Bloom Alert

After another round of slushy snow on Wednesday and Thursday, today is bright and warm, so it’s been hard to stay focused on work.  Needing a break, I pulled my wellies on after lunch for a quick walk to see if any of the woodland natives had “endeavored to persevere” through our extremely cold winter.  I hoped to discover a sign or two of Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot), my favorite spring ephemeral, but couldn’t find a trace.

Surprisingly, however, many of the Trillium cuneatum (sweet Betsy), which I rescued from a nearby area of development last spring, are up and already in bud.  There’s still no sign of other, established trilliums.

Trillium cuneatum (sweet Betsy)

Erythronium americanum, commonly called trout lily for its speckled foliage, is even further along.  One bud has apparently been eaten by a critter, but the rest are within a few days of opening.   The plant, given to me by a friend from her garden in 2013, has bulked up since last year.

Erythronium americanum (trout lily)

I also found foliage of Tipularia discolor (cranefly orchid), easily identified by the dark coloring on the underside of its leaves.  The foliage will die long before flowers appear in late summer.

Tipularia discolor (cranefly orchid)

I often refer to the terraces that extend down to the Reedy River at the rear of our property.  In the upper right-hand corner of the photo below, you can barely see the retaining wall that supports the back garden.   And just to the left of the photo is a second, but shorter, retaining wall.

Woodland between house and river.

Each neon-pink flag marks a spot where an herbaceous plant grows.  Though unsightly now, they help me remember where it’s safe to add new natives, and they’ll be removed when the area is better established.

The garden surrounding the house contains many non-native ornamentals, while the terrace closest to the river cannot be kept clear of non-natives because of periodic flooding.  The woodland shown here, about a quarter acre, is a haven for native plants only.

Weekend in Review

Tim and I headed back to the hills on Saturday, with friends Signe and Ron, to stretch our legs and revisit the trout lilies at the Chandler Heritage Preserve. We weren’t disappointed. Now at the peak of bloom, thousands of trout lilies are flowering on the short trail between Persimmon Ridge and the granite outcrop that overlooks northern Greenville County. The lilies are tiny and hard to photograph, but the pic below will give you an idea of how thickly they cover the forest floor.

Trout lilies (Erythronium)

Here is a better look at a single plant glowing in the afternoon light.

Trout lily, Chandler Heritage Preserve.

Then, early Sunday, I headed to the Paris Mountain area, located just five miles north of downtown, to collect a few native plants on offer from my friend Suzy. Suzy shared a generous handful of cranefly orchids (Tipularia discolor) from a large patch growing at her farm, and a heart’s-a-bustin’ (Euonymus americanus), which I planted in the woodland area between the house and the river.

Cranefly orchid (Tipularia discolor)

The native orchid has a two-part lifecycle. In winter, it produces a single leaf that is green on top and purple below. The foliage dies in late spring and a couple months later, in July or August, the plant produces a flower spike with dozens of tiny orchids. For more info on this unique native, look here.

Recently, I’ve started a new project in the woodland, just beyond the stone retaining wall that supports the backyard, but I can’t take credit for its progress. I’ve hired a fellow to build stone steps that will allow me navigate the steep terraces on the north-facing slope down to the river. The idea is to keep the woodland as natural as possible, but to gain better access so that I don’t slip and break my neck. As you can see, there will be two stairways connected by a long, straight path.

New stone steps provide safe access.

Looking in the opposite direction, a second stairway will be located just beyond the tree.

The red and white flags you see in the photos mark areas where native perennials grow.

The native plants in my shady woodland are just beginning to emerge, however, so I explored my neighbor’s sunnier slope and found the first bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) in bloom, as well as the first flowering sweet Betsy trillium (Trillium cuneatum).

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

Sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum)

It was a terrific weekend for wildflowers, don’t you think?

Weekend Escape

On Saturday, Tim and I left pressing time sheets and tax calculations behind for an afternoon hike at the Ashmore Heritage Preserve and Chandler Heritage Preserve, which are located along Persimmon Ridge Road near Jones Gap State Park. I first visited this area just a few weeks ago with friends and was eager for Tim to see it too. You might notice the photo below is similar to the one posted last week for Wordless Wednesday.

Ashmore Heritage Preserve

What you can’t see from this photo is the astonishing community of Sarracenia jonesii, commonly called mountain sweet pitcher plant, at the far side of the Preserve’s man-made pond, Lake Wattacoo.

Community of mountain sweet pitcher plant at the pond’s edge.

Standing 24 to 30-inches tall, the plant produces sweet nectar that attracts insects to its hollow, tubular leaf. Once inside, an insect is trapped by sticky, downward-pointing hairs. When the insect dies at the liquid-filled base of the trap, the plant absorbs nitrogen and other nutrients from its decomposed body.

These highly modified leaves of Sarracenia jonesii, backlit by the afternoon sun, act as pitfall traps.

The plant is both rare and endemic to a small area. The Center for Plant Conservation notes it only grows in Greenville County in South Carolina and Henderson and Transylvania Counties in North Carolina, preferring mildly acidic, organically rich soils with a high percentage of loam, sand, or silt.

Other rare plants also survive here. Piedmont ragwort grows on a granite outcrop, and the fire-dependent turkeybeard grows on two pine-dominated ridges.

Further up, on the opposite side of the ridge, the Chandler Heritage Preserve features a half-mile trail that loops past a granite outcrop that provides a distant view of downtown Greenville and then follows the stream back to the road.

Granite outcrop with cascading waterfall at Chandler Heritage Preserve.

Several rare plant species can be found here too (grass-of-Parnassus, Indian paintbrush, and thousand-leaf groundsel) but we were thrilled to discover a much more common wildflower in bloom — the beautiful trout lily.

Trout lily (Erythronium americanum)

Pollinated by ants, it takes up to seven years for a trout lily to mature and produce a flower. The downward-facing lily is yellow, with three sepals (purplish backs) and three petals (all yellow) which reflex during the day and then close at night.

As you would expect in two such moisture rich habitats, we also saw a number mosses and lichens. The pic below shows two species of Cladonia, a genus of moss-like lichens, reindeer moss (C. rangiferina) and British soldiers (C. cristatella).

Reindeer moss, to the left, with British soldiers, center.

Have you been hiking lately?

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day—February 15, 2013

I saw my first (and probably only) snowflakes this winter on Saturday, February 2, but the precipitation turned to rain within the hour. The Upstate has had plenty of gray days and moisture since January’s Bloom Day posting, with temperatures fluctuating from the 20s into the 70s. I’ve heard, but haven’t been able to confirm, our most recent cold weather destroyed much of this year’s peach crop. Fingers crossed the sad news isn’t true. More cold is on the way this weekend, however, as Saturday’s forcast predicts a low of 24 degrees F.

Even still, there are blooms in the garden. The vignette below is inspired by Ellen HoverKamp‘s stunning botanical photgraphs in Natural Companions: The Garden Lover’s Guide to Plant Combinations by Ken Druse, a favorite Christmas gift I simply can’t put down.

Vignette inspired by Ken Druse

Flowers include several Camellia japonica (top) and various Helleborus hybrids (bottom). The rosette of yellow near the center of the photo is Edgeworthia chrysantha (Chinese paper bush), and the yellow fringe at the bottom is Hamamelis mollis ‘Wisley Supreme’ (witch hazel). The pansy is ‘Dynamite Wine Flash’, while the smaller viola is ‘Sorbet Antique Shades.’ The early yellow daffodils draw attention to the ‘Gold Dust’ Aucuba japonica (aucuba), and the slightly smaller leaves of variegated Gardenia jasminoides (gardenia). The red-veined foliage is Rumex sanguineus (bloody dock), and the silver-veined is Saxifraga stolonifera (strawberry begonia).

Even better, here’s what’s blooming or almost blooming in the woodland.

Erythronium americanum (trout lily)

Trillium cuneatum (Sweet Betsy)

Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot)

To discover what’s blooming in gardens around the world, visit the host of Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens.