Why I Oughta...

Over the past couple of years, our garden has been home to a couple of Spring Ephemerals:  Virginia Bluebells and Bloodroot .   They both naturalized via our neighbor's garden.  And... my neighbor dug-up a couple and gifted them to us a few years back .   They live in the 'kitchen curved' bed amongst the Oakleaf Hydrangeas and put on a quick Spring show.  Hence the name..."Spring Ephemerals".   As I was cleaning up a little bit in the beds this week, I came across this crown of a plant that was just emerging from the soil.  See below for the buds emerging from the soil - partially covered by snow: Since these things naturalize and have been spreading, I'm NOT certain which this is - but based on some of the images online - I'm pretty sure this is a crown of a Virginia Bluebells plant.   From snow-covered trees yesterday .  To these sure signs of life the very next day.  Spring is here. 

Last Spring, my neighbor to the south shared a couple of native Spring Ephemerals that live in her garden - Virginia Bluebells and Bloodroot - or Sanguinaria canadensis .  They grow in a woodland part of her backyard garden and arrive in early Spring and depart before everything else comes alive.  She gave me a clump of each and I dug them into the bed that is right across the fence from where they came from - my thought was if they were happy on one side of the fence, they'll be happy on the other.  The conditions are virtually identical. The Virginia Bluebells came back earlier this month.  That's nice to see.  But, the Bloodroot just arrived.  See below for a look at the current state of this native Spring ephemeral: Nice to see this one come back for another year - as the transplanting process last year was stressful. These naturalize and spread out to create a little colony or drift (if conditions are right).  The idea of " Spring ephemerals " i...

A few days ago, I posted a couple of photos showing off some new (to me) Spring Ephemerals that my neighbor dug up and shared over the fence:  Virginia Bluebells .  But, she also shared another small clump of other Spring Ephemeral native flowers:  Bloodroot.   Bloodroot - or Sanguinaria canadensis - is new to me, but has a pretty unique habit:  It emerges in Spring, opens up during the day and then curls up at night.  This post by the Wisconsin Extension details them .  They say : The flowers open up in sun but close at night or on very cloudy days (when their bee and fly pollinators are not active). The flowers are ephemeral, with the petals falling within a day or two of pollination. The phot at the top and the one below - are from early in the morning when these have NOT opened yet.  Both the petals of the flower AND the foliage curl up.  That's kinda neat, isn't it? I planted the two little flowers (and their rhizomes) next to the V...