Getting into Spring: Wildflowers and managing Ticks

I have been fortunate not to have been bitten by any deer ticks so far.  One of the actions I am doing to keep that streak going is to put out homemade tick tubes twice a year.  These are paper tubes with several (5-8) cotton balls heavily treated with permethrin.  The idea is that mice will collect the cotton and use it in their nests.  There the permethrin will kill the ticks on the mice and break the deer tick life cycle early on.  Check out this link for more information.  We also spray our work clothes with a dilute solution of permethrin to deter ticks and especially chiggers.

I usually put out one batch of tubes in Mid-March, targeting a time when mice begin building nests.  I put them near brush piles and other places where mice might nest.  I use an orange flag to hold them in place and mark the location.  If there are still cotton balls left over I look for a different location to put the tube.  I also put out another set in the fall with the idea that mice will use them for their winter habitats.   

This springtime tube distribution also gets me out in the woods when the spring wildflowers are going to town.  This year has been more exciting than last.  It may have been the cold winter, or that my wife and I have been removing large quantities of garlic mustard, but the quantity of native wild flowers appears to be up. 

The flowers of Bloodroot only last a couple of days.

One plant that I missed entirely last year was Blootroot, Sanginaria canadensis.  In fact, I ordered a few of them to put into the garden, thinking I had none.  But an early March walk in the woods revealed that we have many of these plants.  One possible reason I missed seeing them before is that each plant has a very short blooming period, maybe 3-4 days, and I just wasn't in the right place at the right time.  

The three stem leaves on this Cutleaf Toothwort
are easy to see here.

Another early bloomer is the Cutleaf Toothwort, Dentaria laciniata.  The highly dissected leaves are a helpful clue to identifying this plant.  Also this Toothwort has three leaves on its flowering stalk, unlike its close relative D. diphylla, which has only two. These species have been moved over to the genus Cardamine and now it appears that the currently accepted name for the Cutleaf Toothwort is Cardamine concatenata.  

This was the only pink-tinged Dutchman's Breeches that I found.

One of the most common spring wildflowers in our woods is Dutchman's Breeches, Dicentra cucullaria.  Its flowers last longer than those of bloodroot.  Most of them are bright white.  However, a few plants have flowers that are pinkish.  Of the hundreds of plants in our woods I only found one with a pink coloration.  

Mayapples open like little umbrellas on the woodland floor.
These leaves will expand to 8 inches or more.

While they will not be blooming for a month or so, the leaves of Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, are appearing throughout the woodland areas.  Having a healthy layer of native ground covers like these should help in our battle against invasive species like garlic mustard and stiltgrass. 

I am trying a number of native ground covers like these under some pine trees
to replace the Vinca minor.

The Labrador Violet that I planted last season needed to be uncovered from a heavy layer of pine needles.  After a couple of days of exposure the leaves expanded and the first blooms opened up. 

I noticed that these blooms open the widest when the sun is at full strength.

In my last post I noted that there were many Spring Beauties and Spicebush beginning to bloom in the woodland areas.  I was asked whether these species would do well in full sun.  I do know of one or two Spicebushes that are growing in full sun in rather damp soil.  Then just the other day I noticed some Spring Beauties growing in the middle of the lawn in full sun.  So I guess the answer is yes; however, full sun is not their preferred habitat.

Needed to use my hat to get the flowers to be visible.

Last fall I planted several small Yellowroots, Xanthorhiza simplissima.  These plants flower just before the leaves open up.  It is very easy to miss these small maroon colored flowers.  The primary landscape use of Yellowroot is as a medium tall, fine textured ground cover.  

The pubescent flower stem is an identifying feature
of this species of Saxifage

My newest find while distributing the tick tubes was  Early Saxifrage, Micranthes virginensis.  These were growing at the base of a Beech tree mixed in with some white Spring Beauties.  The unique flower growing out of a basal rosette of bluntly lobed leaves stood out as something different from the other flowers in the area. 

The last wildflower that I spotted last week was a Dogtooth Violet, Erythronium americanum, growing near our house.  I had seen some growing near a stream but I was surprised to find this in an upland area.  It may have been planted there by the previous owner.  My wife spotted this as she was pulling out Garlic Mustard.  It is most easily recognized by the mottled foliage.  The flower is only present for a relatively short amount of time.

This Trout Lily started blooming about 2 weeks after the Bloodroot.  
This flower is on the pale side for E. americanum, it could be different species or a variation. (On looking more carefully, this is E. albidium, based on the spreading tip of the style; it's united in E. americanum.)

More Maryland Wildflowers - 2nd Week of April

Deciding which native plant to use in a developed suburban landscape was fairly straightforward for me.  I could choose the plants I wanted without regard for to how it would impact the surrounding plant communities.  [Re]-introduction of nearly any native species into a sea of Euonymus and Barberries and the like would be a step in the right direction.

Now that I am working in a rural landscape I am becoming more sensitive to how my new plantings will affect the existing plant and animal communities.  I am cautious about introducing species that don't belong, native or not.  One very helpful resource for me is Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping Chesapeake Bay Watershed from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  This publication lists many native species found in the Chesapeake watershed including their native ecoregion (Mountain, Piedmont or Coastal) and state where each is found.  

As a designer I also want to insert some visual effects with form and color.  This may require broadening the plant palette, drawing in materials from other areas and even a few well behaved non-native plants to achieve a particular aesthetic effect.  In general I will utilize a wider variety of plants in the immediate vicinity of a house or other man-made feature.  As I move out to the edges of a property I narrow the plant selection to the regionally native species.  I try to avoid introducing any species that don't naturally belong there.  

So before I get too far in planning and planting new native gardens I need to do some surveys of what is already present.  This (finally) brings me to the topic of what I found growing during the second week of April.  The tree canopy was still pretty open and the woodland floor was really greening up.




The first thing that really hit me was the masses of Virginia Bluebells that were coming into bloom.  These started coming up about a month ago.  Some had purple tinged foliage that has since turned green.



I was very pleased to see large masses of Mayapples coming up, especially I had just bought a half dozen to plant along the driveway.  These look somewhat alien when they first break ground.  They have a large white flower that stays just under the leaf.  

Mayapple leaves open up like umbrellas, 6-8 inches across.  

Once leafed out Spicebush can still be identified by the spicy scent of its bark.

The number of Spring Beauties has finally peaked,
now the blooms remain only in the shadier spots.
Note the garlic mustard off to the right.

Spicebush was another plant that I had just purchased to add to driveway area.  I was very happy to see a large mass of these growing near the creek.  The little flower clusters add an ethereal yellow haze to the scene.  These are not as garish as the Forsythia that are also in full bloom at this time.  






The Spring Beauties, Claytonia virginica, are continuing to come out - now the ground is sprinkled with the pale pink blooms.  The Dutchman's Breeches, Dicentra cucullaria, have also come into fuller bloom.  Some are white and others have a yellowish cast.  

Flowers started out a pale green
before opening up and turning white.

In with the Dutchman's Breeches is a plant with similar finely divided foliage, but this one had tubular yellow flowers.  It turns out that this is Yellow Fumewort, Corydalis flavula.  This native annual is 4-12 inches tall and has glaucous green foliage similar to other Corydalis.  I had never seen this before and was suspicious that it may some of the non-native Yellow Corydalis (C. lutea) that escaped from a garden.  The distinguishing feature from other yellow Corydalis (C. aurea and lutea) is that the upper lip of the flower is toothed.  This species is rare in New England, but not uncommon further south and west.

This winter annual was probably among the
early foliage seen back in January

The upper lip of the flower is toothed.  Also,
 seed pods are visible just below the flower on the left.

Should be getting some yellow flowers from these Trout Lilies in a couple of weeks.
If they are white, then these would be White Trout Lily, E. albidum.

Down in the leaf litter I noticed the spotted leaves of Trout Lily, Erythronium.  No blooms or buds were evident at this time, so I will need to get back down to these is a week or so to catch them in bloom.  As I was climbing back up away from the stream I noticed that the Toothwort were finally in bloom.  The dangling white flowers are not spectacular on their own, but they complement the other ephemerals. The Woodland Phlox, Phlox divaricata, are putting up flower buds, but I did not see any in bloom.  Back up on the lawn I am seeing Common Blue Violet, Viola papilionacea, complemented by the yellow flowers of Rough Cinquefoil, Potentilla norvegica.  Oops, these are actually the non-native Indian Strawberry, Duchesnea indica, see the comments below.

Each flower stalk of these toothworts has a pair
of deeply tri-lobed leaves, hence the epithet  'diphylla'.

Woodland Phlox has formed it flower buds.  Opps, this is actually Cardamine laciniata.

Common Blue Violet has hairless flower stalks,
otherwise this could be Woolly Blue Violet, V. sororia.

Unlike other weedy Cinquifoils, Rough Cinquifoil has
trilobed leaves and relatively large blunt-tipped flowers.  However, this is actually
Indian Strawberry, Duchesnea indica. with larger flowers than the Cinquifoil
and later a red berry.

Along with all of these natives there is a large population of garlic mustard that are beginning to bloom now.  Removing these will be a long and tedious process.  I have put a supply of black trash bags around the property to collect these.  In areas where the soil is moist it is possible to get most of the root out by gently pulling the plant by its crown.  Garlic mustard has a lot of stored energy in its root and may be able to set seed even though it has been pulled out of the ground.  A good practice is to bag them up and let them bake in the sun for a while before sending them to the landfill.  Garlic mustard should not be put into your compost. However, it is edible and you can make a decent pesto from it.

What's Up in April

The mild winter and warm spring have thrown off the normal times for plants to reemerge.  Most of may natives are at least 2 weeks, if not more early this year.  I found that I need to pay attention about how plants are coming along, because if I wait a couple of days I might miss some of the spring ephemerals.  So here are some of the botanical things happening with my native plants during the first two weeks of April.

These Celandine Poppies are heavy spring bloomers

The star of the spring this year are the Celandine Poppies, Stylophorum diphyllum, I planted last year.  The bright yellow blooms were opening at the same time as the foliage was coming out.  In the shady spot I have these in, they continued sporadic blooming all summer.  We'll see if they can keep up that pace this year.

The flowers are as white as
the flowers of Bloodroot.

I nearly missed the blooms on the Twin Leaf, Jeffersonia diphylla.  The incredibly white flowers are only open for a day, fortunately I spotted these at a distance and ran to get my camera.  I would not recommend growing these for the flowers, they don't last long enough, but the foliage is what really makes this a useful garden plant.  The leaves on this plant usually form a mound about 10" tall.  Also this one is growing under the Norway Maple, so it can handle some adversity.

Note the spotted foliage of the Trout Lily

I had to take this photo of the inside of the flower
with its raised petal.

This year I had 3 Trout Lilies, Erythronium americanum, come up, but only one bloomed.  I have these planted in with some tulips, so it is very easy to miss seeing the plant, since the leaves are of similar shape.  The Trout Lily does have subtle spots on the foliage that is the tip off.  Of course the flower is the real give away.  These flowers only last a few of days under normal conditions.





Last year I finally got good germination of Brown-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia triloba.  It takes a year to get established before it blooms, so I am looking forward to seeing it in action this year.  It has smaller, 'softer' blooms than the more common Rudbeckias.  I took these photos to document the difference between the Brown-eyed Susan and Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta.

The arrow points to one of the three-lobed leaves.
As the plant grows taller this leaf form is harder to find.

Black-eyed Susan leaves are not lobed.  Also,
 you can see the stiff hair no the leaves (hirsute).

I have been trying to get some Woodland Sunflower, Helianthus divaricatus, to try under the Norway Maple for a number of years.  Last year I finally got some started.  The plant grew up to about 18", but did not bloom.  So I thought it was just settling in.  Looking in the area this spring I noted a number of seedlings that I am pretty sure are the sunflower.  So it appears that it has started colonizing already, even without blooming.  This can be a very aggressive plant and so far that looks to be the case.  But under this Maple, that is fine with me.

The form of these sprouts is consistent with Woodland Sunflower

Pennsylvania Sedge, in bloom.

I have also be experimenting with some native sedges, particularly Pennsylvania and Appalachian Sedges, Carex pensylvanica and C. appalachica.  These look pretty similar in leaf, but you can distinguish them by their flowers.  Pennsylvania Sedge blooms in early spring, right after it begins to green up.  Appalachian sedge blooms about a month later, after the foliage is well established.

I'll close with the Low Bush Blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium.  Again, these are in a pretty marginal site, under the Maple.  The plants that are growing the best are the ones getting the most sunlight.  This year the blooming is better, so maybe I'll need to keep an eye out for a berry or two. 

Native Bulbs

Scilla growing under a Sargent Crabapple
at Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA.

Spring is ushered in by a plethora of flowering bulbs. Despite my inclination toward natives I still plant all kinds of exotic bulbs. I especially like seeing the blue carpets of Scilla under trees and Crocus sprouting randomly in a lawn. So last fall, this got me thinking, what about native bulbs?

Crocus tommasiniansus between Prairie Dropseed mounds.

Some native bulbs that I knew of were Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum), Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) and Camas (Camassia sp.). To check for more ideas I did a search of the USDA Plants Database looking for North American natives that are propagated from bulbs gave a list of 30 plants, including Alliums, Camassia, Iris and Sisyrinchium angustifolium (Blue-eyed grass). For corms, 17 Species were listed including Dicentra, Hypoxis (Yellow Star grass) and Liatris. (Note that all of the data for every single plant in this database is not fully stocked, so there are gaps, but it is still a useful tool, especially at the Genus-level.)

I decided to focus on the first three. Finding a source for these plants was not trivial, but after many hours on the internet I found a nursery in West Virginia that propagated their own natives: Sunshine Farm and Gardens.  Also, they had all of the species I was after – one stop shopping!

No bloom on this one.

My best result, so far, has been with the Trout Lily, aka Dogtooth Violet, which began sprouting up in early April. At first it blended in with the early tulip foliage, but they distinguished themselves by the mottled coloration on the topside of the leaf. This coloration can be likened to that of a trout. (The backside of this leaf was a flat green, just like the tulip foliage.) A second plant, this one with a bloom, was initially more elusive, but certainly worth finding. Once opened, this small flower was hard to miss. this bloom lasted 7-10 days.  As these were rather small bulbs when I put them in, I may have lost them amongst the Tulips in the leafy mulch that I used.  These plants will spread by stolons, so if they are happy, I will eventually have a good sized patch.



In bud...



...two days later.


 



This brings up a very important point. It is a very good idea to sketch out a map or plan of where you put in your bulbs, because no matter how significant or important they seem at planting time in the fall, the memory fades by springtime. This is my current situation at home (however, not a mistake I make when working for clients).

So far I have not located the Bloodroot that I put in. Its deeply lobed foliage may allow it to blend in with many of the other spring plants that are active right now, like the Columbine, Coral Bells and Geraniums. And, if it’s not blooming, this may be a lost cause. Again, if I had only mapped out where these were put in I would know where to focus my search.

Most of the Camassia that are easily available are cultivars of species native to the Western US, like the Small Camas, Camassia quamash. The only species of Camassia native to the Eastern US is the Atlantic Camas, Camassia scilloides, with a native range from Georgia to Pennsylvania and west to Texas. Since Camas prefers moister areas, I did not save any for myself, but I did put some in for clients with more appropriate conditions (also where I did do a map). So I will be paying them a visit soon to see how they are doing. The Atlantic Camas has a preference for limestone-rich soils, so it may be a good choice in a residential setting for planting near a foundation.