9 SPRING WOODLAND WILDFLOWERS YOU CAN GROW IN YOUR GARDEN

One of the great joys of Spring is walking in the woods and discovering the multitude of wildflowers that bloom at this season. Imagine how these would look in a shady corner of your garden. While you should never collect from the wild there are now nurseries where you can purchase these plants as I discovered from an article By Jenny Andrews in the Garden Design Magazine.

What could be more beguiling ? or more intrinsically American ? than masses of trout lily, trillium, Dutchman?s breeches and Virginia bluebells carpeting the woodland floor in early spring? Buffeted by chill breezes and braving the risk of late frost, what look like the most fragile of blossoms are actually some of the toughest plants on the planet.

SHOOTING STAR

Shooting star

A relative of cyclamen with the same swept-back petals, Dodecatheon meadia occurs across the eastern half of the U.S.?from New York to Texas?in glades, wooded slopes and prairies. The 1-foot flower stalks emerge from ground-hugging rosettes of oblong leaves. Typically the blooms are white in the Southeast and pinkish in the western parts of its range. Zones 4 to 8.

TRILLIUM

trillium

Also called by the quaint names whippoorwill flower, toadshade and wake-robin, Trillium cuneatum is a long-lived member of the lily family, with its parts in threes (petals, sepals, leaves). The deep-maroon flowers rest atop foliage mottled dark green and gray-green, and are sweetly scented. Other trillium species have faintly foul aromas, all targeted to insects like gnats, which are the pollinators. Zones 5 to 9.

BLOODROOT

BLOODROOT

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