a forum for woodland gardeners
I have some little red Arum fruits in a dish, that I harvested yesterday. What do I do with them? The plant that produced them is long dormant, and since it took about 4 years for it to flower the first time, I was totally unprepared for them. And, of course, I have lost the label. I guess it will be next year before I can identify it.
It seems hard to believe that I'm starting a fern thread; I'm a total fern newbie! I love ferns, it's just that I know almost nothing about them, and until the last few years with some trees gaining size and shading effect, my sun-scorched hillside location was not very fern-friendly.
Amazing variation in this species. Mine has pathetic patterned leaves and is trifoliate. The ones I grew from seed and planted at work have spectacular foliage....just my luck!
I have grown Vancouveria hexandra for several years and the colony expands in my small wood (consisting of one giant sequoia, one tulip tree, one arborvitae and some shrubs) in front of my house. I have been looking for the other Vancouveria species but not succeeded yet.
One of the benefits of being chair of our Chapter plant sales is that sometimes I know in advance what people are bringing. I talked with a member today, and she is bringing some Epimedium cantabrigiense. But I don't have room in my garden if it runs too much. How does it compare with Orangekönigin (which I have), regarding this quality?
One of the prettiest flowers you can find in the early summer woods here is Viola canina. I suddenly discovered this nice clump just outside my garden yesterday.
My Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' is starting to open.
Flowering for the first time!
An excellent woodlander from Southeastern USA, but perfectly hardy in northern New England, is the Umbrella Leaf of Diphylleia cymosa, a member of the Berberidaceae. It's another of those classic examples of a small genus with one species found in Southeastern USA, and with one or two counterpart species found in Asia.
I've been watching for these, and here is the first hairy little troll emerging!
Syneilesis aconitifolia, from seed in 2008: