Wildflower Wednesday: Green and Gold

If you're looking for a charming native groundcover then look no further than Chrysogonum virginianum. The common name Green and Gold is a nod to its fuzzy foliage and golden flower.

The early bloom provides nectar for visiting bees and butterflies.

 It's been in my garden for more than a decade and is very much at home between the large stepping stones on the path to the front door and in the adjacent bed. I'm a fan of repetition planting; especially plants that are easy peasy. Green and Gold is easy to divide and transplant so, I've moved it all around the garden. It's happy in full shade and even in full sun. It flowers every spring and doesn't seem to mind a bit of foot traffic every now and then.

Chrysogonum virginianum is not just another yellow composite flower, it's a long blooming, great little native Asteraceae with semi-evergreen foliage and golden flowers. You'll find it happiest in woodland gardens that have good drainage in acid or neutral soil. Naturally occurring plants are found in bright filtered light along forest edges and clearings. Expect it to be vigorous, it is after all a ground cover. 

Green and Gold blooms early in my Zone 6b/7a garden; a few flowers will open in mid-March, but, April is when it pops. Then all at once the small golden flowers are waving above the green fuzzy leaves as if they're saying come on pollinators here I am!

It's a charmer that wends its way through native sedges, Huecheras, Spigelia marilandica, ferns and mayapples. It can dance with Phlox pilosa or ramble over a small boulder. The golden star flowers have five slightly-notched, yellow petals and a center of yellow disk flowers. The bright green leaves are ovate, with crenate (rounded teeth) margins. The leaves, stems and stolons are quite hairy or fuzzy.

The leaves, stems  and stolons are fuzzy

 I recommend Green and Gold as an alternative to invasive thugs like Winter creeper (Eonymous fortunai), Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) and Vinca minor.  I wish big box stores and independent garden centers sold it instead of non-native thugs. Having mentioned thuggishness, please, remember, this native is a ground cover, so don't expect it to stay put, it will travel.

fallen leaves and seedheads are a good mulch

 Good reasons to consider planting Green and Gold in your garden.

• Beautiful groundcover for shade and part shade
• Does well in a rain garden
• Will naturalize
• Lovely planted along the edge of a woodland path
• Good for planting at the base of native shrubs
• Easy to grow and maintain
• Nectar source for early visiting pollinators

 

 The Essentials

Common Name: goldenstar, Green and Gold
Type:  rhizomatous, low-growing perennial; Evergreen or semi-evergreen
Family: Asteraceae
Zone: 5 to 9
Distribution
USA: AL , DC , FL , GA , KY , LA , MD , MS , NC , NY , OH , PA , SC , TN , VA , WV
Native Habitat: Woodlands, dappled sun
Size: 4-6 inches high
Bloom Time: Late March, April, May and possible rebloom in the fall. If you're gardening in its northern zone you might have summer blooms, but it's too hot in Middle TN to bloom all summer. In a wet, cool autumn there might be repeat blooms.
Bloom: Yellow
Sun: Part shade to full shade. If you want to plant it in the sun make sure it is well watered during dry summers.
Water: Medium with good drainage. Once it's established it should be fairly drought tolerant.
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Ground Cover, Naturalize, Rain Garden
Tolerates: Deer, Shade, Drought
Companion planting: Dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata),  Blue wood sedge (Carex flaccosperma),  Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), Hairy Alumroot (Heuchera villosa), Ohio spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis and Blue-stem goldenrod (Solidago caesia)or what ever combination of plants that  need a spot of golden star beauty.

Comments: Nectar source for early visiting pollinators.

Even though it's a spring bloomer Green and Gold is an honorary member of the Clay and Limestone Rough and Tumble Wildflower club!

Take a chance on Golden star, you won't regret planting it.
xoxogail

 PS Don't forget our Wildflower Wednesday monthly challenge!  The first part of this challenge is to do something every month during 2022 that supports native wildflowers, pollinators, and the critters that visit and rely on our gardens. The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. 

Why post it?  Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals that live all around us. 

 I don't issue a challenge without my own follow through! This month I've begun researching the effects of light pollution on our garden visitors and residents. I shared the information with our neighborhood FB group. I am also looking into signage for my garden that might help others learn about light pollution and wildlife. A long term plan is to get involved with locals who are also concerned with light pollution.

For an incomplete list of things you might consider doing or changing in your garden follow this link!

Thank you for stopping by and 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 link in the comments if you have a WW post.xoxogail

 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.

Birds in the winter garden

The feeders are stocked with sunflower seed, thistle, suet and there's plenty of water and cover. It's a party in the back yard all winter long, but especially on cold snowy days.

I love feeding the birds and get a kick out of their antics.

Each species has a distinct personality. Some are curious, while other are quite gregarious.

Cardinals visit early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

Doves are especially fun to watch. They always seem to be the last bird to figure out what they heck is going on when all the other birds have skedaddled as the hawk flies over.

The house finches are aggressive and push others away from the feeders.

 I like knowing that the seeds, water and shelter I provide are giving the smallest birds a fighting chance to survive when winter gets particularly harsh. 

But, when nesting time arrives, seed is not what they want or need. 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 just one bird family in this garden. When you consider that 96% of terrestrial birds in North America rear their young on insects, you can see how important it is that our gardens be hospitable to those insects.

 What's a gardener to do?

 Please continue to feed the birds all winter. It's a wonderful way to supplement their winter foraging and it's so much fun.

Juniperus virginiana and Cornus drummondii have good wildlife value

Right now, in the middle of winter, when you're missing the heck out of your garden, is an excellent time to assess whether your garden is as insect friendly as possible.

1. Make sure native trees play a major role in your garden.Why is that so important? Desiree Narango, a doctoral student with the University of Delaware and who is conducting a three-year study to learn how nonnative, or exotic, trees in cities and suburbs affect the availability of food birds need during the breeding season explains that “Nonnative trees may support insects, but they do not support the insects that birds want and need to feed their young." (from Why birds need native trees  National Wildlife)

2. Do your native trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals out number the non-natives? Need to add more natives? Be sure to plant pollen and nectar rich perennials, herbs and annuals to attract beneficials, bees and other insects. Avoid 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”. (Native annuals)

3. Does a messy garden get to you? Work on tolerating leaves and decaying plants. 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 and so do some species of insect eating bats!

4. Have you invited toads into your garden? They like a cool, wet spot. How about under the birdbath?

5. Do you have room for a pond? Be sure you have a muddy edge for damsel flies and dragonflies. They will eat mosquitoes which make gardening in the summer a nightmare. Birds will appreciate the water and the flying snacks.

6. Do you have a brush pile? 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.

7. Weirded out by spiders, aphids, strange caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and the odd larva of beneficials! Rethink what you consider icky or a pest. Bluebirds eat crickets and grasshoppers. Spiders are important predators and a very important bird food! Snakes keep the rodent population in check.

8. Can you embrace imperfection in the garden? Learn to tolerate damaged plants because insects can ugly up their favorite plant foods.

9. Do you know which local or online nurseries sell plants that are neonicotinoid free? Frequent them, their plants may cost more but, your garden will be healthier for pollinators, insects and birds.

10. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever use pesticides....They're deadly in a wildlife friendly garden.

Downy Woodpecker

Now go enjoy those birds,  before long you'll be planting and planning for all the critters in your garden.
xoxogail

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.