Jeffersonia

[RickR]

The pods as lidded scepters above the foliage is quite attractive, Mark.  I've never noticed that on mine...

I'll have to take better note this spring.  They'll be blooming any day now.

[McDonough]

The pods as lidded scepters above the foliage is quite attractive, Mark.  I've never noticed that on mine...

I'll have to take better note this spring.  They'll be blooming any day now.

Soon after flowering and the production of "lidded sceptars" (good description Rick) the foliage will overtake them where they will be shaded and concealed by the ornamental foliage.

Today I noticed something I have not noticed before.  In a different part of my property (the wild wooded part, not the garden area), where Jeffersonia diphylla is several days behind the flowering schedule of the same species in my garden in a more open and warmer spot, they were still in bud.  I went to photograph them, then witnessed a remarkable thing, the bud sheath, which becomes detached from the base and was at a stage where it partially constricts the opening of the flowers,  suddenly pops off from the pressure of the expanding buds and the tightly closed white flower sprung open in real-time, in a couple seconds, just like the way some "evening primroses" (Oenothera species) will pop open at dusk so fast that its fun to watch such miraculous "plant movement".  I had no idea that Jeffersonia diphylla flowers are "spring loaded" and open with such speed.

In the first photo, you can see the translucent green bud sheath at the top of the white bud.  At some point the sheath will just pop off and the flowers spring open in a couple of seconds.




In this photo, I noticed further down on my dry wooded hillside, two white flowers with looked like Sanguinaria from afar.  When I got up close, I can see it is J. diphylla with the 8-petaled flowers fully open mimicking a bloodroot,  In the photo, you'll notice lots of foliage of Garlic Mustard or Alliaria petiolata which is invading New England, and only showed up in my property a couple years ago, but already it has spread with explosive abandon.

[Hoy]

The only one I have more than I need of is Alliaria petiolata (it's called løkurt "onion wort" here) although it is not a pest

[McDonough]

Today I went and gathered some self-sown J. diphylla plants down in my dry woods area.  They have a fine mass of roots and are easily moved and replanted. Shown are 2 - 3 year seedling plants.

[McDonough]

The Jeffersonia seedlings are growing fast, but to my surprise, the later germinating J. diphylla has caught up and overtaken J. dubia in growth.  Now I'm wondering if I will manage to get all of these planted, I have 5 flats of dubia (1 flat seen in the upper left) and 3 flats of diphylla (2 seen in the photo, lower left and upper right).  To ease my Jeffersonia burdon, I think I'll donate one flat of J. dubia seedlings to a NARGS New England Chapter meeting plant sale on Saturday.

[RickR]

Same here: J. diphylla is later, but once it decides to grow, it really takes off.  How old are those seedlings, Mark?

I am pleased to see a lot of what looks to be 5(?) year old blooming seedlings in our MN arboretums wildflower garden now.  Obviously individually planted, someone must have grown them from seed.   

[McDonough]

Same here: J. diphylla is later, but once it decides to grow, it really takes off. How old are those seedlings, Mark?

Not very old, I posted a photo earlier in this topic that shows the seedling just breaking ground, that was March 25th!  So these seedlings are not quite a month old.  I think the unusually warm weather and lots of sunny days is bringing them on speadily.  Plus I try to remember to water them adequately while actively growing.
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=181.msg16064#msg16064

[Lori S.]

After a beautiful weekend and 26 deg C today, everything has suddenly popped!  Jeffersonia dubia was tightly closed yesterday:

[McDonough]

Since our Jeffersonia are just lovely foliage now, good to again see the beautiful blooms.  Wow, 26 C (77 F) is a warm day, you'll have plants and flowers popping all over the place.  I'm amazed at just how fast plants can open flowers when they receive full days of warmth.

[Hoy]

Since our Jeffersonia are just lovely foliage now, good to again see the beautiful blooms.  Wow, 26 C (77 F) is a warm day, you'll have plants and flowers popping all over the place.  I'm amazed at just how fast plants can open flowers when they receive full days of warmth.

That never happens here!
The warmest so far was yesterday evening - had to use the garden parasol when we had dinner outside in the evening
Still, my sole Jeffersonia hasn't opened the flowers yet.

[McDonough]

I saw this link on an SRGC post that shows a very full-flowered form of J. dubia similar to Rick's fine form:
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=9018.msg245568#msg245568
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=9018.0;attach=350734;image

[RickR]

Yes, a very nice one.  It seems to have almost exactly the same form, except that I don't see any of his flowers with more than six petals. 

But unlike mine, I'll bet his is fertile...

[Hoy]

Yes, a very nice one.  It seems to have almost exactly the same form, except that I don't see any of his flowers with more than six petals. 

But unlike mine, I'll bet his is fertile...

Rick, are you sure yours is completely sterile? Sometimes "sterile" plants can produce some good pollen. But you probably have to try several times  . . . . . .

And you can try colchicine treatment!

[RickR]

Rick, are you sure yours is completely sterile? Sometimes "sterile" plants can produce some good pollen. But you probably have to try several times  . . . . . .

And you can try colchicine treatment!

Actually, I haven't had too much opportunity to try using pollen from the double plant on a normal type.  It is in a part of the garden where it blooms much later than the other.  Bloom times often don't overlap.  Saving pollen from a normal one is easy to try to pollinate the double, but vice versa is is more difficult.  I've only tried it once without success.   What I ought to do is grow some seedlings next to the double one...

[McDonough]

Seedlings of J. diphylla are growing lustily, now I'm worried about being able to make a new woodland bed large enough to hold them all, the start of my "Jeffersonian woodland lawn".  In the overhead view (photo 1), you can see equally full flats of J. dubia in the back (center and to the left).