Wildflower Wednesday: The Siren Call of a Wildflower

My favorite garden catalogs arrived this month and just like that I am head over heels in want of a plant that could be wrong for this garden!

with pedulous umbels that are similar to allium (source 

Meet Asclepias exaltata! A Monarch butterfly host plant that grows in shade. I'm not kidding, Asclepias exaltata is one of the most shade tolerant of its genus. That's exciting news for those of us that have more shade than sun in our gardens and want to grow host plants for the Monarch butterfly.

But, there's a but, Asclepias exaltata is a moisture loving plant! Where I garden the soils are generally dryer (summer), heavier and more neutral than where poke milkweed is naturally found. Is this enough of an issue to make me turn a deaf ear to the siren call of this beautiful wildflower?

I don't know, so I'm going to research Poke milkweed before I sail away!

R W Smith photographer

 A. exaltata is a tall and elegant looking flowering plant that can be found in woodland areas across the eastern portion of the United States and Canada. It has a sweet fragrance in bloom and the weeping downward pinkish flowers have been described as reminiscent of an exploded firework.  I like the exploded firework image, but, for the more botanically inclined:  "Umbels weep down with each flower on a long pedicel with 10+/- flowers per umbel. Color is white with lavender to green tinges. Stems of the umbels are a purplish color. Horns protrude through the hoods. Corolla reflexes backward. Corolla, hoods, and horns are a light pink color. " (Monarch Watch source)

The unique flowers give way to beautiful elongated seed pods in late summer. Poke milkweed is taller than its relatives and is less likely to take over your entire garden like Asclepias syriaca/common milkweed.  Once established its deep taproot will make it nearly impossible to transplant successfully, so it’s best planted where it will be happy, and left undisturbed.

The photos below are from the Minnesota Wildflower website.

Look at that plant in the shade

The plant gets its common name from it's large leaves which superficially resemble Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana).

Provides a Monarch larval food source in the shade!

All sources mentioned that it grows best in moist soil and several suggest that it's happiest in moist soils along with cooler temperatures. All of the sources say it flowers nicely in dappled sun and some, say it will flower in full shade. One grower suggests keeping it out of the direct sun or the leaves will yellow. Illinois Wildflowers says the plants must be protected from prevailing winds and grown in rich loamy moist soil with good drainage.

All agree that it has a strikingly sweet fragrance when in bloom and the seed pods are cool. Several gardeners said that bunnies ate their plants to the ground.

The particulars

Asclepias exaltata
Common Names: Tall Milkweed, Poke milkweed
Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed Family)
Perennial Native Wildflower
Bloom: Jun, Jul, Aug
Color:  White, Pink
USDA Zones: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
US Regions: Midwest, Northern, Northeast, Southeast
Distribution: AL, CT, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV  Canada: ON, QC
Light: Partial, Shade
Soil: Sand, rich loam
Moisture: Seems to require moderate moisture.
Size: 3'-5'
Benefits: Pollinators, Butterflies,
Habitat: Woodland plant, grows best in dappled sunlight in the understory in loamy soils with moderate moisture. Taprooted.
Deer Resistant, but not bunny resistant
Germination: Requires stratification cold/wet for 4 weeks. Seeds are not expensive and are available on the internet.
Uses: Attracts Pollinators, Honeybees,  Butterflies and bunnies
Good wildlife value

In conclusion: Butterfly lovers with shady gardens are in luck! Especially, if you have a moist, shady garden in the eastern United States and Canada. If you have a dry shade garden and want to water this plant during dry periods you, too, can grow A exaltata. Forget growing it in the deep south, it's too hot. If you have a sunny, dry garden then stick with A tuberosa, you won't be disappointed or exhausted from dragging a hose around all summer.

 I still hear the siren song, but, right now, I'm leaning toward growing it from seed, in a container, close to the door, where I can smell the sweet fragrance, watch pollinators visiting and water it daily.

xoxogail

PS Before I go, I want to share with you garden guidelines that help me make better plant choices.  You can modify it to fit your garden and goals.

Before I place any in the online cart I like to make sure:

• It has a good chance to survive the difficult conditions at Clay and Limestone.
• It's a middle Tennessee or Central Basin native.
• It's a nectar or pollen source for pollinators.
• It's a host plant for pollinators.
• It has berries, seeds and/or nuts for my critter visitors and residents. 
• It has good wildlife value.
• It will aid the diversity of my critter friendly garden.
• It isn't available locally.
• Exceptions can be applied by a gardener willing to haul water all summer long for moisture loving plants; purchase containers so plants get good drainage; and, what ever else a plant needs whose siren call won the gardener's heart.

Welcome to Wildflower Wednesday and thank you for stopping by to see what plant made a siren call to me this month. Thanks for joining in and if you are new to Wildflower Wednesday, it's about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if your wildflower is in bloom or not and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. Please leave a comment when you add your url to Mr Linky.




Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Garden Update: It's raining. Again.

 Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, just shaking my head with wonder and disbelief! It's August and we've had more rain than I can remember ever having during a Middle Tennessee summer. The Joe-Pye weed, Cup plant and Susans are thrilled. So is the moisture loving Cardinal flower and the new Hibiscus coccineus (planted last year). Even the plants that are in deepest shade under the Oak and Hickory canopy are thriving.

I've nothing to complain about, last year in the midst of the drought the entire garden needed extra watering to survive. By August the drought and the extreme heat brought the summer garden season to an early end. It went out with a whimper (or was that me) of crispness.

This year the moisture loving plants like the Joes are in their element, but, I've lost Asclepias tuberosa and Echinacea pallida, both plants that have been in my garden for years. They're tap rooted plants that need well draining soil and they rotted from the clay that has been sopping wet all summer. Consequently, I've been doing the Central Basin what should I plant dance since I pulled them out of the garden.

Traditionally,  this is a dance that one does while standing in the middle of the nursery aisles surrounded by plants in full bloom and enticingly beautiful. You take two steps forward and one step back while singing, "Will these xeric plants survive this winter or will I have to water the moisture lovers all summer?" This summer, I had to add another verse to the song, "Baby, we never know what next summer will bring, let's be smart about it..." Cha-cha-cha!

I'm a fairly smart Central Basin gardener and generally stick to tried and true natives and native friendly exotics, but, that doesn't mean I don't fall for a plant that needs more coddling than my rough and tumble wildflowers usually require.

H coccineus, a marsh loving plant that I hope can survive our usually dry summer

Take the Scarlet rosemallow that was added last fall. It's a marsh resident in most of the Southeastern states (not a Tennessee native) that has thrived with our steady winter, spring and summer rains. I'm crossing my fingers that it gets well established and continues to be happy at Clay and Limestone. That rose flower has me smitten! Isn't is wonderful!

Usually, by this time of the summer my energy is spent and I am lounging around inside trying to keep cool and away from the skeeters. This year, the weather has not only been wetter, it's been cooler. We've had fewer than 5 days with temperatures above 90F. Gardening has been a treat and even the mosquitoes haven't been able to keep most of us out of the garden.

I know, it's amazing!

So when I say it's raining again, please know that I really am appreciative of this amazing gift after years of drought and plant loss.
 

xoxogail

PS   To read more about our feature flower, the Joe-Pye weed ~Wildflower Wednesday: The Joes
       To read more about Rough and Tumble wildflowers~ Rough and Tumble Wildflowers
       To read more about gardening in the Central Basin~The Central Basin
       To read more about planting in Middle Tennessee~Not The Climate For Xeric
       To read more about why I plant natives~Plant More Natives

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Rhododendron periclymenoides 'Rosy Pink'

Is this the rhododendron that can can survive my Middle Tennessee garden?

I sure hope so! For years I have dreamed of the sweet fragrance of native azaleas wafting through my garden. 

Other azaleas have come and gone. Like the beautiful 'Golden Lights' I tried four years ago. She was beautiful the first season, by the second merely pretty and then gone by the third spring. 

 I met 'Rosy Pink' last year while strolling through a favorite garden center. The yellow tag simply read: 'Rosy Pink Azalea'. The deciduous azalea was covered with big, fat buds ready to open and welcome the spring!  I bought three and planted them in the Garden of Benign Neglect in an acid soil enriched bed along with Leucothoe axillaris 'Sarah's Choice'  and an underplanting of Iris cristata and trilliums. While planting them I discovered a tag buried under the mulch that identified Rosy as Deciduous Azalea R. periclymenoides Bloom: Rose/Pink. Go here to read the original post. 

'Rosy Pink' was beautiful from her first swollen bud until all the blooms dropped off weeks later.  The garden smelled delicious every time the wind blew. Then summer arrived and with it came a drought that lasted till late fall. I was able to keep all the Rosy Pink azaleas alive, but, they didn't set many flower buds. This spring there were only a few beautiful blooms.

Naturally, I bought more. The experiment wasn't nearly over! **

Flowers range from soft pink to dark pink and are sweetly scented and very beautiful.

This time I planted them in the front garden where several Rhododendron canescens already resided. They were planted last fall, rescues from the late summer sale table.  Of course, I didn't plant any of them in my "pretty darn close to a cedar glade micro-environment" without amending the soil!  (More about this micro-environment here) Dozens of years of decaying leaf litter had made it rich and humusy, but, soil conditioner and a Woodland Soil Mix created for acid loving plants made it even better. Azaleas might like moist soil, but these also want sharp drainage. In my clay soil that means planting them high and mulching them with pine straw. I want these beauties to have the best chance to survive.

 The delicate petals curl back exposing long stamens and styles

After all, I have dreams and I'll continue to work to make them happen.

xoxogail

** Thanks to Frances of Fairegarden for inspiring me to plant our beautiful native azaleas.  Hers really rock!

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Fill Your Garden With Native Plants

You'll never be sorry! Especially, if you're experiencing a challenging summer like we're having here in Middle Tennessee. 

Echinaceas never fails to attract pollinators

My garden is a Central Basin plant community with plants native to cedar glades and the adjacent oak-hickory-red cedar forests. Anyone who has gardened near here knows we have heavy, nearly neutral clay soils that sit atop a limestone bedrock.  It's shallow and sticky wet all winter and dry as concrete all summer.  It took me awhile, but, I eventually figured out, that in order to have a garden that was beautiful and thrived, I was going to have to plant natives. Tough natives!

Sure, they have to be tough, but we like them good-looking and useful, too.

Pycnanthemum muticum is not native to the Central Basin, but, it's a pollinator magnet 

Plants that come to live at C and L need to contribute to a habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife. (Gardening For Wildlife)

natives greet visitors as they walk the path to the front porch.

Plants like Phlox paniculata and Panicum virgatum 'Northwind' fit the bill. Bonus points are awarded because they can take a half day of sun.

If you think you can't grow colorful natives in the shade, give species phlox a try. 

Summer phlox is my go to native plant for colorful blooms in the shade. Although, there are still a few modern cultivars in the garden, most has long reverted to the species. It might not bloom as floriferously as those full sun cultivars and hybrids, but, you won't be disappointed by its lovely flowers.  If you allow some to go to seed, you'll be rewarded with offspring that shows some very interesting variations.  Just check out the very charming offspring of P paniculata 'David' and P paniculata sps. (above photo). They are drought tolerant but, happier with weekly rain.

Although, I almost always choose the species when adding plants to my garden, I really flipped for 'Peachie's Pick' stokesia. Unfortunately, some hybrids and cultivars have lost their wildflower vigor and hardiness on the way to being made more beautiful, but, that's not the case with this stokesia. She's a tough beauty. The skippers, small butterflies and little bees love Peachie, too.  (I pinky swear I don't mind that she needs supplemental watering this summer and to be perfectly honest, every summer!)

The dry searing heat and no rain for two months has been especially hard on even the toughest natives growing in shallow soil in full sun!

 But, the Gaillardia is not bothered by the heat.

something loves to nibble on the petals Echinacea tennesseensis

Neither are the Tennessee coneflowers or their offspring.  They are summer troopers. They ask only for sunshine and sharp drainage. Established plantings can survive in a cedar glade with temperatures near 110F, so my garden is no challenge to them!

The heat and drought are a challenge to this gardener.  I worry about my garden and the effects a long term drought will have on it.  Even the toughest drought tolerant native plants need occasional rain!  No matter what, I'll continue to plant Central Basin natives because it makes sense. They have the best survival chances in the long run: they've adapted to a climate of extremes, tolerate our shallow clay soil and support wildlife.  

They make me happy, too.


xoxogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers. Please leave a comment when you add your url to Mr Linky.



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone." She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Willowleaf Sunflower~Not Just Another Yellow Flower For The Garden!

Helianthus salicifolius

I had no idea I would fall head over heels for another yellow flower when I ordered Helianthus salicifolius last fall.  In fact,  I completely forgot I planted it below the Crapemyrtle, 'Natchez' until it budded and bloomed a few weeks ago.

It's been a lovely addition to the late summer/early fall  garden with its profuse late summer blooms and its graceful willow-like foliage.

 Although, I haven't been able to capture a decent photo of the bees that visit this darling,  I was able to catch a slow moving crab spider.  This tiny little creature uses  camouflage and stealth to capture its prey.   Crab Spiders really do resemble their namesake!   Their over sized first/front legs are  held open to grab their prey and  they walk sideways or backwards using their back legs to maneuver. Just like a tiny crab! But, I digress!

leans over after rain~but, I don't mind

Willow-leaf sunflower has so many pluses that I had to make an exception to my plant wildflowers  indigenous to the Central Basin rule.  Don't you agree that it's a perfect addition to the rough and tumble wildflower mix at Clay and Limestone!

• it has those pretty daisy like flowers that bloom from September through frost; 
• it's  attractive to wildlife; 
• lovely wispy leaves that resemble Amsonia hubrectii
• will grow in dry sunny spots;
• tolerates limestone; 
• it looks fabulous with all the purple and lilac flowers; and,
• has the potential to grow quite tall in the ideal spot.

It really isn't just another yellow daisy/composite flower to me.  It's a late blooming,  pollen rich plant that provides food for many types of bees and other pollinators,  insects, crab spiders and seed loving song birds.  Give it a try~You will love it!  But, you don't have to take my word for it!   Dee/Red Dirt Ramblings has it in her Central South garden, too.

xxoogail

Winter Asters

,

 Asters*,  the stars of Autumn,  have a  have a second life at Clay and Limestone each winter. 

 Asters (as they were known then) and other endemic Central Basin natives grew with happy abandon in the forested woodland where C and L now stands.  Sixty years ago a neighborhood was carved from the woods and a house was built.  Homeowners came and went,  while  the asters grew quietly  on the woodland  edge.  Twenty five years ago this brand new  gardener fell head over heals in love with the blue clouds of flowers that were covered with bees and butterflies in the yard of her new home.  They  so captured my heart,  that I built a garden  around them.   I've allowed them to  root and seed  themselves with abandon.  Symphyotrichum shortii, Symphyotrichum cordifolium, Symphyotrichum dumosus, Eurybia divaricata, Symphyotrichum lateriflorum, Symphyotrichum priceae, and Symphyotrichum ericoides var. ericoides  have  spilled into the paths,  crept into the wildflower beds and  cozied  up to the benches all over Clay and Limestone.

Each fall they fade to  seedy gorgeousness.

They  spill over  into the paths, 

they creep into the wildflower beds and,

 they cozy up to the benches.
 

Where they have become the stars of my winter garden.

Isn't nature grand!

xxoogail

More on Clay and Limestone's asters
Little Asters Everywhere (here)
Natives For Fall Color (here)
This Is The Place To Bee (here)
Central Basin Wildflowers (here)

This post was written by Gail Eichelberger for my blog Clay and Limestone Copyright 2011.This work protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

The Central Basin

The hills of Warner Park as seen from Cheekwood mansion


Right in the center of Tennessee is the Nashville Basin/Central Basin. The Central Basin is an elliptical shaped depression that is approximately 120 miles long and 50 to 60 miles wide. Davidson County, where I garden, is in the Central Basin. It is a land of gently rolling hills with the taller hills of Radnor Lake to the south and the Warner Parks to the west.


The Central South lies within a humid mesothermal climate region. Which means we have four distinct seasons with fairly mild winters. That doesn't mean we don't have some cold winter days, but before long the temperature returns to the pleasant high 30s or 40s. Very tolerable until we have an unpredictable cold spell right in the middle of some pleasant spring weather...zapping the early bloom. Our summers are hot, humid and lately, very dry.

We get most of our rainfall during the spring and winter months. Even when we get enough rainfall, my shallow, clay soil and sloping yard have a significant impact on how much water actually gets to the plants. Another factor I have noticed is the effect the intensity of the rainfall has on a garden. A gentle rain often cannot penetrate the tree canopy to get to woodland gardens ....and the very hard rains hit the clay soil and runs off into the streets and drainage ditches before it has a chance to be absorbed. This is especially true when the soil is very dry; conditions similar to last summer.

Extreme weather is probably the most important factor in the Central South: dogwood winter, blackberry winter and cotton britches winter are names given to unexpected cold weather that nips spring bloom in the bud. But last year's drought with weeks of extremely hot and dry weather was even more damaging to our gardens than the late frost. It seemed that some neighborhoods were hit harder than others. My neighbors lost many magnolias, sugar maples, shagbark hickories and pine trees. I lost several dogwood trees and a native holly all too far from the water spigot to water regularly.

Underneath our clay soil is a substrate of limestone that is 500 million years old. Now that is a cool factoid! Well, I could describe how the shallow sea that once covered a large part of North America receded and plant succession created our beautiful vegetation, but that could bore you and you didn't stop by to read a geological report. Would you accept my word that this limestone bedrock is cool and an extremely important factor in the development of soil and plant communities? Here is an example of how important it continues to be: Last fall Mike Berkley (Growild) and I were talking about how hard the drought hit my neighborhood. He said that the fissures and cracks in the limestone bedrock in the West Nashville area allowed the water to be carried away.

Our limestone bedrock is on display all the time: you drive by it every time you travel on any of our interstates...blasted open for all to see. Isn't it beautiful?

The central south was once a magnificent forest with pockets of Cedar Glades. But city growth and sprawl have replaced the forests and destroyed many cedar glades. For the most part Nashville is considered to be drier and support oak (Quercus) and Hickory (Carya) forests. The Warner Parks are good examples of the hilly forested land. My yard has dozens of oaks, hickories and other native trees. We joke that we have plant succession going on in our front and back yards because the leaf litter continues to alter the soil composition and every bird dropped seed wants to grow and turn this yard completely into a deciduous forest. Since I let the leaf litter remain in place my soil composition is in the process of changing from clay to a more humus rich clay....who knows what will grow there in a few years. I just wish that honeysuckle and privet weren't so successful.


Each yard has its own unique plant community. Whether your yard is sloped, flat or has been altered by construction; whether the soil is neutral, acidic, shallow or deep; whether water and sunshine can reach your plants are the components that add up to create your very own unique plant community.

I decided to make peace with my shallow, dry, clay soil and plant natives that will thrive here. The big canopy trees, oaks (quercus) hickories (Carya) hackberries (celtis), and others were here and there were some terrific understory trees including red buds (cersis) dogwood (cornus) and rusty blackhaw (viburnum rufidulum). There was no shrub or herbacious layer so I added shrubs like Grow Low sumac (Rhus aromatica), St. John-wort (Hypericum frondosum), Oak Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) and wild hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) and grasses/perennials/wildflowers including aquilegia canadensis, heucheras and dodecatheon meadia (shooting star). I wanted the yard to have a woodland look and feel that I could see and enjoy from my front porch. This woodland is a Central Basin woodland...with dryer, heavier and more neutral soils.


Anyone who has tried to grow azaleas, even native azaleas, knows we have heavy, nearly neutral limestone soils. Soil that can dry concrete hard or be so wet it is a slick, sticky glob that drowns/smothers a plant. The soil can be shallow or fairly deep. Mine is shallow with a few exposed rocks and when you dig you will unearth perfect rocks for walls. Once you remove the rock you have a nice deep hole. This is a good time to amend the soil with nice fluffy composted soil; unless you are planting Tennessee Coneflower (Echinacea tennesseensis) and other plants that have learned to adapt to harsher conditions and don't thrive when pampered. Then plain, not too fertile garden soil with sharper drainage works just fine.


Considering our nearly neutral soil, don't expect to find acid loving wildflowers here. But do expect to find some really lovely natives. Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia), Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), Rose Verbena (Verbena candensis), wood asters, Trout Lily (Erythronium albidum), any many, many more grow very happily in our soil.

When I moved to this property 20+ years ago, I found patches of False Garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve) Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrynchium augustifolium),Downy Wood Mint (Blephilia ciliata) and Western Daisy (Astranthium intergrifolium). Also Mayappple (Podopyllum peltatum) was romping in the woods behind our house and Hairy Beard-Tongue (Penstemon hirsutus) was thriving in a soggy, shady spot (it didn't mind having its roots wet all winter or dry all summer). Finding those plants was a delight and a gift.


It's true, I have often wished for deeper, richer, less rocky land. Especially when I start a new bed and hit that darn rock or turn over that gooey clay! But as my neighbor said to me when I complained to her that a new neighbor was "actually cutting down a red cedar so he could grow grass, when everyone knows grass is nearly impossible to grow in our neighborhood and why was he cutting down that beautiful tree with all is winter color... snarl, snarl". She said, calmly and wisely "Isn't it amazing that others are getting rid of the very thing we want?"

Did I say I had made peace with my garden, it's a process.

Gail


**Disclaimer and credit: I credit Thomas Hemmerly's excellent books for educating me about gardening with wildflowers. Any and all factoid mistakes I have made are mine.