Image of the day - 2012

[Lori S.]

Argentina anserina is the former Potentilla anserina and is common across the prairies... as a kid, I remember seeing it mainly on the edges of mud puddles along the sidewalks!  I've always thought of it as being somewhat invasive but I've never grown it so I don't know how well founded that assumption is.  I've found it sort of amusing that Fraser's Thimble Farms has sold it for many years now (surprising to me but why not, I suppose - though until seeing Todd's photo, I hadn't thought of it as being all that ornamental) and secondly, that they refer to it as hardy down to zone 6.    (It would be nice if the natural range of plants would be considered when zone ratings are published!) 

[cohan]

Finally the last place I've photographed this plant ( I think!) in 2007, on the Leslie Spit in Toronto; this is a park and breakwater of reclaimed/built up land ( I suppose there was a spit there that they added to?)- part are still being extended - or were in 2007- with construction /demolition rubble etc.. plants are a mix of native and urban weedy species (and I never did know the Ontario flora enough to always know the difference- I think i will have to post more from this place- there are things I still don't know what they were!), and I suppose some of the natives have been deliberately planted....
These plants are growing in a sandy spot that seemed very hot and dry in mid-summer though it's possible the watertable is not very far below, and likely at other times of year it would be wet....

[McDonough]

Judging from the USDA Plant Profile page on Argentina anserina and native range, it grows all the way up to the Northern Territories and Alaska, so hardiness is probably not an issue.  In it native to most of the USA and Canada except south-central and southeastern U.S.  Some good diagnostic photos on the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture web site, but please note, if you search on "Argentina" it will not be found, so browse by genus and look for it under its long-standing prior name: Potentilla anserina.

http://www.plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ARAN7
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php?Genus=Argentina&Species=anserina
 

[Lori S.]

Judging from the USDA Plant Profile page on Argentina anserina and native range, it grows all the way up to the Northern Territories and Alaska, so hardiness is probably not an issue. 

Yes, my point exactly with respect to the "zone 6" rating!  (On that note, another favourite misleading-zone-rating example is for   another northern prairie plant, anise-hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)...  also "zone 6"...   

[cohan]

Lori- I have some places in the yard where I think it would be a nice addition to the 'lawn' though paying closer attention to the habitat,  now I'm wondering if its drought tolerant as I always thought from city sightings.. When I get some seed or cuttings, I can try it in the dry and wet ends of the property... I've always really liked the plant, especially when its flat, and some are more silver than others, not sure if that's varietal or environmental..

So is the consensus that all the North American plants are native? And are all the stoloniferous Potentilla this species? I didn't find any other candidates....

Mark- if it's growing around here, hardiness is not an issue I wonder if the arctic forms are any smaller?

The zone thing is funny-- I understand there are plants that are less cultivated, and vendors can't say anything more than that they are hardy in the nursery's zone, but for plants native to- for example Alberta, as something I saw in a B.C. catalogue was listed, a zone 4 rating is kind of funny (very small areas of z4 in Alberta) and widely grown plants in zone 2 listed as z 6- Sempervivum is another- funny indeed-- a few minutes on google could give a catalogue writer better info than that!
The Agastache grows near here too...  we are z 3 more or less on the map, these days, but long term still expect some z 2 winters...

[cohan]

After digging up the Argentina/Potentilla images from an old Toronto album, I got the whole set onto Picasa, and started a thread here:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=986.msg14913#msg14913
an interesting 'wild' space in view of the CN Tower...

[Hoy]

Potentilla (I prefere that name!) anserina is common in all Norway, also the far north. It is nitrophilic and you commonly find it at the seashores. I am used to two different forms - one with silvery hair on both sides of the leaves - often the biggest - and one with green leaves and hair only on the underside of the leaf. It is so common that I haven't bothered picturing it!

I have only this pic:

[cohan]

Potentilla (I prefere that name!) anserina is common in all Norway, also the far north. It is nitrophilic and you commonly find it at the seashores. I am used to two different forms - one with silvery hair on both sides of the leaves - often the biggest - and one with green leaves and hair only on the underside of the leaf. It is so common that I haven't bothered picturing it!

I have only this pic:

Its often the case that we ignore very common plants, even if they are nice! I tend to overlook Fragraria here for that reason, among others, even though they are quite lovely!

[Lori S.]

For consideration today, here are the tiny and bizarre flowers of Mitella nuda, a circumpolar native, growing here in an acid/peat bed:

                        

[cohan]

One of my favourites, Lori this is one of those that grows everywhere here (out of full sun, that is), including many mowed parts of our property; often quite large patches, though never all by itself, and many times threading through other species; I'd like to put some in a dedicated planting like yours where it can be appreciated

Here are some common local settings of Mitella nuda:
first with Pyrola asarifolia in bud, Cornus canadensis emerging leaves, aster and Rubus in the background, among others (very typical mesic forest community!) and a close-up of the same inflorescence with fuzz of poplars or dandelion stuck to it (at times the air and ground, every twig, blade and leaf are full of fuzz of various things); June 06, 2010



Then on a slightly raised strip in  a wet wooded area, with Equisetum, Galium, Rubus, Geum, etc.. June 16, 2010

[cohan]

Another example of en-fuzzed flowers from early June- Corallorrhiza trifida, which I don't remember from my youth, but which has become very common on parts of the acreage and the farm just beyond....

[Todd Boland]

Seems my challenge is to get a nice closeup of Mitella nuda...I've ignored it but it is really quite exquisite.

We have C. trifida in NL but I have never seen it in flower...only in seed.  Thinking on it, I've only seen it in AB in seed...guess I'm not out early enough in the year.

[Tim Ingram]

I've always wondered about growing Potentilla anserina. Here it is simply called 'silverweed'. I've never known anyone introduce it to gardens; I imagine it could become pretty invasive! On the other hand it could be good to have it spangling the lawn!

The picture of Lori's earlier on of Asperulain tufa is just tremendous; my tufa project is definitely coming to the fore!

[Hoy]

Mitella nuda isn't new to me but I've never considered growing it in my garden till now!

Corallorhiza trifida is common here but do not show up every year. Here's a picture from last summer. This plant did grow in the road.




I found a couple of other pictures with Potentilla anserina. It is from the island of Jomfruland and wide patches of the beach are covered by "silverweed" but not the most silvern type. Seems that those with green leaves tolerates grazing more than the silvery ones do. The plants here are grazed by cows and geese. The more silvern ones to the right isn't grazed as hard as the others. The lone plant is from another place on the same island.

   

[cohan]

Trond-- the big patch of P anserina is nice!
Tim- I agree you wouldn't want it in a small/choice garden setting, but I'd quite like to have it in my 'lawn' which is just mowed land including a lot of things other than grass already! Agreed about Mitella- the inflorescences are individually stunning, and quite wonderful when you see a patch of them..

Todd- Corallorhiza is not that early here- early June..