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.
 

Arbutus In The Hands Of Mother Nature

This naturally occurring patch of Arbutus plants is located in the lumpy overburden that was pushed aside to open the gravel bank perhaps sixty or seventy years ago.  We have been on this land for twenty-seven years.  Initially, these plants were difficult to find.  Some years a few flowers were present while other years no trace of the plants could be found.  It is likely that foraging wildlife fed on the leaves during late winter's lack of green plants.  Our solution to the attacks was to construct a shallow stone well whose sides would prevent entry under the wire cage.  That intrusion into the natural cycle has protected these evergreen leaves for the past eleven years.  Any plant growth outside of the cage is fair game.  This planting remains small perhaps in response to the stone laden soil.  We have been unable to identify just how many plants are growing here but seed production has remained absent.

Conventional wisdom holds that Arbutus cannot be successfully transplanted.  Never having limited my activities to conform with ideas held by others, four plants were transplanted about a decade ago.  During the late winter of their first year here, a woodchuck feasted on three of these plants.  One was eaten clear to the ground.  Two others suffered considerable damage while the fourth plant was small and hidden by moss.  The critter never found the hidden small plant.  Fortifications were built and to date no rabbit or woodchuck has been able to feast on these plants.

Our accumulated knowledge about Arbutus plants at the time was scant at best.  We did not know that there are both male and female plants.  As luck would have it, three of these plants are male.  The small plant growing with moss eventually matured and revealed her gender in flowers that were different from the others.  For whatever reason seeds have never been seen in this group.

This is our second attempt to transplant Arbutus.  We gathered more knowledge between the two attempts so this group of six plants contains three male plants and three females.  These plants have reliably produced seed for several years but no identifiable from seed plants have ever been found.  Attempts to start plants from seed have also been unsuccessful.  This plant has taught us that it will proceed only at its own pace and no attempt  by any man will move it from its natural schedule.  The density of these plants is something never seen among wild plants.  The pruning by hungry animals may result in open ground among wild plants.

This transplant site was chosen because of its nearness to a White pine tree and the lane.  The center of the lane marks the border between three property owners.  The right-of-way users have been slow to demonstrate respect for the limits of their use of this land so the stone wall was built to define the location of the end of the lane.  To date these plants have suffered no damage from man nor beast.

 

 When we were digging the six plants seen above, an unusual group of five tiny plants was found.  They also were removed from the ground and placed along the inside edge of a protective cage.  Several years later two plants remained.  Both genders were present and seed production followed their relocation and maturity.  Here again we have been unable to find any plants from seed despite the more open ground.

The jumble of stones in the background marks the area where fertile river bottom land borders the gravel and stone filled mess that the glacier deposited between the river and the bedrock ridge.  Those stones were cleared to produce fields fit for cultivation.  Our land contains no river bottom land but the deep soil formed from fallen White pine needles seems to suit these two Arbutus plants.  Little time passed between their initial planting and reaching the edge of the cage.  We are eager to see if any of the growth beyond the cage survives.

Age has severely limited our attempts to care for much of our gardens.  Many areas have become weed filled but the arbutus were planted in the natural soil under pine trees and remain largely weed free.  They are basically on their own now.  For a short time we will continue to watch these plants and enjoy their unfolding life cycle.  Hopefully the next owners of this land will recognize the special nature of these plants and help them along if that is needed.