gardens. It’s fascinating that more native plant nurseries don’t have a better offering of these amazing plants.

Flowering below this week are two of our collections from a botanizing expedition to Arkansas a few years earlier. The first is a very nice, compact form of the native Dentaria laciniata from Yell County. Below that is a new, un-named species that we discovered in Montgomery County, Arkansas.

Dentaria laciniata Yell County
Dentaria sp. nov. Montgomery County

Black Sea Cardamine

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One of our favorite woodland spring ephemerals has to the be the Black Sea cardamine, which has been simply glorious for several weeks in the woodland garden. Below is a photo of our patch, taken today. This amazing perennial doesn’t make an appearance above ground until early February, but soon after its emergence, it’s in full flower. Cardamine quinquefolia is a slow spreader, so put it in an area, where it’s free to move, since it will form a 6″ tall x 3′ wide patch in 4 years.

As a spring ephemeral, it will go completely dormant in May, resting during the hot summer months. We like to use later emerging plants throughout the patch, which emerge as the cardamine is going dormant. Hardiness zone 6a to 8b.

Cardamine quinquefolia

Burnsville Beauty

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Dentaria (Cardamine) diphylla ‘Burnsville Beauty’ is our 2008 collection of the native woodland groundcover, Dentaria (Cardamine) diphylla from a collection in Burnsville, NC. This selection stood out in the wild with much narrower and more pointed leaflets that any other clones we’ve seen. Since 2008, our division has grown into a 4′ wide patch. The foliage emerges in fall, flowers in March, and then goes summer dormant. We hope to release this selection for the first time next year.

Dentaria diphylla ‘Burnsville Beauty’

Delicate Toadshade

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Flowering now in the garden is the delicate toadshade, Trillium delicatum. This diminutive trillium, published in 2019, hails from Central Georgia, where it naturally grows in floodplains. Despite a damp habitat, it has performed beautifully for us, even in average to dry garden soils. This species is quite rare, and is suffering significant damage from feral hogs, making ex-situ conservation even more important. Our clumps are getting large enough for us to hopefully make divisions available within the next year.

Trillium delicatum

Painted Lady

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Flowering for the last week in the garden is the lovely winter iris, Iris reticulata ‘Painted Lady’. Iris reticulata is unusual in that it has bulbs instead of rhizomes. In the wild, it calls home the dry regions from Turkey to Iran. These spring ephemeral iris go to sleep for the year by late spring/early summer. Hardiness is Zone 5a-8b, at least.

Iris reticulata ‘Painted Lady’

Have you caught Galanthophila?

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Galanthophila, an obsession with snowdrops of the genus Galanthus, is spreading almost as fast as COVID did through both Europe and North America. While we love and value galanthus for their flowering in the winter garden, we’ve yet to take the plunge into full-fledged galanthophilia, which results in people sacrificing meals to have the latest new name in snowdrops for their garden. For serious galanthophiles, it’s not unusual to pay from $100 to $10,000 to have the latest, greatest selections. Although there isn’t a cure, the 12-step program seems to be able to help some gardeners keep this addiction in remission.

Here are a couple of specimens that are looking quite nice in the garden this week. Galanthus ‘Viridapice’ has been around since the 1920s, while Galanthus ‘Beth Chatto’ dates from the 1960s. Despite their advanced age, these gems have stood the test of time. All galanthus will go dormant in late spring.

Galanthus nivalis ‘Viridapice’
Galanthus plicatus ‘Beth Chatto’

Up and Underwood

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Our 2nd earliest trillium is up and almost ready to flower. The deep south native Trillium underwoodii is the second toadshade to emerge, only behind the Florida genetics of Trillium maculatum, which emerges here in December. Although there is plenty of cold remaining, Trillium underwoodii is able to tolerate multiple nights of hard freezes below 20 F after the foliage has emerged. Winter hardiness is Zone 6a-9b.

Super Food Perennial

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Will someone please explain to me why more people aren’t growing the amazing sea kale, Crambe maritima. This amazing perennial is a great tasting green that returns every year without replanting. It’s also a great flowering perennial, putting on a show now in our rock garden. We have also never seen any pest activity such as typically bothers other members of the cabbage family. Our plant is growing in half-day sun in pure gravel (in our crevice garden), and never receives any supplement irrigation. The economic return from Crambe maritima is huge. I guess some folks may not find it attractive, but darn, folks!

Buttercolor

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Here are a few buttery-colored plants flowering today in garden, starting with Arum creticum ‘Golden Torch’. This started as a small field division of a particularly large flowered selection from our 2010 expedition to Crete.

Arum creticum ‘Golden Torch’

Paeonia mlokosewitschii is known for being un-pronouncable, so most folks refer to it as Molly the Witch peony. This is a particularly lovely butter yellow form from Ellen Hornig of the former Seneca Hill Perennials.

Paeonia mlokosewitschii JLBG-03

Trillium sp. nov. freemanii is a still unpublished new trillium species (hopefully soon), that we discovered in 1998. Normally red flowered, this is a rare yellow-flowered form.

Trillium sp. nov. freemanii JLBG-014

Fritters in the Garden

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We’ve made a regular habit of killing fritillarias (the bulb…not the fried food) in the garden, especially those ungrowable brightly-colored species like Fritillaria imperialis that tantalizingly appear each fall in the major bulb catalogs.

Although it lacks the bling of it’s showier cousins, the species that is reliable for us in the garden is Fritillaria thunbergii. This native of Kazakhstan has naturalized in both western China and Japan, where it has been used medicinally for almost 1,000 years as a treatment for respiratory ills. There is still some debate among botanists whether some of the Chinese population might actually be native as well.

In the garden, Frittilaria thunbergii emerges in February, and is full flower at 2-3′ in height by early March. As with most spring ephemerals, it has gone to sleep by early May. Light shade or part sun seems to suit it fine. Hardiness is at least Zone 7a-8b.

Striking Gold

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Trillium cuneatum ‘Oconee Gold’ is a rare gold-flowered selection of the typically purple-flowered southeastern toadshade. We found our original plant of this in Oconee County, SC, and have propagated them from seed since that time. If we keep the yellow-flowered plants isolated from purple-flowering clones, we have more than 50% that reproduce with yellow flowers. The time from seed to flower is usually five years. Winter hardiness is Zone 5a-8b.

Rad Windflower

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Flowering now in the woodland garden is this rad little windflower, Anemone raddeana. This Asian native (China, Japan, Korea, and Russia) is a plant you’ll almost never see for sale. First, it flowers in the middle of winter when few people are thinking about gardening. Secondly, it’s ridiculously small, producing only a single white flower per stalk, which rises only a couple of inches from a slowly creeping rhizome. Third, it’s a spring ephemeral, meaning it will be dormant by the first of May. Finally, most people move through life too fast to even notice little gems like this. That said, if you like things like this, this is exactly the kind of thing you’ll really like. We certainly do!

Florida trilliums

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When people think of trilliums, they usually think of the cold north, but states like Florida are also home to four species of trilliums which all thrive throughout the southeastern states. Here are two of the earliest species to flower in our garden.

The first is Trillium maculatum ‘Kanapaha Giant’ from Alachua County. This is consistently the earliest trillium to emerge and flower for us. This is followed close behind by Trillium underwoodii. Both of these are usually in flower by early February.

Trillium maulataum ‘Kanapaha Giant’
Trillium underwoodii ‘Dazzler’

Harper’s Trout Lily

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Looking great in the garden today is our collection of the native spring ephemeral trout lily, Erythronium harperi. This native to a small region on the Tennessee/Alabama border is currently considered a subspecies of E. americanum, but will most likely be elevated to species status before long. Unlike many running species, this remains a tight clumper with a superb show of large yellow outfacing flowers.

Erythronium harperi

Adonis – Beauty and Desire

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Flowering this week is the aptly named Adonis amurensis ‘Sandanzaki’. This tiny spring ephemeral, whose genus is named after the God of Beauty and Desire, needs to be in a special place so it won’t get lost in the garden. The exquisite floral pattern of this Japanese selection is so amazing.

Cardamine crazy

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Look what’s in full flower now in the winter garden!.  This dazzling spring ephemeral, Cardamine quinquefolia, is just off the charts amazing for the light shade woodland garden. It has formed a stunning 3′ wide patch in four years in our Zone 7b garden. Hardiness is Zone 6a-8b.