Another Native Going Wild

Cardinal Flower may well be my all-time favorite native plant despite its apparent scarcity in upstate New York.  The written words of John Burroughs introduced me to this treasure and he also found it scarce where he lived in the Catskills.  I believe that the wildly variable late winter weather so common in our area is the problem.  Extremely warm days followed by hard freezes so common here may be the cause of the frequent  die outs while in the Adirondacks this plant grows in huge numbers.  This evergreen plant can handle uniform cold there while here it frequently is destroyed.

An independently surviving patch is our goal and we may have found a sheltered spot.  Behind these plants is a sizeable glacial deposit that limits sunlight as winter is receding.  Snow cover lingers protecting these plants.  The only impact of human hands here this year was the removal of Garlic mustard.  We did plant the Cardinal Flower but the Blue Flag in the foreground appeared here on its own.  The nearby road to the gravel bank traps water.  Both plants prefer extra moisture.  We will weed again later in the year and renew the layer of ground tree leaves intending to help create a natural woodland soil with some help in the fight against weeds.

  

Some might feel that plants growing in our shade garden cannot be called wild.  The group in the foreground was transplanted here and continues to receive the human attention so common in a garden.  We delay the removal of the previous season's dead stems intending to leave a natural protective mulch.  Snow pushed or blown from the driveway lingers delaying exposure to harsh elements. To date, these plants have eluded the perils of late winter weather extreme temperature swings.  

The growth habit of this plant causes confusion.  Each fall the plant dies to the ground leaving only the new growth of low rosettes that with luck will flower the following year.  We are uncertain if the label perennial is appropriate.  The low rosettes are all new growth retaining no part of the now dead plant.  These new plants also presents a long term problem.  As many as six rosettes grow at the base of a now dead single plant.  As years pass, these plants become overcrowded.  Some that we have left alone for years have become small somewhat pathetic plants with insufficient room to grow.  We will be watching this group as we intend to not interfere with this native plant. 

 

These plants can be seen in the background of the above picture.  Cardinal Flower also produces a huge number of seeds that are rather picky about growing.  Given adequate moisture and warmth, a low rosette very similar to what is described above constitutes the first year's growth.  A mature flowering plant follows the next summer.  We had nothing to do with the placement of these plants.  Fortunately we did not unknowingly weed them out.  It may be that this plant with two totally different methods of reproduction is likely to survive the natural overcrowding previously described but the evergreen plants from seed face the same perils of our late winter harsh weather.

This closeup shows the method used to produce seed.  The limp white organs presented themselves just this morning.  Pushing past the at the time pollen laden white beard, completes the transfer necessary to produce viable seed.  While hummingbirds love these red flowers, they play no part in the transfer of pollen.

 

In his essay dealing with Cardinal Flower, Burroughs offered red Monarda as a possible more common source of brilliant red flowers.  Bee Balm is a native plant but the red blossoms are not.  When we buried our electric supply wires decades ago, I marked the location of the underground wires with these plants.  We have never given these plants any attention since they were planted so in a sense they are surviving native plants.
 

Who Planted These?

This  stand of red Monarda  is a very recent discovery.  We have two patches growing in planting beds but these were hidden in chest high weeds near our electric pole.  Bee balm spreads from new stems growing in contact with the ground and root runners just out of sight.  There is a lack of agreement here if seeds actually develop.  Many plants have two methods of providing for the next generation so I will need to look for seeds when these plants are cut back

When we moved here to live twenty-one years ago, there was no soil suitable for plants.  Stones of various sizes were more prevalent  than soil.  Our electric line is buried for a considerable distance from our pole to the house.  We filled the necessary trench using hand tools and it is likely that stones were not part of the fill.   Several days after the discovery of these stunning red flowers, Becky remembered moving some of our plants from our former Unadilla home to the site of our future home.  Only the Bee balm survived decades of neglect.

In John Burroughs' writings he touched on this native plant as an easier source of red for the garden than Cardinal flower.  His attempts to find Cardinal flower growing in the wild were seldom successful.  Keeping it alive in a garden is no simple task in our area.  We have been wrestling with Cardinal flower for years and have managed to keep this treasure alive while the Monarda survives here both in the garden and totally on its own.  It is easy to have huge plantings of these red flowers.  They also bloom earlier than Cardinal flower.

The major drawback to Bee balm is the powdery mildew that covers every surface on the plants after they flower.  It is ugly beyond description and we cut the plants back to the ground in a futile attempt to control this growth.  No one has cut back these long forgotten plants.  Their present appearance is beautiful.  We will check back to see if the powdery mildew  grows on these wild plants.

The other major attraction of these bright red flowers is their popularity with both humming birds and Clearwing moths.  We can only watch the humming birds from a distance while the Clearwings fly close to us and are not at all bothered by our close presence.  The other name for these creatures is Humming bird moth as their method of flying is easily mistaken for the look alike birds.

Our garden Monardas are just out of view so this picture really has no place in this post.   I suppose we could offer red Bee balm plants to anyone that can describe the location of the fifth deer in this photo.

Inside By 9

An intolerance of heat is increasing in severity as the years pass.  We tried to get in some garden work early in the day, but dry and dizzy quickly sent me inside.  We are fortunate in that the high temperature forecast for today has been lowered by three degrees to a mere 90.  That is within a degree of yesterday's high and we survived that so today looks like another inside the house day.

My large potted Cardinal Flowers needed weeding.  We intend for these plants to take the place of early spring potted plants.  Each of these will come out of winter with up to six daughter plants growing around the long dead stem of this year's flowering plant.  Planting out multiple young plants should increase the display next year.  I will also be spared carrying in four heavy trays of potted plants when frost threatens.  These twelve pots will likely require six trips to the basement.

A red flower can be seen growing close to the stone wall. Bee Balm is another native plant.  In his writings about the scarcity of Cardinal Flower, John Burroughs suggested the substitution of Bee Balm for a red flowering garden plant.  Its red is a great looking one and the plant spreads invasively.  That said, I do not know why I continue to try and reintroduce Cardinal Flower into the wild and carry it over in the gardens.  Bee Balm would require much less work and both the hummingbirds and hummingbird moths freely feed from its flowers.

Keeping these potted plants free of weeds has allowed me to see things never seen before.  At the end of the growing season, new plants are present around the old stem.  Perhaps these new plants are already up and growing.  Not every pot shows this early growth so we intend to watch and learn.  This pot contains two stems that will flower this year because the choice was not to pull them apart when they were transferred to pots early this spring.

Some time ago the discovery of deer footprints close by and a nipped off stem did not make me happy.  While weeding here today, the footprint was obvious but the cut stem could not be found.  Unable to fiercely trust the accuracy of my memory, I could not find the deer damage but remained shakily sure that it was present.  Becky quickly found it under the three new stems growing close to the damaged stem.  I have seen pictures of the results of pruning Cardinal Flower.  Knee high plants densely  covered with brilliant red flowers left a lasting impression.  Reluctant to prune a native treasure, tall thin natural displays are all that grow here.  This year that pesky fawn will allow me to see first hand the results of pruning Cardinal Flower.

This is the dry stone wall that lines the curved ramp to the basement.  Snakes are sometimes seen both inside of the wall and outside on level ground.  A garter snake and I have had numerous recent encounters.  This morning we found its shed skin and once again wondered just how the serpents use our stones to rub off their old skin.  This snake is already larger than most seen here.  Can't wait to see the larger version dressed in bright new skin.