Shared Virginia Bluebells - Transplanted - April 2023

What's that you see?  It is a native, ephemeral named Virginia Bluebells.  Two clumps of them to be specific.  Where did they come from?  Our generous neighbor who has them in her garden.  I was talking with her over the fence - admiring them - and she said:  why don't you take some??  How nice, right?   

I've posted about these a few times over the years - first...with a post in Fall 2021 from Erin the Impatient Gardener who talks about how great these natives are in her garden.  And then...I spotted them showing up 'under the fence' from our neighbor's garden last Spring.  

Our neighbor has these growing just beyond the fence in a bed that includes a groundcover of Vinca and a bunch of natives - including these Bluebells.  This piece from U of Wisconsin Extension Office of Horticulture is a good overview including a note that these are increasingly 'rare' and that they don't transplant well.  

I decided to plant them close to where they have been living - on the southside of the yard.  Near the fence.  Photos below- show the location of both clumps.  Interplanted with the Oakleaf Hydrangeas and close to the fence:

And a little further out, but still interplanted at the base of some of the Oakleaf Hydrangeas along the south border.

The idea of Spring Ephemerals is something that I've been learning more and more about - and how to interplant them with other things like hostas and ferns that arrive later.  I covered another volunteer ephemeral - the Snow Crocus - earlier this month.  

As for my 2023 to-do list, I'm calling these two groundcover - so they go towards planting on #17 of this year's list.