Wildflower Wednesday: False Solomon's Seal

Maianthemum racemosum (Smilacina racemosa) is the star of April's Wildflower Wednesday.

False Solomon's Seal is a colonizer that spreads very slowly, so gardeners, we don't have to worry that it will crowd out our beloved Spring ephemerals like other colonizing natives have been known to do. I find it makes a charming ground cover beneath understory trees in a woodland garden. In my garden it mingles with Golden ragwort, Christmas ferns and Purple phacelia. It likes rich, loamy woodland soil, but, is tolerant of both moist and dry conditions.

I am very fond of it and appreciate that it is attractive in the garden from early spring to winter frost.

crooked arching stems and large leaves of early spring are attention grabbers

The crooked arching stems and large leaves of early spring are attention grabbers, but soon the white flowers take center stage.

 Each plant produces a plume of slightly fragrant snow-white flowers with creamy or pale yellow stamen tips in April in my Middle Tennessee garden (Zone 6b/7a)

The plume might have up to 80 star shaped flowers that are pollinated by small bees, flies, and beetles. The bees collect nectar and pollen from the flowers, while flies and beetles feed on the pollen. Crab spiders and ambush bugs hang out on the flowering plumes, just waiting for a small bee or beetle to stop by.

crab spider hiding on flowering plume

It's not always easy to watch the little pollinators get grabbed by a predator, but, that happens in a wildlife friendly garden. Those predators are soon preyed upon by larger spiders and birds and those birds could be  dinner for a hawk...But, I digress! Which is very easy to do when you begin talking about gardening for wildlife.

Berries are starting to form

All those busy little bees, flies and beetles pollinate the flowers and soon greenish berries follow. They'll continue to swell and darken over the summer. 

Fruit is a cluster of waxy berries, each 1/8 inch across, that turn bright red when ripe

 By August they are a delightful mottled red. The color show doesn't stop there, the berries turn a dark cherry red when ripe and look stellar against the fading and browning foliage.

Photo by Vick, Albert F. W. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

The ripe berries are eaten by woodland birds and mice. It's thought that a trip through the digestive tract of a critter helps the seeds germinate, it is also a good way for seeds to be dispersed around the garden. Deer don't seem to browse them, but, they are hidden beneath the understory trees. In this case, Rusty Blackhaw and a fall blooming witch hazel.

False Solomon's Seal has been used medicinally to treat coughs, but, I don't harvest them. The flowers and color show feed my soul and the berries feed the resident critters.

The Particulars
Maianthemum racemosum  (Smilacina racemosa)
Commonly known as False Solomon's Seal
Family:  Asparagaceae no longer a Lily family member
USDA Zones: 3-8
Native range: Entire North American continent
Plant Spacing: 18-24"
 Exposure: Full Sun/Part Shade/ Shade
Soil Moisture:  Wet-Mesic/ Mesic (Medium)/Dry-Mesic  Dry
Height: 2 feet
Bloom Color: White  with golden yellow stamens
Bloom Time: April/May/June
Plant Type: Wildflowers (Forbs)
Beneficial: A pollen and nectar food for bees, beetles, flies. A seed food for rodents and songbirds
Availability: Is available online~ seeds, plants and roots. Locally: GroWild
Comments: Love it used as a ground cover in wildflower/naturalistic gardens, plant with Solomon's Seal, Christmas ferns, wild ginger and Golden ragwort. Best in naturalized plantings, wild gardens, native plant gardens, or woodland gardens. But seriously, use it however you want, after all, it's your garden.

xoxogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday. This day is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants, how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most.

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.

Bugs, they make a garden good!

 It's Golden Ragwort time in the garden.

Each spring when Packera aurea blooms there are always a few stalks that are covered with aphids! I don't worry about a few aphids since the flowers never seem to decline because of them. (The Happy Flower Trinity)

I didn't always feel that way when I saw aphids sucking the juices out of a plant! Way back when I was less experienced about the role of insects in the garden, I would grab the hose and spray them to oblivion. Now, I recognize them as an important food for predator bugs. In fact, aphids are a primary food source for predator bugs.

 the soft bodied aphids used to creep me out

Why does that matter? We want bugs in our gardens, all kinds of bugs, and we need beneficial bugs.  Beneficial bugs help keep our gardens healthy and in balance. They're "good bugs" and they eat many "bad bugs" like mites, caterpillars, of course aphids and other creepy sucking and plant-consuming bugs. Sure, they occasionally eat a good bug, but, that's all part of the cycle of life in a garden.

Assassin bug waiting on a coreopsis

Some of the "good bugs" include lacewings, lady beetles, minute pirate bug, soldier bugs, assassin bugs, braconid wasps, tachinid flies, flower flies and aphid mites.

Sweet alyssum is wonderful in containers placed among native plants

I have found that dill, parsley, catnip, goldenrod, hydrangea, daisies, yarrow, coreopsis and sweet alyssum are excellent at attracting beneficial bugs to the garden. Plant them in your native plant borders, in your woodland gardens, and, in your vegetable gardens. They also look great in containers

Adult hover fly on Gaura. The larva are known to eat aphids

A healthy garden is chock full of all kinds of bugs/insects and other critters.

Eastern Bluebirds eat mostly insects, but they have been observed eating small amphibians

Did you know, that if you want birds to live in your garden, you absolutely must have a garden that is hospitable to bugs! I love feeding the birds and keep a feeder up all year long. The birds are entertaining to watch and I feel like I am giving the smaller birds a fighting chance to survive during a cold winter. But, when nesting time arrives, seed is not enough. They need insects to feed their young! According to Doug Tallamy, entomology and wildlife ecology professor at the University of Delaware, a single pair of breeding chickadees must find as many as 6000 caterpillars to rear one clutch of young.

That's a lot of bugs and that's just for one bird family in a garden.

What's a gardener to do:

Plant more natives. Include trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. (Winter annuals in a native garden)

Plant pollen and nectar rich non-natives to attract beneficials and other insects. (Gardening for wildlife)

Stay away from native plant hybrids and cultivars that are double flowered. They are sterile and have no pollen or nectar for insects and no seeds for the birds. If possible plant “true open-pollinated native wildflowers”.

Don't be in a rush to clean up the fall garden. Leave plant stalks and seed heads standing all winter. Leave those fallen leaves or as many as you can tolerate! Insects over winter in the fallen and decaying leaves.

Build habitats that attract toads.

Dig a pond and wait for the damsel flies and dragonflies to arrive. They will eat mosquitoes which make gardening in the summer a nightmare.

Stack fallen brush, cut tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs'. They're also good bird, toad and small critter food.

Rethink what you consider a pest. Spiders are important predators and bird food!

Learn to tolerate damaged plants. Imperfection is the new perfect.

If a plant shows signs of aphid distress~twisted, curled or swollen leaves or stems spray with water

Of course, you know what comes next!

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever use pesticides/insecticides in your garden. I do mean never! Your pollinators, beneficial insects, spiders and insect eating birds will thank you by visiting and setting up house in your garden.

 xoxogail

In case you wondered about Golden Ragwort:

The small daisy like golden flowers on tall stems are chock full of pollen and nectar for small bees, flies and butterflies. There are no cultivars of this beauty, the straight species is perfect! (Pollinators and their friends)

Family: Asteraceae
Native Range: Eastern North America to Texas
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 0.50 to 2.50 feet Spread: 0.50 to 1.50 feet
Bloom Time: April Bloom
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Pollinators: Small bees and butterflies

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: Fifth Anniversary!

 I can hardly believe that 5 years have passed since the first Wildflower Wednesday meme post. I want to thank each of you for joining me on my continuing journey to create the best wildlife garden possible.

Verbesina virginica

 At first I wasn't sure what I wanted to do to celebrate this anniversary and then it occurred to me that I could share that first official Wildflower Wednesday post with some updated text and photos. So that's what I've done. If you like you can link back to earlier Wildflower Wednesday posts by clicking on the plant name.

Panicum virgatum

Here it is~a trip back in time to February 2010, with a bit a lot of tweaking!

Rusty Blackhaw/Viburnum rufidulum

Almost thirty years ago we moved to what has since been christened Clay and Limestone Garden. Long time readers know that the relationship between gardener and garden has been a passionate affair, filled with moments of deep love and equally deep despair.

Hamamelis vernalis

It was a long time before I was able to accept the limitations and gifts of the shallow, clay soil that is as dry as concrete most summers and wet and sticky all winter. (here for more of the story)

Mistflower

Even in the face of over whelming evidence that wildflowers naturally occurred and thrived here, I tried to create an English cottage garden, a Mediterranean garden and a New England woodland. They were failures and I despaired that there would ever be a garden.

Tradescantia virginiana

In my haste to create these idealized dream gardens I had over looked the native ex-asters, mistflower, columbines, trout lilies, trilliums, mayapples, downy woodmint, Blue-eyed grass, False garlic, penstemons, dicentras and a host of other beauties that were already growing here.

Green Dragon/Arisaema dracontium

It was a wonderful day when I stumbled upon Thomas Hemmerly's Wildflowers Of The Central South.

 Harbinger of spring

I've never had the honor of meeting Dr Hemmerly*, but, he became my garden mentor and helped me  understand and appreciate the special native plants that grow in Middle Tennessee. He introduced me to concepts that were important to know if I were to have any success at gardening. I learned that Middle Tennessee was part of the Central Basin, that it has very interesting wildflowers that grew nowhere else, and that the rock in my garden is an Ordovician limestone bedrock overlain with thin soil. I finally understood that plants have to be rugged to survive in my garden and that planting native wildflowers made the most sense, after all, they had evolved and adapted to our wet winters and dry summers.

Golden Ragwort

Once my eyes were opened, it was easy to see that on the edges of the garden, beyond, the weedy lawn, were wonderful wildflowers and abundant wildlife.

Ex-aster

My head and heart were quickly filled with all things wildflower. I devoured articles about native plants, visited cedar glades, read botany articles and every book I could lay my hands on that discussed gardening in the Central Basin.

Joe-pye weed

Before long, it became clear to me and my gardening friends, that wildflowers had become my garden soul mates. Of course, when you have a relationship like that you want to share it with the world!

False Dragonhead/Physostegia virginiana

Wildflower Wednesday started out as a regular post to celebrate the wildflowers in my garden. I was hoping that there were other gardeners who also felt that wildflowers were special and wanted to share them. There are and you're all delightful.

Danthonia spicata and Asimina triloba two garden experiments

Many years later~I've met wonderful gardeners, made new friends, learned to write a little bit better, and have learned a few valuable gardening lessons. If there's one thing I would like to pass along to new gardeners, it's this: What ever you do, don't fight your garden's unique characteristics or ignore its plant communities. Embrace them. If your garden is rocky, sandy, slow draining, fast draining, acidic or alkaline, a desert, a cold climate or even tropical, what ever climate, where ever in the world, there are native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that will be perfect for your garden. They will not only survive, they will thrive. Trust me, you will be a happier person and have greater success at gardening.

Practically Perfect Pink Phlox Pilosa

Finally, here's my promise to you~ If you plant wildflowers the critters will come! Your garden will be filled with buzzing bees, singing birds, fascinating insects and spiders and fluttering butterflies. You'll also be a host to snakes, raccoons, squirrels, turtles, chipmunks, hawks, owls, and rascally rabbits and who knows what else!

Native wildflowers are good for the earth and good for its inhabitants. Now kick up your heels and dance with The Dancing Tree! Happy anniversary to all of you and let's continue celebrating our wildflowers.

xoxogail

Wildflower Wednesday is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants. How they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most.

I hope you join the celebration..It's always the fourth Wednesday of the month!

*BTW, I have finally gotten to meet Dr Hemmerly!



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: The Happy Flower Trinity

If you're a cook, you know that creating a delicious stock, soup, or stew often starts with basic ingredients and builds from there. The French have their mirepoix of onions, carrots and celery; the Italians have their tomato, garlic and basil; and Cajun cooking has its holy trinity of onions, peppers and celery.  Each of these  flavor bases makes the food tasty and delicious and unique to that region.

Clay and Limestone has its own trio of flowering beauties~Golden Ragwort, Columbine and Downy Phlox ~ that make the garden a colorful and tasty treat each spring.

Clay and Limestone is a small side dish of this delicious mixture (photo 2011)

All three are native to the Nashville Basin. The Basin is an elongated mixing bowl of land where Mother Nature has tossed cedar glade and Tennessee native plants into a unique and delicious mixture. Our tasty dish is never the same year to year, like local cooking, the proportions all depend upon the weather and what nature makes available!

 The Happy Trinity have been liberally sprinkled about the garden

Let's take a look at these special plants that combine wonderfully to make this garden's flavor base for Wildflower Wednesday.

notice a few aphids~I leave them for the beneficial insects to gobble up

Golden Ragwort or Packera aurea is a bright daisy with evergreen basil foliage. It makes a wonderful groundcover if the conditions are right~even moisture year round. Strangely enough, that may be why many people don't add it to their gardens~fear of a plant making too big a statement. I like big statement plants, after all, this is the home of rough and tumble wildflowers!

I think it's absolutely beautiful. The small daisy like golden flowers on tall stems are chock full of pollen and nectar for small bees, flies and butterflies. Occasionally, aphids show up on a few plants, but, I leave them for the ladybugs. There are no cultivars of this beauty, the straight species is perfect!

Family: Asteraceae
Native Range: Eastern North America to Texas
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 0.50 to 2.50 feet Spread: 0.50 to 1.50 feet
Bloom Time: April Bloom
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Pollinators: Small bees and butterflies

How does one describe Aqiulegia canadensis! I think of it as bright lanterns that sway in the slightest breeze sending a signal to pollinators that there's nectar in those spurs!  Here's a good reason to plant more Columbine! "Ornithologists have discovered that the ruby-throated hummingbirds tend to follow the blossoming of Aquilegia canadensis on its journey north in spring, since the flowers are the first to provide nectar for the birds." (source)

Columbine thrives in part to full shade, in any well-drained soil. I find it happiest in cracks and crevices, really, it grows anywhere a seed falls and the drainage is good! Plants tolerate full sun if temperatures are cool, but they grow better in my garden in partial shade. Red columbine is found in rocky woods from Nova Scotia to the Northwest Territories south to Florida and Texas.

growing between the flagstone in the Garden of Benign Neglect

Family: Ranunculaceae
Native Range: Eastern North America
Zone: 3 to 8
Bloom Time: April to May (even earlier after a gentle Middle South winter)
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Pollinators: Hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and hawk moths feed on columbine necta

...and finally

Practically Perfect Pink Phlox Pilosa

Long time readers already know about her charms...PPPP has an exceptionally long bloom time (six weeks or longer), fantastic pink flowers, grows in sun and part sun, tolerates clay soil that's wet all winter and dry all summer, has a marvelous ground covering effect, and has the sweetest fragrance that wafts all over the garden on warm days. You'll have to agree, a plant like that is practically perfect!

P pilosa is a stoloniferous, semi-evergreen native wildflower found naturally growing in open woodlands, meadows, prairie remnants and limestone glades through out the central and eastern US and Canada. Although, I've never heard anyone call PPPP a thug, some gardeners may not appreciate how quickly it can spread in rich soil. Colonizing is a plus for me and unlike some colonizing plants, it's easy to lift and transplant. I am especially pleased at how well it's growing in the shallow soil over the bedrock in the Susan's Bed....That says a lot about a plant.

PPPP with River Oats

Family: Polemoniaceae
Native Range: Eastern and central United States (also Canada)
Zone: 4 to 9
Bloom Time: April to June (in my garden)
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Pollinators:  Hummingbirds, Butterflies, Bees, Flies

So what do you think? Is this trio a tasty and delicious treat?
xoxogail

Welcome to Wildflower Wednesday! It's time to share your wildflowers no matter where you garden~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if we sometimes show the same plants, how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most. I hope you join the celebration..It's always the fourth Wednesday of the month!


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.