It’s in the details Conspicuously silver-marked, pinnate leaves which are among the first to appear early in the spring: Curled flower buds with ciliate calyces which resemble an exquisite lace work; opening to reveal white or purple bell-shaped flowers with exerted stamens: …recognized by pollination ecologists as very valuable because they attract large numbers of […]
Jeffersonia diphylla – Twinleaf, Rheumatism root (Fam. Berberidaceae) Twinleaf is quite an unusual North American native species. Not often cultivated and we still have to find it in the woods of Southwestern Ontario where it is probably quite rare. This gorgeous picture belongs to a cultivated plant. It is obviously thriving in a garden where […]
Wandering in the woods through masses of white trillium (T. grandiflorum) at peak flowering is a privilege.An even greater and exciting treat is finding its pink form – Trillium grandiflorum f. roseum and interesting green variants. The pink flower form can be usually found mixed in large populations of ‘normal’ white trilliums. Scouting for them has […]
Yesterday I spent quite some time into the darkness of the garage, doing archaeological plant-digging in containers. I was looking after various creatures that like to spend the winter dry and need to be unearthed by late April and be brought back to life (if possible). A large earth octopus almost jumped out of a […]
New growths, new beginnings – All equally exciting! Caulophyllum thalictroides first germinated seeds: The beginning of a ‘direct woodland sowing’ project (native species, of course)– more about this will be detailed soon. The spotting of a few happy pollinators (alas not in my garden): The first day out at ‘fresh air’ for the young seedlings: […]
Lilium michiganense, Lilium canadense (plus few others) are the kind of lilies that require warmth for the first stage of germination (about 20˚C), and then a period of cold (0-5˚C for 2-3 months) for the true leaves to emerge. If you get these seeds in late fall or winter, this is the tried recipe to […]
“Like the seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring” – Kahlil Gibran One of the coldest February months in history is about to end but it shouldn’t keep us from dreaming our hearts wishes…A gallery of spring flower seeds, which all bear elaiosomes; some are still dreaming under the snow or in […]
Update: GA3 treatment makes no difference for Caulophyllum or other species like it which have immature embryos; they need to be kept moist (or sown fresh) and allowed the required warm/cold cycles, multiple times in case of Caulophyllum (2-3 years). Speaking about the inside winter gardening, this year I am trying to use GA3 to […]
One more garage check-up before sinking into another round of low night-time temperatures. The spring beauty seeds are sprouting! – maybe they know something that we don’t? ;) Claytonia virginica is a true ephemeral beauty, a cheer for the soul in springtime! Claytonia virginica Virginia spring beauty is common in southern and south-central Ontario and […]
A short break from the deep freeze allowed me to unwrap and check the plant trays stored in the garage today. Anxiety was running high because I had noticed that a few species had started to germinate more than a week ago. Luckily, from under two sheets of fleece and plastic, the Helleborus seedlings showed […]
After wasting time with the ceremony, I was punished to do my homework on the weekend – there are still seeds to be added in the catalogue… I didn’t think at Syneilesis until someone who participated in the Helleborus seeds trade, asked if by any chance I have a few Syneilesis aconitifolia good seeds…There it […]
Chimaphila from Greek: cheimon – winter, philein – to love Pipsissewa from Cree language, meaning ‘it breaks into small pieces’ As we start looking towards the New Year, another thing becomes more obvious for those living in the northern hemisphere: winter has settled in! You absolutely have to love it; or you’ll be miserably dragging […]
Vermiculite from Latin ‘vermiculus’ = wormlet The recently emerged rootlet of bloodroot seed has attached on this vermiculite particle with the same desperation a climber clings onto a rock. A place to grow on, salvation… For us, it remains just an exfoliated fragment of a hydrated silicate mineral; worm-like shaped, lightweight, incombustible, compressible, sterile, with […]
Is this a catchy name, or what? I got into a routine to check the moist packed seeds at mid and end of the month. Remember the germinated Trilliums? Well, some got planted in pots and some remained in moist vermiculite, which is also a proper medium to easily check on them and take a […]
After an early winter arrival I am in the rush now to tuck in safely my sleeping beauties. The garage serves as a ‘winter storage/garden’. In what I call sleeping beauties I include various species done from seeds that have one thing in common: that they are ‘sleeping’ in their first season, totally or partially. […]
(DOD meaning: Dead on delivery) I don’t know precisely if the DOD term was coined by the renowned Prof. Norman Deno but surely he reminded me of it while reading a delightful Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society from 1991. DOD refers to the fact that seeds that require to be kept moist after […]
