Clay and Limestone's Season Openers

The season is starting to heat up and the earliest of the native plants are blooming.

Dentaria laciniata/Cardamine concatenata, also known as Cutleaf Toothwort is our opening act.  It's one of my favorite of the Spring Ephemerals that grace this garden starting in late February.

 Like many early blooming spring wildflowers this one is low to the ground (and you can count on getting dirty knees trying to take a decent photo).  While you're crawling around you might notice their sweet fragrance.  It's especially noticeable on sunny warm days.  The pollinators appreciate their scent; look for honey bees, bumblebees, Mason bees, Cuckoo bees, Miner bees, Halictid bees, and Andrenid bees which are attracted to its nectar.

My favorite Toothwort photo from a past season

This is a common plant in Middle Tennessee and if you have one plant, you will soon have more. It spreads by rhizome and seed. But, don't be afraid, it's an ephemeral and will disappear after setting seed.

Claytonia virginica is also in bloom all over the neighborhood.  It blankets neighboring lawns for almost a month and makes me green with envy!  I am working hard to add this pretty to the garden and I am happy to say~it's working.  It prefers dappled sunlight with rich loamy soil.  

It looks fantastic in lawns and if you can delay mowing and let it go to seed you won't ever be sorry.

False Rue Anemone

The anemones are also opening.  Enemion biternatum blooms first and produces a beautiful leafy mat with a few scattered flowers and prefers partial sun, slightly moist, rich loamy soil with abundant leaf mould.

Such a pretty face.  You can totally understand why I don't mind crawling around on the ground to see them!

xxoogail

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.