Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
CeVA Journal: Wildflowers
This started out to be a post about our long weekend in the country, but a long weekend leads to a long post, so I decided to break it up.
When we bought the country place last fall I couldn't wait for spring to discover all the wildflowers that were just bound to be springing up in the woods. And I'm still waiting. Yesterday afternoon, I was determined to do a thorough search. Who ever heard of a woods without spring flowers? There must be some somewhere. So I crisscrossed the woods with my gaze firmly on the ground. I'd already found a few patches of bluets several weeks ago - I'm skipping over them here, but they're still blooming and even more numerous.
In front of the house, there are lots of ferns. We're going to regard ferns as honorary wildflowers for this discussion. Christmas fern was with us all winter and is now putting up new fronds. Then there are several others that are new to me. I don't know what this one is but it's going to be big.
I think this is bracken, Pteridium aquilinum, but I welcome corrections.
Near the stream, I found this. It looks like Solomon's Seal to me, but it's much smaller than the ones in our suburban woods.
I've been watching the shrubs that I think might be blueberries. Very early in the spring, the tall white-flowered ones bloomed. This one is a low-growing thing that's part of a thick colony towards the back of the lot.
At first I thought this was another Solomon's Seal, but it appears to be Uvularia sessilifolia, or Sessile Bellwort.
A closer look at the Uvularia flower.
But while I had my nose pointed at the ground looking for tiny flowers, I almost missed this, which was above my head.
I believe this is Rhododendron periclymenoides. There's only one shrub like this blooming back in the woods, but there are several others nearby with just foliage. I may try to take a few cuttings and get it growing closer to the house. I liked it so much I went back and took more pictures today.
Labels: azaleas, CeVA, ferns, wildflowers
4 Comments:
Oh my... that rhododendron is breathtaking! That looks like a solomon's seal to me, too, so maybe it's just a young one?
I agree - what a gorgeous native azalea! This is northern Va somewhere, right? My family is all from Charlottesville - and it makes me wonder what azaleas are native to that area. They really are so beautiful!
So you did find some treasures in the woods, Entangled! One of the Uvularias used to be called Merry Bells, but I don't remember which one. I just thought the name was pretty.
Annie
Blackswamp Girl: I wondered the same thing about the Solomon's Seal, and the plant in the photo was the only one that had flower buds on it.
Pam: Our country house is about 20 miles east of Charlottesville. My sources were conflicting about what's native here, but R. periclymenoides is said to be common.
Annie: Merry Bells is a much perkier name than Sessile Bellwort - I think I'll call them Merry Bells :-)
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