Cornus canadensis

Sowing in moss – part II

Propagation, Wildflowers of North America

Medeola virginiana seeds have just been placed in the inventory. The Indian cucumber is a species that germination speaking “breaks with the tradition” (Breaking the tradition- Medeola germination).

New foliage of Medeola virginiana in the spring, growing in moss with Coptis trifolia (previous year leaves) and Canada Mayflower.

In some places it can be found growing on mossy decomposed tree trunks together with Coptis trifolia, the goldthread and Maianthemum canadensis (Canada Mayflower).

This is a great occasion to emphasize that Coptis trifolia should also be sown asap! Like many other species from the Ranunculaceae family, and those from the moist-packed seeds category, for the best germination it requires a slightly warm/moist stratification period before the winter arrives (ie. the cold/moist stratification period). Otherwise, germination will happen in the second year.

I decided to also sow Coptis seeds; hands-on experience is like no other :) And why not sow like the nature does many times in moist places? Meaning in moss. I already described and recommended this method for Gaultheria and Saxifraga cuneifolia: Green inspiration – sowing in moss.
The method can certainly be used for other species like Coptis, Trientalis, Medeola, Clintonia, Cornus canadensis. And surely 2-3 species could be sown together in a larger pot.

Medeola germination is already tested so let’s try the bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) this time.

Prepare a pot: add regular garden soil and a tuft of moss and saturate with water. Next day, have the seeds handy, remove the moss and press the larger seeds in the soil (Medeola, Cornus…), put back the chunk of moss and sprinkle the finer seeds on it (Coptis, Gaultheria, Trientalis); water slowly to push the finer seeds into the moss. Keep the pot in a shaded place, water when necessary. Depending on the situation: many critters, hot summers, you can also enclose the pot in a loose plastic bag. *Preferably use a larger pot that the one seen here.

Especially for species that take 2+ years to germinate, I think it is a wonderful method of sowing: the moss will help keep the pot content evenly moist, plus that it looks nice all year long!
Have yourself a nice hike and collect a little bit of moss :-)

September 7, 2022

The cure for insanity

Propagation, Wildflowers of North America

Before the announcement for the Shop re-opening, I have good reason to ‘recycle’ and update a post about the lovely Cornus canadensis (bunchberry, dwarf cornel) from a few years ago.
Reason is that fruits have just been collected and, together with few other species, they await the seeds extraction.
So, keep in mind that a new group of species will be posted in the inventory later next week. Among them: Aralia hispida, Lobelia spicata, Drosera intermedia and few others.
By a good chance, seeds of another species that wasn’t offered in quite a few years: Coptis trifolia, the goldthread were also collected.

Usually the name Cornus makes us think of trees and shrubs. But the bunchberry is a lovely perennial dogwood, which grows only to 15-20 cm tall, with leaves arranged in whorls of 4 or 6. The flowers, typical for a Cornus, are easy recognizable after the 4 large, white petal-like bracts. The fruit is an attractive, red, globe-shaped drupe, persistent, and also edible; especially birds are very fond on consuming the fruits during the fall migration.

Good as a groundcover in shaded, moist locations, underneath small trees or shrubs; lovely to grow underneath Rhododendrons for example. I have also seen it growing on old tree stumps on top of moss, which would be great to try to ‘reproduce’ if possible (Coptis trifolia and Medeola virginiana can be grown the same way). It also needs a slightly acidic substrate and a cool location. Usually it can be found in the company of Linnaea borealis, Trientalis borealis, Coptis trifolia, Maianthemum canadense and few others.

Cornus canadensis

Propagation from seeds is slow and the best protocol I found suggests: a period of warm/moist stratification for 45 days; followed by cold-moist stratification for 140 days (ie. 4-5 months or two winters). I think we can try to replace 1 winter by doing the following:
warm/moist stratification 1 month + GA3 treatment + cold/moist stratification (2-3 months = 1 winter).

Among its uses by the Indigenous People I found the mention of fruits consumption as a cure for insanity ;) I will chew some while extracting the seeds; who knows, I might get cured of the insanity of trying to maintain this seeds business during a time of increasing world-wide practices of restricting gardeners access to seeds, or better said, rules favoring the large, multinational companies in detriment of small scale operations. Sounds familiar?

Until tomorrow…

*I cannot miss the chance to post this link where the unique pollination mechanism found in Cornus canadensis is described:

THE EXPLOSIVE POLLINATION MECHANISM IN CORNUS CANADENSIS L. : https://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/ben/ben194.html

August 16, 2022

A perfect – woodland – day

Wildflowers of North America

If I leave aside the heat, the endless road constructions/detours and the million mosquitos hungrily awaiting into the woods, yesterday was quite a perfect day. The first seeds of the season were collected and a new, nice Trientalis borealis population has been found.

Really perfect; only that I had to keep reciting Issa’s haiku.

What good luck!
Bitten by
this year's mosquitoes too.

The bright Northern Starflowers (Trientalis), delicate Mitella, the elegant, stylish Medeola, columbines, bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), showy orchids….