Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadiensis)
The folks at Gardens Gone Wild have come up with a friendly photo contest called Picture This. They propose that people should post their favorite pictures illustrating a native plant. Any photo of any native plant, either a close up or in the landscape, that you think merits attention will qualify. This time of year our little collection of Bloodroot comes to mind. Left alone they will form a nice colony that spreads slowly year by year. Be aware that the sap is toxic, but we don’t generally recommend sampling wildflowers as a matter of course.
Bloodroot colony
We planted them side by side with Trout Lillies (Erythronium Americanum). They flower at the same time and make quite a nice introduction to the spring.
Trout Lillies (Erythronium americanum)
We’re in the process of ordering the double flowered Bloodroot which looks to be a spectacular beauty and have been adding to other parts of the yard and woods the various Erythroniums. The hybrid ‘Pagoda’ has prettier foliage and looks to have much more staying power than the americanum species (which pretty much define the word ephemeral).
Erythronium x 'Pagoda' detail
And for inspiration here’s a shot of the white Erythroniums that I took at Sissinghurst last year.
Erythronium 'White Beauty' detail
A very lovely Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadiensis) bloom. The trout lilies are a bright and cheery yellow, too.
Meems @ Hoe and Shovel
I would love to have more of these wildflowers in my garden! So lovely and to have such a nice colony of them! I have the White trout lily …It’s naturally occurring in our neighborhood and woodlands. gail
Both are among my favorites (everything seems to be when in bloom). If I had to choose between the two then Bloodroot gets my vote. It doesn’t make me get down on my knees to get a good look.
I have some to plant that I got at Lowe’s (in a pkg, just the rhizome) but don’t think they’ll do well. I’m not even sure things in pkgs. like that will actually ‘take’ in the garden. Have you ever seen them? I planted some trout lily that way and they didn’t come up. I have some for the bloodroot and haven’t put them in yet…I wonder if I should even bother.
Where are you ordering yours from? Is it the plant itself? I’m sure that is a better way to go about it!
Sorry to be so slow in replying. The Bloodroot that we have are ancient. I don’t remember where I got them. But I just ordered the double-flowered Bloodroot from Seneca Hills. I would guess they would be plants at this time of year. The Erythronium are again ancient (maybe 30 years ago), but the new ones we ordered last Fall from Brent and Becky Bulbs have come up beautifully. With both I think they are tricky to start but once a colony gets going there are very self-sufficient. I would stay away from the big box stores for wildflowers. I don’t think they are seed grown, I think they all come from digging up wild plants (which ought to be illegal).
Well the contest is done and results posted over at GGW early next week. Thanks for your entry and I am giving each photo bit of constructive criticism.
You are lucky to have such wonderful spring ephemerals. The photo for a contest needs to have a stronger composition and would like to see in an obvious garden setting
Thanks for hosting the contest and for your comments. Yes, I had trouble with fulfilling the full terms of your photo assignment. Little wildflowers are tough to show in a garden setting unless you have a lot of them 🙂 I hope you manage to do something like that photo challenge again sometime…
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