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| From In the Garden |
Thank goodness I have a (as in ONE flower) wildflower blooming otherwise you all would have had to look at the starts of wildings in the garden (my backup plan). I'd have to make sure all I showed were natives which is not an easy thing to do and you all really didn't want to look at plants without flowers did you? Good thing we have a bloom.
The pretty little flower pictured above is Bloodroot, aka Sanquinarea canadensis. I actually thought it was cutleaf toothwort but could not find a flower named toothwort that looked like this one. Then the light came on and I could see the foliage better and see that it is clearly bloodroot. In my defense the bloodroot has been here for one year and is just now showing up. The foliage on this clump was not particularly striking but it is there. Hence the confusion with my flowers. (Okay, I am learning, albeit slowly).
I planted the bloodroot in an area that resembles its native area in that it is in shade, on a slight hill with good drainage, and the soil has lots of organic matter. I am slowly adding more native wildflowers to this area and even though it is in the back 40, it is an area I find myself walking to quite a bit lately. This bloodroot has been here for one year and did go dormant last summer. I had forgotten all about it until I saw it sprouting up just a week or so ago.
I watched this one lone flower stem until about 2 pm yesterday when it gifted me with the bloom. Whew! There are lots of flowers blooming here but none, much to my dismay, can be considered true natives. Most flowers in bloom here at this time have naturalized but were at one point introduced (think pulmonaria, scilla, glory of the snow, crocuses and others) and I was adamant I could display a true native flower today. So my hat is off to the bloodroot for saving my day! There should be plenty more natives to choose from for next month's Wildflower Wednesday, a big relief for me and perhaps you too.
Join Gail at Clay and Limestone for more wildflowers....
in the garden....
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,
In the Garden
