Finally Warmer Weather

Our recent weather featured three consecutive days of overnight frost.  Some plants were damaged while others look just fine.  These two Goldenseal plants were transplanted about four years ago.  Native plants sometimes do not take that well but these are now sending up new plants.  We may have the option of relocating the young ones.

Trilliums are a plant remembered from my childhood.  Our woods featured a large dense group of these plants.  Many authors describe a seven year wait for plants going from seed to maturity.  Each year we transplant more but few survive.  These are doing fine with first flowers open.  The white flowers in the background are Wood anemones and they have increased in numbers creating a more natural looking carpet.  We hope to live long enough to see the Trilliums more densely packed.  The newly applied leaf mulch was run through the mower last Fall.  Somehow it lacks a natural appearance now but will build a rich black natural looking soil.

The cage protecting these two Twinleaf plants is necessary as our resident deer have destroyed them in the past.  Each plant produced two flower buds but one was broken in the wind.  The flowers lasted less than two full days.  We  will be watching for seeds but the frosts may have ended that.  At least the plants look good.

Trout lilies present a genuine puzzle.  The last glacier left behind soil filled with many stones.  We find a large number of plants with only a single leaf since their struggle to move their corm deeper and flower is blocked by stones.  This garden placement featured soil that was sifted and is stone free to a depth of eight inches.  Here these plants moved from our woods grow like weeds.  We have never seen a dense mass of flowers like this in a natural setting.

Later that day a deer was seen feeding here.  Inspection revealed that these blossoms are tasty since all are now gone and they were bitten off.  No seeds will form this year but more plants are clearly not needed in this location.

Our Bloodroot continue to struggle.  Three plants from seed are trying to grow here.  The oldest plant next to the dead stick flowered first but never opened its leaf.  It appears to be dead.  Close by to its left is another plant trying to spread its leaf and open its flower.  In the center of the picture is a plant in flower but no leaf can be seen.  We have been trying to establish a natural looking group for many years.  Clearly something is missing here.

 

Nearby a more successful introduction of a native plant appears to be off to a great start.  Our transplanted Yellow Ladies-slipper initially had only two or three  stems.  We knew of a wild plant that was growing right next to a rotting tree stump.  We planted a dead stump here and it continues to break down.  Perhaps the stump contributes something to the soil that this plant needs.  This new growth promises an impressive mature flowering plant this year.