Plant portraits – Page 9 – Botanically Inclined

In sync – Corydalis solida

Alpine plants, Gardens, Photography, Plant portraits

Corydalis from the Greek ‘Korydalís’ meaning ‘crested lark’

Someone lucky enough to go hiking in the Carpathian Mountains in late April-early May would be surrounded by multicoloured masses of Corydalis solida – Fumewort (or ‘brebenei’ in my native tongue). There is a great variation in flower colour from white to pink and purple and actually the best forms of C. solida on the market today trace back their origins to Transsilvania (Romania) and Penza regions (western Russia).

This year, in sync, the ones from our garden are blooming at the same time:

The renown Corydalis solida ‘George Baker’ (from Gardenimports – I am not really sure if it is the real thing but still a good red form)

An ephemeral at superlative – it appears fast with the temperature raise in the spring, and then disappears quietly after a few weeks. But for the brief time when it flowers, it will fill your heart with unconditional love for the years to come. The deeply divided ferny foliage and long spurred, tube-shaped flowers are adorable providing the much needed burst of colors after our long winters.

Corydalis solida – in its usual purple form (from Lost Horizons)

They also make for very good photo-subjects after rain

C. solida ‘Beth Evans’- is a large-flowered form, with pink flowers; slow to increase. They are very delicate when in active growth; to be moved, mark their place and lift up the small tubers (bulb-like) as soon as they go dormant or in the fall.

Corydalis solida ‘Beth Evans’ (from Fraser Thimble Farm)

Due to its ephemeral nature it is offered mostly by specialized nurseries/mail-order operations. For part shade and moist conditions when in growth, then it prefers to remain on the dry side for the rest of the season. I particularly like them planted close to ferns or ornamental grasses where they fill in the space just perfectly in early spring. They interbreed easily and will seed around if happy forming multicolored colonies.

Best not to be a purist when it comes to Corydalis solida!

This is just a small glimpse of the Corydalis solida world – there are many other named varieties. I already wrote about other wonderful Corydalis species – do not be afraid to become a corydaphill!

Note: If someone doesn’t know it, the absolut Corydalis guru and bulb expert is Janis Ruksans from Latvia – on-line catalogue here: Rare Bulbs

May 2, 2014

An after Easter portrait – Symplocarpus foetidus

Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

All nature lovers in North America are familiar with the eastern skunk cabbage (polecat weed) – Symplocarpus foetidus, a true spring harbinger, a curiosity, a reason to go hiking in the woods in early spring, a conversation subject but most of all a warm-blooded plant!

Eastern skunk cabbage is the first plant to appear and flower in the frozen landscape due to its ‘central heating system’. The pointed inflorescences break through the ice and snow as heavily spotted, reddish thick-textured spathes that enclose the sexual parts (spadices).

“As my eye sweeps over the twenty or thirty plants before me, my gaze is brought into a spiraling movement when it tries to rest upon any single specimen. The deep color is warm, the sculpted form alive” – Craig Holdrege

The French naturalist Jean Lamarck was the first to report that aroid inflorescences produce heat and lately this metabolic process was called thermogenesis. It was (and still is) quite a fascinating phenomenon and lots of research has been done to explain what’s happening.

Symplocarpus foetidus

Today we know that it is the salicylic acid from the plant which functions as a hormone, initiating the heating process and also the production of odours and unfolding of the spathe. In eastern skunk cabbage, the warmth from the spadix also dissipates foul smelling substances to attract flies, beetles and other pollinating insects, which are rejoicing in the warm environment created inside the spathe.

Spadix temperature is regulated depending on the ambient up to two weeks. Regardless of the near-freezing air temperature, the heat produced by the spadix can raise the temperature of its tissues 15 to 35°C above the surroundings!

Symplocarpus foetidus spadix

There would be lots to be said also about the medicinal and magic uses of skunk cabbage. The one I like most is the ritual performed by the Menominee tribe of North America: they tattooed people recovering from an illness with a decoction of the skunk cabbage roots in the region where the illness had caused pain. This way the illness would not return…

Cultivation: Moist to wet soils in partial shade, great around ponds and streams. Seeds sown in moist compost and plants transplanted young or directly outside. It forms a stout, vertical rhizome and division is difficult. In nature populations are said to increase through seeds, not vegetatively, although for me it’s hard to believe the statement.
Large populations I am familiar with, form just few fruits every year, regardless of the spring weather; this implies they are largely clonal populations.

April 21, 2014

Solomon’s-seals – are you kidding?

Gardens, Plant portraits

A gardener’s look at how our preconceived ideas prevent us from experiencing new plants in the garden.

Most specialty nurseries nowadays are carrying a wide range of Solomon’s Seals – Polygonatum spp., of which quite a few don’t look at all like the common, North American native Polygonatum biflorum. Although the Great Solomon’s seal is a great addition to any woodland garden of a certain size, its size and spreading behaviour have been extended wrongly to the genus Polygonatum in general. If we are willing to look beyond, there are species and varieties that look and/or ‘behave’ in the garden completely different. I cannot say it better than Tony Avent from Plant Delights Nursery did when talking about Polygonatum kingianum: “forget everything you know about Solomon’s seal, except that it grows from a rhizome in the shade.”

I am sure the list can be longer but I’ll resume to a few species that I have images and are available at Lost Horizons Nursery in Ontario.

Polygonatum kingianum grows to 1-3 m tall, erect or as a climber; its leaves are narrow and arranged in whorls, each ending in a tendril-like tip. Flowers can be white to pink or orange and berries red. Flora of China specifies it is a highly variable species, which stands true for a few others Polygonatum sp. with whorled leaves.

Polygonatum verticillatum has also narrow leaves in disposed in whorls (but no tip-tendrils) and creamy-white flowers. A very tall form in cultivation is P. verticillatum ‘Himalayan Giant’. Another beauty with narrow, whorled leaves and smoky-rose flowers is Polygonatum curvistylum (I don’t have an image so you’ll have to believe me). Another species presented in the gallery, with umbel-like inflorescences might be P. zanlanscianense, but I’m not very sure. For more unusual species Flora of China is a good source of descriptions, although in some cases given their variability is hard to ascertain a proper identity, looking only at a few plants.

My preferate – Polygonatum hookeri is a dwarf Solomon-seal that you’ll fall in love with at first sight. It is a native from parts of China and N. India, where it grows at altitudes over 3000 m. It reaches only 10 cm in height and the leaves are crowded on the stems. The pink or lavender flowers resemble those of a hyacinth, and berries are red. In time it will form a lovely groundcover mat allowing other taller plants to peak through. Perfect for a small rockery in part shade. Available also at Wrightman Alpines – after all it is an alpine solomon’s seal!

March 7, 2014

The Alvars World of Bruce Peninsula

Botanical travels, Plant portraits

Alvar is the name used for a distinctive habitat formed by a thin covering of soil or no soil at all, over a base of limestone or dolostone bedrock. These alvars support specialized species communities and are found only in the North America Great Lakes Basin, Estonia, Sweden, Ireland and UK. Ontario contains 75% of the alvars in North America.

Campanula rotundifolia and Packera paupercula

I find the extreme conditions in which plants can grow in the alvars, especially the open pavement and shoreline alvars, quite fascinating. Pools of water collect in slight depressions in the surface of the rock ‘pavement’ after rain and spring snow melt, and then small amounts of silt and sand accumulate and provide a habitat for plants to take root in the shallow holes, grikes and joint fractures shaped by water erosion. The reason I found the alvars and the plants growing there so fascinating is that they remind me of a rock garden situation, a really though one, with little soil and rooting space for the plants, high temperatures in the summer and more than this with high variation on the moisture levels throughout the seasons.

Many of the alvar plant species are perennials, of which some are more or less confined to this particular environment. For example species like Cirsium hillii, Solidago ptarmicoides and Astragalus neglectus have a high alvar confinement (above 70%), while others like Zigadenus elegans have a low<50 % alvar confinement. Besides knowing and protecting them, the ability to grow in such conditions it is a proof of their adaptability and more of them should be tested into cultivation.

The following images have been taken in the Bruce Peninsula area, in Ontario – it is a gallery that gradually it will be updated with more species.

March 5, 2014

A study in contrast – Aquilegia species

Plant portraits, Propagation

A group of plants that I really like and hope to increase my collection, are the columbines: Aquilegia spp., and in particular, of course, the alpine columbines. In contrast with the more regular garden Aquilegia varieties, the alpine ones are short in stature but bearing large flowers. In most cases they have a delightful bluish, compact foliage, which in itself makes a wonderful addition to any small rock garden.

Aquilegia scopulorum x coerulea in the rock garden at Wrightman Alpines

All Aquilegia are important food source plants for bees, bumblebees, hummingbirds and hawk moths. Even just for this reason one should include them in the garden. Interesting fact, biologists found that the length of the nectar spurs in Aquilegia evolved to allow flowers to match the tongue lengths of their pollinators. Species with very long nectar spurs, like A. coerulea are pollinated by hummingbirds and hawk moths, while the short spured species, like A. canadensis are fancied by bees and other short tongue insects.

Aquilegia coerulea (Colorado blue columbine) has flowers with very long nectar spurs that look like space ships or sea creatures, wherever your imagination tends to go, up to the sky or down in the ocean. Very variable in height, anywhere from 15 to 90 cm and in flower colours – from white to pale or dark blue; also there are reports of a variety with spurless flowers!

I am greedy when it comes to columbines. This spring I am looking forward to see flowering (and take more pictures) in my rockery a few alpine columbines I grew from seeds: A. jonesii – the smallest of columbines, A. saximontana and A. discolor (that is if my seedlings survive the record low temperatures we have this winter).

Also ready to greet the pollinators this year: A. nigricans (Carpathians Mts. collection), A. alpina and A. atrata.

I would note that most Aquilegia species are polymorphic and difficult to define adequately. Some of the variability is because of introgressive hybridization (Flora of NA). Even distantly related species of columbines are often freely inter-fertile, hence the multitude of hybrids and cultivated forms available. Also, this poses a problem for seeds collection, especially in the case of cultivated varieties if one requires true to type species.

February 26, 2014

In a mood for Arisaema part II – Arisaema galeatum

Gardens, Plant portraits, Propagation

Another great Arisaema that flowers in early spring is Arisaema galeatum. It is another story than A. sazensoo because it has a really big tuber. It is said that can grow to half a kilogram! Last year when I was checking the tuber in early March I caught it just starting to grow and it looked very appealing to me – with a dark-chocolate coating and raspberry syrup on top would be delicious! But I put myself together… This is an Arisaema from the Himalayan range (NE India to Bhutan), which grows during the mansoon months and then the leaves start withering in late summer and goes dormant early. Good to keep this in mind as it shows its requirements for a very good drainage from late summer to fall, and during winter of course.

The flower emerge on the same time with the leaves, on a short peduncle and it has a helmet-like (galeate) spathe, similar with A. ringens. It can be green or brown with whitish veins and has a white, translucent spadix that ends in a thread like whip. I like to call it Dolphin cobra lily, because that’s what it suggested to me first time when it bloomed – a dolphin emerging for air from within the leaf!

Just like its sister, A. ringens, the huge trifoliolate leaf is very ornamental. Actually, I consider it among the most beautiful from all Arisaema species I’ve seen. It unfolds slowly and the back pattern with accentuated purple ribs makes it mesmerizing to watch.

It did form two tuberlets two years ago (not a great rate of offsetting), from which one even produced a small flower in its first season! Unfortunately, the rainy weather we had late summer to fall it proved fatal for the smaller size tubers. If someone wants to give it a try I suggest container culture, so it can be moved to a dry place in late summer, or if in the garden a real well drained area, like close to a tree or shrub that would remove the excess water and also provide the part-shade required.

February 25, 2014

In a mood for Arisaema – Arisaema sazensoo

Gardens, Plant portraits, Propagation

This is an updated post on Arisaema sazensoo – I have more ‘data’ to share now than last year. I am always in a mood for any Arisaema, but especially for the rare ones like A. sazensoo.

Arisaema sazensoo, is one of the first Arisaema to emerge in the spring, just like its cousin A. sikokianum. It is native from Kyushu, Japan and resemble a little A. sikokianum but the spadix doesn’t have such a pronounced white ‘pestle’. The spathe is usually deep purple, recurved over the spadix and the leaves are trifoliolate, like you can see in the images. It was thought to resemble a Buddhist monk in meditation – ‘zazen’, hence its name sazensoo, or at least that’s what I read. Anyway, you can tell it is a very charismatic Arisaema!

Arisaema sazensoo

Another characteristic is that it stays in flower over a very long period of time, comparing with other Arisaemas. It had one attempt to form seeds, which proved sterile, but two years ago in late fall I had the very pleasant surprise to find that it had produced an offset (a tuberlet)!

On a few websites you’ll read that A. sazensoo is a non-offsetting species, but obviously someone got it wrong. In the images below I can present now the tuberlet that has grown quite well in one season (A. sazensoo doesn’t have a big size flowering tuber). More than this, the old tuber shows very clear another tuberlet (which is best left to detach by itself).

Like many other Arisaema species, it prefers a part-shade location and can be grown very well in a container, where a good drainage can be easily provided. Best transplanted in late fall with fresh potting mix and kept dry over the winter.

February 24, 2014

Gardens in the Mountains – Wasatch Mountains

Botanical travels, Mountains, Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

When hiking on the nearby trails doesn’t suffice anymore, we usually set out toward a mountain area to immerse in the richness of alpine landscapes. Two years ago at the end of July, we travelled to Snowbird, situated in the heart of scenic Wasatch Mountains, Utah. Although better known as a ski resort, during the summer, Snowbird offers an easy and comfortable access to some of the floristic gems of the Utah Rockies.

Snowbird in the Wasatch Mts.

Wasatch Mountains stretch for nearly 200 miles from the Wellsville Mountains on the north, to the Mount Nebo on the south. Elevations range between 4,200 and 11,957 feet (at Mount Timpanogos). Along with jewel-like lakes there are pockets of lush green mountain meadows and areas of alpine tundra. Climate and microclimate differences produce a broad seasonal flowering spread. The basic rock types are made up principally of limestone and dolomite rocks. Soils of widely varying chemical composition are found throughout the area, thus providing a suitable environment for plants that require either acid soil or lime. These diverse habitat conditions make Wasatch Mountains a hotspot for plant endemism. One place where you can spend the whole day, just basking in the sun and admiring wildflowers is the Albion Basin. It is located at the top of glacially carved Little Cottonwood Canyon, above the ski resorts of Alta and Snowbird at over 9,500 feet. During the summer months of July-August there is a spectacular wildflower display in the high-elevation meadows with natural gardens of paintbrush, columbine, lupine, Jacob’s ladder, penstemons, and many more. This is where the Wasatch Wildflower Festival is held every year.

A very interesting plant that I saw for the first time was Pedicularis groenlandica – Elephant’s head (Orobanchaceae), which grows along streams and boggy mountain meadows, forming sometimes large colonies. It has fern-like leaves, mostly basal and dark green stems of about 1 foot high with flowers that look exactly like little magenta-pink elephant heads. Plants blooming for many weeks offer an image that is hard to forget. This beautiful plant is parasitic on the roots of the plants that grow in its vicinity, from which it extracts the nutrients it needs. Because of the parasitic life cycle, it would be probably very difficult to cultivate.

Another first was Aquilegia coerulea – Colorado Blue columbine. It is a columbine with very long spurs and large flowers that can vary in colour from light blue to white (4 varieties in Flora of North America). Usually it grows close to wet stream areas in part-shade, but also can be found on rocky outcrops in full sun. The population we found had almost entirely white flowers. Taking the trail to Cecret Lake and then towards Germania Pass you’ll find a fabulous rocky area hosting Penstemon humilis – Low penstemon (Plantaginaceae). It grows in many-stemmed clumps 4 to 12 ft. tall. The flowers are about 1.5 inches long, colored in every shade of blue from lavender to light sky blue and even magenta. Considering that there are more than 60 species of Penstemon in Utah, I have to mention at least a local endemism, the Wasatch Penstemon – Penstemon cyananthus, which is common in the area, growing on dry, gravelly hillsides. Each plant produces several 2 to 3 ft. tall stems of magnificent blue flowers. You can definitely get your fix if you have agentian blue craving! We even found two very localized forms with white and pink flowers. Another day, on a hike to the Flagstaff Peak, we lost the trail that starts from the Alta Lodge, but were rewarded to find at the top of the ridge clumps of Clematis columbiana var. tenuiloba – Rock Clematis (Ranunculaceae). This is a rhizomatous clematis with aerial stems that are not viny, usually up to 10 cm tall and tufted. Leaves are typically 3-lobed and the flowers are deep pink to violet. It grows on cliffs and rocky summits, usually in open sites. It is a prized rock garden clematis, hard to find to buy, so this year I’m trying my own seeds (hope they’ll come true!).

February 20, 2014

Lady’s slippers – What’s your size?

Orchids of Bruce Peninsula, Plant portraits, Wildflowers of North America

Orchids of Bruce Peninsula II

I was saying earlier that one could spot quite a few Cypripedium spp.- Lady’s slippers, at Singing Sands National Park in Bruce Peninsula. Tread lightly on the trails, watch carefully and maybe you’ll even meet the lady’s slippers fairy from the image below.

Cypripedium reginae – Showy lady’s slipper; it is usually found in fens and swamps and it’s easy to recognize after the bright pink slipper with a round opening. The pink blushing of the pouch can vary greatly in the populations, from deep pink to even, in rare cases, ‘albino’ individuals. As a complement to the flowers are the beautifully ribbed, wide leaves.

Cypripedium arietinum – Ram’s head. Easily recognisable after the unusual shape of the slipper (lip), which also has reddish reticulations. It is flowering a bit earlier than C. reginae and parviflorum, so a visit in late May is advisable.

Cypripedium parviflorum – Yellow lady’s slipper; it is an extremely variable species in regards to flower size and colours. Currently there are 3 varieties recognized in Flora of North America: var. pubescens, var. parviflorum and var. makasin. Personally, I can say that plants growing on drier sites have the slipper usually yellow and larger than those growing in wet habitats (most likely with reddish slipper).

I would strongly advise everyone with the desire and intention of growing orchids in their garden to try to see them first in their native habitat. High prices, of any orchids, are rightly justified by the difficulty to propagate them (mainly in vitro) and the length of time necessary to obtain a flowering size plant (5-7 years). There are many hybrids in cultivation today, which besides interesting flower colours, are said to be more adaptable and faster growing in garden conditions.

February 20, 2014

A yummy treat – Polygala paucifolia

Plant portraits, Propagation, Wildflowers of North America

Polygala paucifolia - in the Bruce Peninsula, Ontario

One of my goals is to concentrate on the propagation of a few N. American native plants that would be as prized in our garden as any Chinese or S. American novelties. The hype of using native plants in our gardens and landscapes it always cut short by their difficulty to propagate (and by the lack of available seeds collections, of course). Whatever doesn’t fit into the profile of mass-production has been abandoned or perhaps not even tried in cultivation.

Besides serving an ornamental function, expanding into cultivation a few of the hard to find and/or propagate N. American species, would serve also a conservation purpose by maintaining and enriching the genetic material/ biodiversity through sexual propagation.Conservation through cultivation, (aka propagation) has already proved its importance in a few unfortunate cases of species extinct in the wild but saved, at least temporarily, in gardens sanctuaries.

“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time!” – Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

OK. Last year we were able to finally collect a few seeds of Polygala paucifolia –Gaywings or Fringed polygala This is a low growing plant found in dry to moist woods, in part shade. It flowers in May-June and the pink-purple flowers are quite unusual – they have 3 short and 2 long wing-like sepals and 3 joined petals with a frilly crest at the tip. Fruit is a capsule. The seeds present an appendage – elaiosome, which is associated with ant dispersal – now you see where I’m going? A bit too late and the seeds are gone. The appendage contains lipids, proteins and starch, which serve as a reward for the ants. They drag the seeds to their nests to feed their youngs on elaiosomes and thus provide the service of dispersal. I bet they are very yummy!

The germination ecology for species from Polygalaceae has not been investigated in detail. I found a study claiming that for P. paucifolia, 4 months of dry storage results in an increase in germination. Other Polygala species are known to require pre-treatments for germination. Anyway, I don’t have that many seeds, so for this year I’ll try two variants: dry storage and moist-cold stratification until sowing in the spring.

We shall see…the seed adventure continues!

Note: Many spring flowers from the temperate climate rely on ants to disperse their seed (myrmecochory – I wouldn’t try pronouncing this); from the very well known: Trillium, Hepatica, Corydalis, Dicentra…

February 20, 2014

Bristly Sarsaparilla

Plant portraits, Propagation, Wildflowers of North America

While gazing to the rocky shores of the Georgian Bay in Killarney, one plant kept drawing my attention (and camera) – the bristly sarsaparilla: Aralia hispida. Growing in any small crack of the big granite boulders, with shiny leaves and blackish fruits proudly swinging in the wind, it made me think, again, how many wonderful, garden-worthy, but underutilized native plants are around.

Drought resistant, growing in full sun in rocky, poor substrates, this Aralia could be a prized plant for any garden. The leaves are twice pinnately-divided, and the stem base is covered by bristly hairs and becomes woody persisting through the winter. White-cream flowers appear in June-July in round umbels on stalks that diverge at the end of the stems; they are followed by purplish black fruits resembling a bit the elder fruits (hence the other popular name: dwarf elder). The inflorescences stalks become red, making a nice contrast with the black fruits towards the fall. But enough talk, the pictures are always more convincing…

Not to be confounded with Sarsaparilla – the common name used for various species of Smilax (greenbriers), more particularly for Smilax regelii.

February 20, 2014

One picture per blossom: A Peony Album

Gardens, Plant portraits

“One poem/ per blossom is not enough/ for a peony.” – Ryumin

And if I may add, one picture per blossom would not be enough for a peony either. I realized this at New York Botanical Garden when the herbaceous Paeonia (P. lactiflora) collection was in full bloom. There are plenty of books and websites devoted to peonies. What I find fascinating is how this flower has become so revered in the eastern countries, to the point that peony-viewing was a festive occasion in the Japanese gardens, for example. It was associated with good-luck, prosperity; it was a status and a symbol of good fortune. Peony images can be found in the artwork of many Asian artists, in paintings, tapestry, porcelain and literature. For the peoples from other cultures, the peony may be just a pretty flower, but even so we can all agree that true beauty doesn’t need description. That’s why I put together this album: one picture and one poem per blossom; they are not enough….

February 20, 2014