Miscellaneous Woodlanders

[cohan]

they [Linnaea borealis] rarely get space to themselves though, and have to be viewed through other vegetation.. There are many places where they grow in mowed areas--fine for the plants, but i'm not always successful avoiding the flowers....

In northern Minnesota where I see Twinflower commonly, I find  them most often in  pine needle duff where surface vegetation and understory are sparse.  They virtually have the whole place to themselves!  This is also where Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata) grows.

If I ever finish posting pics from my one day in the mts, lol,  I will show some of the Linnaea here in the yard, and surrounding woods where they grow in any kind of soil and moisture conditions except standing water, nor are they common in the driest under spruce spots (the only places we have with barish ground).. they are common under and among grasses, shrubs, and numerous forbs with mosses, lichens and fungi as well

[RickR]

A very nice Arisaema collection, Whim!  (Arisaema speciosum gives me the giggles.)

A pic from a previous year, my Deinanthe caerulea has a yellow, twisty stigma.

               

[WimB]

A very nice Arisaema collection, Whim!  (Arisaema speciosum gives me the giggles.)

A pic from a previous year, my Deinanthe caerulea has a yellow, twisty stigma.

A. speciosum is really nice (and a new addition to my garden since this year).

The stigma's of my Deinanthe caerulea and of my Deinanthe bifida are white....

[Lori S.]

I love the pin-striped Arisaema, Wim!  
It's nice to see the beautifully-grown Deinanthe in both Rick's and Wim's gardens.  (Mine has succumbed to drought and general mistreatment... sigh.)

I suppose this is a woodlander of sorts... I believe it's Symphytum grandiflorum (maybe a cultivar, but if so, I've lost its name), and it's looking very attractive with it's white, blue and red inflorescences.  Despite it's common name, creeping comfrey, it has remained in the same spot over a few years now; should I be on the watch for world-domination?
   

[RickR]

Deinanthe caerulea is another one of my acquisitions that was woefully mistreated in its early years due to my ignorance of its needs.  For three or four years it was an "ephemeral", emerging in the spring and in just 3-4 weeks going dormant.  I guess it was wondrous that it even survived that hot, summer baked, rich clay.  When I moved it to a proper site, it really jumped into growth.  It produces zillions of viable seeds, although I have not seen any volunteers yet.

[RickR]

I still grow comfrey also.  I hold over from when I used to dry the leaves to brew a most delicious tea.  It is still my favorite, tasting much like orange and black peko.  But there are some reports of it being carcinogenic, So I hardly drink it anymore.  I received the plant from my neighbor, who drinks it religiously, as did his father in Italy.  so I don't know what its real taxonomic designation is, but I guessed it as Symphytum x uplandicum.  Yours is much more garden worthy, Lori.  I'm not sure if it ever produces viable seed.  One year I tried in earnest to collect seed for someone; I think I got two seeds that looked good, but I never found out if they actually grew or not.

[cohan]

I haven't grown comfrey, but I have got the impression that once you plant it, its for life... supposed to produce wonderful compost (really deep roots that bring nutrients from deep soils), some sort of fertiliser tea as well..

[stephenb]

I also grow Comfrey - my introduction to it in the 80s as a tea plant and vegetable coincided with the carcinogen scare, so I left it alone. I grow the selection Symphytum x uplandicum "Bocking 14", a selection made by the Henry Doubleday Research Association in the UK who championed this "wonder plant" until the scare. It is also used to make comfrey fertiliser as Cohan says (just fermented leaves, like nettle water) and that's how I use it today. It behaves very well in a garden, not spreading invasively like some of the species.

[WimB]

I love the pin-striped Arisaema, Wim! 

Lori,

A. fargesii is one of the easiest Arisaema's to grow...if I get seeds this year, I'll send you some.

It's nice to see the beautifully-grown Dienanthe in both Rick's and Wim's gardens.  (Mine has succumbed to drought and general mistreatment... sigh.)

I find it very easy to grow as long as you don't let it get too dry (see pic)

[Hoy]

Much to look at here!
Deinanthe is a favorite of mine but my plants can't match yours! They're often damaged by slugs.
Comfrey is a weed in my garden, selfsowing all over the place. However it is easy to remove when young.
Twinflower is very common here except the driest places. I love their spicy fragrance.
Arisaemas are always special but the speciosum is not the least!

[McDonough]

Still going strong, flowering for the last month and a half, is Kirengoshoma palmata.  Last year, the plants completely collapsed in the record-breaking drought and looked hideous, this small genus of Japanese woodlanders is the plant equivalent of a canary in a mine, one of the first plants to show water stress and flag with the slightest whiff of dryness.  This year we've had ample rainfall, and these large plants (to 5' tall x 5' wide) drip at the tips with waxy yellow flared trumpets.  The foliage is unique, bold, and attractive as well.

I'm always interested in what blooms attract hummingbirds; today I heard the close whir of a hummingbird's wings, as it visited each and every flower on my large Kirengoshoma stands, the first time I witnessed this particular hummingbird nectar choice.  In the second photo, I marked a red arrow where the hummingbird is, and included an enlarged insert; sorry for the poor photo quality but the entry-level camera I share with my daughter is useless for action photography and macro photography, but you'll get the idea.

 

[Hoy]

Well grown, Mark!
My plants do not show any colour to the flowers yet. They are very late flowering here.

Have you considered if your plants belong to the Koreana group/Kirengeshoma koreana? If I remember rightly the Korean form opens the flowers more and has a stiffer stem. My plants are very lax. But this can be temperature related of course.

[AmyO]

"Have you considered if your plants belong to the Koreana group/Kirengeshoma koreana? If I remember rightly the Korean form opens the flowers more and has a stiffer stem. My plants are very lax. But this can be temperature related of course."

I agree too...the plants we have at work labeled K. palmata are much more cascading and a bit more closed than yours Mark. The K. koreana haven't started blooming yet, but I'll bet they are going to look just like yours.

[McDonough]

"Have you considered if your plants belong to the Koreana group/Kirengeshoma koreana? If I remember rightly the Korean form opens the flowers more and has a stiffer stem. My plants are very lax. But this can be temperature related of course."

I agree too...the plants we have at work labeled K. palmata are much more cascading and a bit more closed than yours Mark. The K. koreana haven't started blooming yet, but I'll bet they are going to look just like yours.

Very interesting Amy, you've given me something to look at more closely.  And when I start looking up Kirengeshoma palmata and koreana, the puzzle deepens and I'm no closer to an answer!  What I'd like to find is a definitive publication that delineates the difference between palmata and koreana, and on that front, I haven't yet found anything conclusive.  First, there's the reference to the "koreana group" or K. palmata koreana group", suggesting ambiguity on the two "species". There's even uncertainty regarding the family and taxonomic standing, originally placed in Saxifragaceae but some authorities now placing it in Hydrangeaceae, and the genus is listed as "status unresolved" in The Plant List.
http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/search?q=Kirengeshoma

I also have a plant that came to me as K. koreana, which has leaves that look decidedly different, although my plant languishes in a drier part of the garden... not sure if it's still alive.  It has never flowered for me.

So, I very might very have Kirengeshoma (the koreana group), but who really knows.  

[McDonough]

After a long search, I did find this one recent (2010) paper.  While very technical, it does have some taxonomic language that is helpful, which makes clear that there are two species, and where each is native to.
http://www.amjbot.org/content/97/6/e48.full

Here's an excerpt:
Kirengeshoma (Hydrangeaceae) comprises two extant species, Kirengeshoma palmata Yatabe and Kirengeshoma koreana Nakai, both of which inhabit warm temperate-deciduous forests in eastern China/southern Japan (K. palmata) and South Korea (K. koreana) (Qiu et al., 2009). Kirengeshoma koreana is restricted to one locality, Mt. Baek-unsan, whereas K. palmata is known from four sites in eastern China (Zhang et al., 2006) and three in southern Japan (Chang et al., 2007). Because of their small range size and small number of populations, both species are treated as “endangered” in China, Japan, and Korea (Qiu et al., 2009) and are considered “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Both species are of high ornamental value because of their large attractive flowers and beautiful leaves. Kirengeshoma palmata is also a medicinal plant, containing biologically active flavonoids in roots and rhizomes (Zhang et al., 2006).