Friday, April 24, 2009

Native Plants in My Home Environment - oops forgot the May Apples, now corrected

Mr. McGregor's Daughter inspired me to look around in my yard for native wildflowers!.

This is what I've found:

I have provided links to an Iowa DNR site, with an exception of two, showing photosand giving information about each of these plants, as well as their U.S. distribution.

Erythronium albidum
also called 'Trout Lily' (it is of the lily family)
or 'Dog toothed violet' (not of violet family)

(These little fellows are waiting for sunshine.)

Trout lily with Spring Beauty

Spring Beauty
(my photos show several variations)
Not only are they in the woodlands and flower beds,
they're in the lawn! :-)

Dicentra cucullaria
also called 'Dutchman's Breeches'
of the poppy family

Blood Root
courtesy of my Aunt MEA
Podophyllum peltatum

May Apples
(in the back, backyard)


Polygonatum biflorum
'Solomon's Seal'
is of the lily family

Thalictrum aquilegiifolium
'Columbine Meadow Rue'
(This is not an Iowa DNR link.)

Asarum canadense
Wild Ginger
also courtesy of my Aunt MEA

Trilliam Recurvatum Beck
Bloody Butcher
(I'd earlier misnamed this trillium as Toad Trillium.
This particular plant has an interesting history
in my garden... I'll post that later!)


And last, but never least...
It may not be native,
but everyone has it.

Everywhere!
Nothing Shady about that plant! ;-)

19 comments:

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Oh, you have so many Trout Lilies, I'm so jealous! Mine are just a few years old, so they're just starting to get comfortable. I think I need some Spring Beauties for my lawn. I drove past a home with a lawn full of them yesterday. It looked so pretty. I hate to tell you this, but Lily of the Valley & Dandelions are native plants (but of course you knew that).

troutbirder said...

Hi Shady You beat me to it. I went on a hike this morning and pretty much took pictures of the same spring flowers. Difference being you have them in your yard! Way to go

Shady Gardener said...

MMD, I thought dandilions were an introduced flower... grrr. ;-)

troutbirder, I live in an area with a pretty undisturbed back backyard! Pretty amazing!

Kathleen said...

How amazing you have such a diverse collection of natives in your own backyard Shady Gardener. I love the trout lilies ~ my dad told me in March (when he was visiting) that the spotted leaves of my new paph orchid reminded him of trout lilies and now I see why! I had completely forgotten about May Apples but we had these in the woods near our house growing up.

Shady Gardener said...

Kathleen, We live in the country. The area is a heavily populated oak woodland. It's wonderful for the native wildflowers! :-)

joey said...

Loved this post and your take on life, Shady ... like the wildflowers in your garden, you are a delightful gift!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Oops! I left out the word "not." So here's the correction: Lily of the Valley & Dandelions are not, I repeat, not native.
I'm glad you added in your Mayapples. Mine are all leafing out now.

Anonymous said...

It's so cool to see these little treasures peaking from under last year's refuse. And the cycle continues.

Dandelion wouldn't be half bad if it weren't so gosh darn prolific.

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

We have all of those here in SE MI, too! Love the trout lily best. :)

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

You have a lot of very pretty natives there. I love the dutchman's breeches and trout lily.

Vancouver Isle Doug said...

Trout Lilies, eh? I just stumbled upon your blog and lo and behold I see those little beauties. They are ALL OVER in the woods where I work here on Vancouver Island and I have been wondering what they are but not gotten around to investigating. Now I don't have to. I have to ask the boss if I can dig a few up and move to my shady garden under the 60ft Cedars. A work in progress...

Shady Gardener said...

Joey, Nice compliment! Thanks! :-)

MMD, I've known Lily of the Valley was not native, however in the DNR site that I linked to each of the flowers, LoV was in the listing, (Don't tell me why) which is why I included it. craZy!

Grace, it makes Spring much more exciting!

Monica, I'd expect to see all these in Michigan. Probably with little fairies tending them outside their doors! ;-)

Hi Catherine! Me, too! :-)

VIDoug, did you follow the link? You might see other common names such as dog toothed violet, etc. They are Very distinctive! Digging natives can be a touchy subject.

Gail said...

Hi Shady...You have a wonderful collection of natives...sigh, I just have a few Spring Beauties...and my hope is that they someday return to cover the lawn area! Natives, especially the spring wildflowers are such a treat....trout lily showed up in the garden when I tore out some vinca! I don't mind an occasional dany-lion flower, it's the seedheads that are ugly! have a sweet week! gail

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Gail! I'm just fortunate to be where they are. :-) The Spring beauties are nearly carpeting the front lawn today! :-) Your visits are appreciated.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

You have a nice selection of native plants. I have some of the plants you have here, but keep forgetting to see what plants are native here.

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Sue! I went online to see about native flowers. There are some great midwest sites. Thanks for visiting!

Anonymous said...

Great native selection. It is nice to have some "worry free" plants around the yard. Those Spring Beauties are a quaint little flower. And doesn't everyone love dandelions??

Shady Gardener said...

Chad and Brandi, I'm not sure everyone loves dandilions, but the certainly add color where there wasn't some before! :-) Now, if I could just get myself out there before the plants bloom, I'd cook the leaves!!

Kylee Baumle said...

I love this post! I'm a HUGE fan of native wildflowers and have a garden I call "Wildflower Way." I need to do a blog post on that, don't I?

We share all of the same wildflowers you posted here. Love them!