Some Prairie Wildflowers

[Lori S.]

A few pretty things I saw on my way home this evening through the park...

It looks like there will be a good berry crop along the river uplands... saskatoonberry, Amelanchier alnifolia:
 

The gold of buffalobean (Thermopsis rhombifolia) has taken center stage from Pulsatilla patens, though the purple seedheads of the latter remain very showy:
   

Allium textile is starting to bloom:


Musineon divaricata was an interesting find....  (I must get off the bike and look around more often!   )
 

Lithospermum incisum, smaller than in my garden (where they are not giants by any means):

[Lori S.]

A tiny Antennaria (with my gloved finger for scale); Geum triflorum; Buffaloberry, Shepherdia canadensis:
       

Morel; star-flowered solomon's seal, Maianthemum stellatum; mouse-eared chickweed, Cerastium arvense:
     

 Oxytropis sericeus:
   

Bastard toadflax, Comandra umbellata:

[Lori S.]

Another very interesting find (sorry for the poor photos)... Cymopterus acaulis:
 

Geranium viscosissimum:


And the brilliant fuchsia (the colour, not the plant, Trond  ) of Hedysarum boreale:
 

[RickR]

A nice peek into your native lowland flora, Lori.  Miainthemum is strictly a forest plant here. 

I once bought Thermopsis rhombifolia.  It almost immediately died upon transplanting into the garden, or so I though.  The following year it resurfaced in 3 separate places, one to two feet from the original place of planting (which, by the way, still showed no life).  That was enough of an omen for me, and it was eradicated.  Anyone else have this problem in their garden, and is the plant normally stoloniferous in the wild?

[stephenb]

Great pictures as usual, Lori!!  I'm a bit confused here Hedysarum in flower at the same time as Amelanchier? The Hedysarums I grow are late summer flowerers here. Is boreale much earlier? I've tried this one several times, but for some reason it never gets through the winters here.

If you ever see seed on the Cymopterus or Allium textile (it's never been correct the times I've tried it) I would love to swap, beg, beg...!!

Another question, I germinated one of the Shepherdias and it grows incredibly slowly - still less than 10 cm after 3 years. Do they have special requirements?

S.

 

[Tim Ingram]

As an umbel nut it is nice to see the Musineon and Cymopterus. That mass of Pulsatilla patens must be glorious in flower - I always think of them as special individual plants in the garden, though in some favoured gardens I have seen Pulsatillas seeding generously. It is particularly nice to see the Lithospermum as I have been trying to grow it not very successfully. Quite a number of other choice borages have done well in the sand bed, but this has lingered and probably needs more robust soil.

[Lori S.]

A nice peek into your native lowland flora, Lori.  Miainthemum is strictly a forest plant here. 

I once bought Thermopsis rhombifolia.  It almost immediately died upon transplanting into the garden, or so I though.  The following year it resurfaced in 3 separate places, one to two feet from the original place of planting (which, by the way, still showed no life).  That was enough of an omen for me, and it was eradicated.  Anyone else have this problem in their garden, and is the plant normally stoloniferous in the wild?

Maianthemum stellatum grows both in the open grasslands and in the forest here, and as it is stoloniferous, tends to form big colonies.  (I have it in the garden - it may have come in in the soil of a saskatoonberry bush? - the stolons are fairly easy to pull out to control it.  Yes, Thermopsis rhombifolia does spread around and is probably not for the very well-tended garden either!

I'm a bit confused here Hedysarum in flower at the same time as Amelanchier? The Hedysarums I grow are late summer flowerers here. Is boreale much earlier? I've tried this one several times, but for some reason it never gets through the winters here.

If you ever see seed on the Cymopterus or Allium textile (it's never been correct the times I've tried it) I would love to swap, beg, beg...!!

Another question, I germinated one of the Shepherdias and it grows incredibly slowly - still less than 10 cm after 3 years. Do they have special requirements?

Yes, Hedysarum boreale is early blooming, while H. alpinum and H. sulphurescens are much later.  Allium textile is common and it should not be too hard to find seeds... I've never even noticed Cymopterus before! 
Well, I find it hard to guess what Sheperdia might prefer... they are common prairie and forest edge shrubs, growing in horrible alkaline clay soil with little water and harsh conditions... ?  We have one in the front yard that I would have to say has also been very slow growing, so perhaps that's just their nature?

[Lori S.]

That mass of Pulsatilla patens must be glorious in flower...

Here they were in bloom, Tim:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=67.msg8443#msg8443

[cohan]

Interesting to see some familiar plants, and some I have to travel to see, or not at all (the umbellifers are very interesting)! Amelanchier rarely grows in fully exposed spots here, though it is very very common in open woods and edges of woods.. Ditto for Shepherdia canadensis--probably hard to find more than a square metre without it on my acreage (apart from mowed areas, and even then there could be seedlings).. it can be seen in exposed roadsides, but much more common in open woods--or even quite shady spots, but I suspect the woods sometimes fill in around them.... I have no idea how fast they grow, since they are all wild plants.. I could certainly give you some more seed (canadensis) to try, Stephen.... they grow in wet, dry, sunny and shady places here.. I don't know how acidic or not our soil is, though, for example, every inch of snow in winter is covered in spruce needles after a wind....most plants that grow here will grow in any soil from clayey loam to spruce duff to leaf litter on concrete, even my woodash pile....lol...

We were just in the mountains on Tues, and Hedysarum boreale were just emerging around Abraham Lake, no flowers, but shockingly, a few blooms were seen just below treeline at the Columbia Icefield-- feels like a different subspecies up there, haven't read up on it.. Oxytropis sericea was flowering around Abraham Lake (montane zone), though not as far along as yours..

Rick, here too Maianthemum stellatum grows in the open and in shaded spots--looking so different you'd never know it was the same plant! Forms much larger denser stands of smaller more glaucous plants in the open... remind me to show comparative photos, sometime...
No Thermopsis here, unfortunately...

[stephenb]

Yes, please to the Shepherdia, Cohan (the various Rubus spp you sent are now germinating, but still no Osmorhiza)!

Good to hear that the Maianthemum stellatum is easily controlled - mine is in flower now and has spread quickly and I was getting a bit worried...

[Hoy]

Another very interesting find (sorry for the poor photos)... Cymopterus acaulis:

Geranium viscosissimum:

And the brilliant fuchsia (the colour, not the plant, Trond  ) of Hedysarum boreale:

Well, Lori, I have learnt much of these pages! You can never be sure if a plantname means the plant or the colour in English

Very intereating to see the flora of the prairie, Lori. Most of which is unfamiliar
However I do grow Maianthemum stellatum but it is different from the one you show, Lori. (If you find seed later???  )

I have tried Thermopsis too but it didn't survive. Not sure it was this species though. Here it could roam free

Maianthemum bifolium is everywhere in Norway.It is one of the commonest plants I think.

[cohan]

Stephen, good news on the Rubus! I was worried about them, knowing some Rubus are hard to germinate, and the amount of seed was small..

Trond, here is a view of (wild) Maianthemum stellatum in a damp shady location.. in the sun, they look exactly like those Lori has shown... I'd like to try moving some pieces from one location the other, and/or growing them side by side to see if all the difference is from habitat or not, they are so different!
Flowers not open, but they look typical...
No bifolium here, M trifolium should be flowering in wet wooded areas (haven't been out there) and M canadense are just about to start flowering here.. super common, they are all over my 'lawn' hate to mow them, and will go around nice patches, but can't leave them in as many places as they are (the grass and poplar shoots etc will grow too much!)

[Lori S.]

Good to hear that the Maianthemum stellatum is easily controlled - mine is in flower now and has spread quickly and I was getting a bit worried...

Well, mine are currently in an area where they were the groundcover under a saskatoonberry - now removed (as it was overly shaded and very prone to rust)... In that area, I only controlled them to keep them out of the path.  The stolons are a few inches below the surface  (but not down to China, at least!) and strong enough that they can be pulled/dug out relatively easily, so as far as invasive things go, it is not the worst!  I'd prefer it stayed in its own spot though!     Depending on what becomes of that area, I'm not sure I'll keep it. 

I dunno... I'm not seeing great differences in the appearance of Maianthemum (Smilacena) stellatum from sun to shade here (other than a bit of difference in "tightness" of the foliage along the stem and how upright the plant is), or even as compared to your photo, Cohan... ?  What are you seeing as the big difference?

[cohan]

The foliage looks very different to me, Lori-- the plant in shade is taller (haven't measured but a wild guess--a difference of maybe 40cm compared to 30 if not more ), foliage on the shade plant is very open, leaves spaced out, flat, dark green, and plant arches overall; the plants in sun are shorter, very densely leafed with no spaces, leaves are very glaucous and folded upwards on each side of the mid vein, overall a stiff, erect plant compared to a soft droopy one...

[Lori S.]

Okay, so we are seeing the same differences (but just describing the magnitude differently  )... just wondered what I was missing.  Thanks!