April 5, 2025 • 46 mins
They're short-lived but much anticipated! Spring ephemerals are a sign of sunnier days and warmer weather, which we could really use here in West Michigan. Featured shrub: Legend of the Small fothergilla.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Coming to you from Studio A here at proven Winter's
Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified podcast,
YouTube and radio show with Stacey Hervella, me, Rick Weist,
and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy, we
get to talk today about a subject that's near and
dear to my heart. Spring ephemerals merge, bloom and produce
(00:27):
seeds during a narrow window between the snow melt and
when the trees leaf out and then die back. By
early to midsummer they're gone. They just kind of hang
out the rest of the year, out of sight, and
there are so many wonderful We can loosely term them wildflowers,
(00:48):
but we're gonna call them spring ephemerals. Here today, gone tomorrow.
But it's something I look forward to every year.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Honestly, it is one of the most amazing experiences I
think that people can have. It's like you go into
the woods one day and everything is brown, and then
you go in the next and everything is green, and
it's just one of those blink and you'll miss it
kind of moments, and it can be so spectacular, and
I think it can be so inspiring for gardeners as well.
(01:19):
It's not just about, you know, going out now. For me,
it is actually going out and see how many species
I can see, because I do love that. But it's
also just about the inspiration and the magic of spring.
I just love it.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Perfect description magic.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It is magic.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And I also like the way you say everything's brown
and then they emerge because you have oak leaves and
beech tree leaves that are on the forest floor. All
of a sudden things like trout lilies and trilliums appear
and it lifts your spirits. And this is a real
personal thing for me. Let me share something personally with you,
(01:55):
and that is number one. You know me, I do
not like winter. I know people have winter festivals, they
love skiing, they make snowmen, they have hot chocolate, they
love the season. Great, more power to you. I don't
like it. I'm always thankful when the month of April
comes along. Another personal point, Stacey is there was a
(02:17):
point in my life where I went through a real
rough patch. And when we go through a rough patch,
we do things to try and cope with that period
of time. For me, it was running, and so after
work every night I would run ten miles, five miles out,
five miles back on the trail. This trail was lined
(02:41):
with marsh marigolds, trilliums, trout lilies, all kinds of these
spring ephemerals. And I'll never forget it. As a matter
of fact, we have a picture to share on our
YouTube video. It just was, like you said, magical for me.
It lifted my spirits.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It really does. It's so inspiring. And I think you
know a lot of people here in Michigan. I know
we have listeners from all over the country and in
Canada and actually around the world. But you know, here
in Southeaster, in Michigan in general, you're gonna see spring
of them roles. If you drive on the highway, whether
you like it or not, you will see them. You know,
you're driving even on ninety six around here, and you
(03:21):
just see these massive patches of trilliums. But that's not enough.
You really do need to get in there. There's so
much diversity and there's so many interesting things to see.
And you know, if you look, if you drive and
you see the trilliums growing by the side of the highway,
and you think, oh, that's nice. The trilliums are in bloom.
You really owe it to yourself to get out there.
And it doesn't take a lot. You can go to
(03:42):
almost any park around here and see an amazing display
and it's I mean, if you haven't done this before,
I would say mark your calendars in the coming weeks
to just make sure you get out to a park
and see this, because I don't know. It's just I
don't know. It's very meaningful.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah it is. It's very meaningful, and it's very very
meaningful for me. So I share that with you. And
you're right. They see a lot of us think about trilliums,
and that, of course is an amazing plant. I was
reading from the US Forest Service. They were saying there
are forty three species of trillium known worldwide, with a
(04:17):
startling thirty eight represented in North America as natives.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
That's pretty that I had no idea was that. That's
absolutely incredible. And the rest this is actually very interesting
and you see this especially when it comes to our
spring ephemerals. I'm not going to go deep into this,
so don't panic, but there's a phenomenon called the Eastern
Asian Eastern North America floristic disjunction. Where you get into this.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It's like deja vu. It's incredible. Yes, I have read
about it. Oh Arnold Arboretum, Yeah, does a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
They have an excellent article on that. So basically what
it is is that the eastern half of North America
and Eastern Asia share a very similar number of plant
species and genera because at one point they were connected.
And so the other trillium species i'm guessing are all
Asian trilliums, and there are just some spectacular Asian trilliums.
(05:09):
Of course they're not our native trilliums, but they're still special.
And you'll see that with a lot of spring ephemerals,
the erythronium or trout lily as well, just to name
a few. And it's just such an interesting thing to see.
And I can't believe we are that many trilliums. Yeah,
so many in Michigan.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah right, And I have some pictures to share of
trout lily also a favorite of mine, as I would
run the trail. And as far as the trilliums are concerned, again,
the diversity is amazing and correct me if I'm wrong.
But is it the pedestal? Is it a pedestal that
the flower sits on. Is that the pronunciation, okay, so
(05:49):
a pedesol. And then there are others that seem to
just sit right on.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Top of the bracts, beestile trilliums. So yeah, sometimes you
see the ones that are nodding, the Trillium grand fluorum,
which is by far the most widespread one around here
in southwestern Michigan. But the cecil ones, Yeah, they nestle
right down into the foliage with no extra stem. Yeah,
those are really cool. If you are lucky enough to
live in the southeast, or maybe you're taking on the
(06:13):
Appalachian Trail or you're going on vacation, you will see
the most incredible diversity of trilliums down through the Blue
Ridge Mountains and Smokies.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I mean absolutely really.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
You mean know another interesting thing about trilliums, So they
do grow by seed. Obviously they spread by you know,
their their roots as well, but their seeds, their seed
pods have these what's known as an eliosome on that
and it's a little dot of nutritious oil and it
is like ants just go crazy for it.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And they I mean like it's not just like, oh,
here's a nice little liasm. Guess I'll eat it. It's
like they go bananas. And that is how trillium is.
That is how trillium spread it. Trillium seed is dispersed.
Is these ants going after that alion and then carrying
it to who knows where, and that is why trilliums
are able to spread as widely as they do.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Wow, that is fantastic. Yeah. And if you're keeping score
at home and you enjoy the trilliums of spring, as
Stacey mentioned, then so it's pedestal and cecil, yes, and
the cecil are seated right on those bracts or that foliage. Yeah,
pretty cool. Trout lilies, I love them, the solitary nodding
(07:27):
yellow flower. Their colony forming and they the foliage looks
like trout, a brown trumk. Yeah, I guess that's where
it gets and its name.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
They look so pretty with the trilliums and they're so
often together, and that to me is where you know,
we were talking about mother nature and being inspired. I mean,
that is a combination that I just find so inspiring.
And it's the kind of thing that if you are
a gardener and you're out in the woods looking at
these things, you know, take a moment's not just go
oh that's pretty or oh that's interesting, but to really
(07:56):
think about what is it? Is it the colors, is
it the shape of the leaves? Is it the gestures
of those two plants together? And think about what that
means for you? Combining plants agree very much.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So, so I have a question for you based on that, Stacey,
And that is, as far as ephemerals are concerned, I
also consider non native minor bulbs like galanthus to be
a spring ephemeral based on definition. Would you agree with
that or yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I think that's a fair you know, but it's yeah.
I think usually when most people say spring epemerals, they
are referring to our native wildflowers, but that they behave
the same way, you know, and most of our spring
ephemerals that are native to North America are similar. They
have some sort of bulb like storage organ underground, and
that's what they need because they have such a short
(08:43):
life cycle that they really need to take all the
energy that they're able to manufacture before the trees come
out making hay well the sun shines, and they need
to store that for another whole year before they come out. Again.
So they all have that kind of bulb like nature.
So yeah, I think that's a fair connection.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So we'll talk about them in segment four and continue
our talk on ephemerals before we move to Plants on Trial.
I wrote an ephemeral lyric just.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
For use to ooh, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, here we go. We await with much anticipation. They
arrive with great adulation, a few moments on stage. Our
needs to a sage, then exit with short duration. Ephemerals
are plants that are temporary. Here's an inside joke in
my commentary. They put on a show, they come and go,
(09:34):
not a thorn in your side like Barbary. I wrote that.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I like it. I appreciate that. Thank you, Yes, because
you know, as I was saying in our plants are
show on plants that we don't like. I was saying,
one of the reasons I dislike Barbary so much is
because when I do go to the woods to see
the spring ephemerals and I see a Barbary, Yeah, that
makes me real mad.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
That's why I wrote it just for you. Plants on
Trial is coming up next, and in segment four we'll
get in to more of these ephemeral plants. List them
out for you and why we love them. As a
matter of fact, if we were to apply minor bulbs,
I know a favorite of yours, Stacey and mine are
the reticulated or Iris reticulata. Indeed, yeah, so an early
(10:17):
spring bloomer plants on trial is next here on the
Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs.
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Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back
(10:49):
to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the order of the
day is our beloved spring ephemerals. And if you don't
know what we're talking about, in a nutshell, it is
the spring wildflowers that pop up in forests all around
Michigan and in fact around most of the eastern half
of the entire country. And again, if you've only ever
seen these driving by, seen a beautiful patche trolleum going
(11:10):
by it seventy miles an hour. You really owe it
to yourself to get out into a park. You don't
need to take a long hike, pack a lunch or
anything like that. Just find a local park with a
good wooded area and you will almost certainly see them.
But I did want to mention since it's Plants on Trial,
and Plants on Trial is really all about introducing you
to one of the three hundred and twenty plus proven
Winter's color choice shrubs and you decide if you're going
(11:33):
to add it to your garden. Well, when it comes
to spring ephemerals, I do want to say, especially early
in the show, that when it comes to adding them
to your garden, please, please, please be sure you are
getting them from a reputable source. There is a lot
of poaching that goes on among spring wildflowers that are
dug up. Not so much in Michigan, but definitely there's
(11:53):
a huge trade from the Smoky Mountains and the Blue
Ridge Mountains where they grow really, really abundantly. So these
are the kind of plants and I encourage you to
add them to your garden. You know, if you have
the right conditions, shade, reasonably moist soil, you'll do great
with them, but do make sure that you're getting them
from a reputable source that hasn't dug them up from
the wild without permission. You know, usually they do need
(12:16):
to be seed grown. They tend to be expensive because
a trillium takes about seven to ten years to flower
from a seed, and so usually if someone is real,
you know, responsibly propagating these plants, it does take quite
a while, so they cost a little bit more, and
if they're cheap, you should probably be very suspicious about that.
(12:38):
So there's some tissue culture out there which does help
to defray costs a bit, but please be sure if
you want to add these to your garden, you're sticking
mostly with native plant nurseries that are sourcing these in
a responsible manner. So I want to get that out there.
I didn't believe it at first, and I was like, yeah, whatever,
but every year you see reports of this and people
being arrested, and so there's a huge trade for it,
(13:00):
and we don't want to be a part of supporting that.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
A lot of talk about ramps also.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh yeah, especially ramps. Yeah, So anyway, let's get today's
plan on trial, which, as we were saying on the break,
is one of Rick's favorites.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
If you go to Gardening Simplified, honor Or dot com
look at our top ten lists favorite shrubs, you'll see
it there on my list, Stacey, So.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
It was already there before I picked it as today's
plant on Trial. So you know, in this theme of
spring ephemerals, you know in the woods, it's they're understory plants,
so they grow sort of through that leaf litter as
we were talking about. And we do have some native
shrubs here in Michigan, but mostly it's kind of like
you have the understory and then you have the trees. Well,
(13:40):
if you go down to the southeast, you will find
many more sort of shrubs in the understory, and they
make an outstanding companion to a spring ephemeral planting, and
especially today's plant on Trial, which is legend of the
small father Gilla. So Fathergilla is also as bottle brush
(14:01):
or witch alder, and it is such a great choice
for matching a spring epemerals because it blooms at pretty
much the same time. Has these lovely white bottle brush
as you might have guessed by that common name flowers fragrant.
They come out in early spring and the great thing
about the specific variety that we're talking about today, Legend
(14:22):
of the Small father gilla, is that it is well small,
so it's blooming and growing sort of in with the
spring ephemerals rather than towering above them. So it's a
companion sort of rather than a guardian. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
It makes perfect sense. And Stacey here in Michigan, unfortunately
we often get april snow. Ah, yes we do, and
so I have pictures to share of snow coating those
flowers when early spring. But I love that because you're right,
blooms about the same time as the other.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Right, And it's nice that this one so regular conventional
father gilla are going to reach anywhere between four and
six feet tall and wide, which is still a very
useful size for most residential landscaping. But it's really nice
to have a variety like Legend of the Small which
reaches just two to two and a half feet tall,
so that you have some different options for how to
(15:17):
use it in your garden and again kind of letting
it accompany this spring ephemerals that are in your garden. Now,
this isn't quite native to Michigan. This is really going
to be more of a southeastern United States again Blue
Ridge Mountains, Smoky Mountains. That is sort of the epicenter
for all of this, and that is actually where legend
of the small was developed at the North Carolina State
(15:39):
University Research Center in Asheville by doctor Tom Rainey, who
has developed a huge diversity of plants in the proven
Winner's Color Choice brand, including one of my favorites, El
Nino Chetalpa. He's been all over the place developing a
lot of interesting natives as well as interesting exotics like that.
But this comes from him, and his breeding goal really
(15:59):
was to have this smaller size so more of us
can use it in new ways in our gardens, which
makes sense.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
It's great in a perennial guard.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
It is great in a perennial garden, especially this one.
So a couple things about growing this wonderful plant. Rick
does have it in his garden. I do not, and
the reason for that is because it needs moist soil
and I don't water, and I have very very dry
sandy soil. I have tried to grow it. I'm very
sorry to that father gilla that I attempted to grow.
(16:29):
It did not last long, But like my mom over
on the east side of the state in Detroit grows
it beautifully where that soil is more clay like, so
it needs some moisture. This is not going to be
one of those drought tolerant plants that we tell you about.
You can kind of just you know, grow it, but
it is a low maintenance plant because if you are
growing it in the areas in the kind of environment
where it will thrive because it is so small, doesn't
(16:51):
need pruning, doesn't really need much of anything. And that
actually reminds me before I forget of another reason why
it makes such a great companion to spring ephemerals, because
not only does it have these wonderful, fragrant flowers in
early spring, it has amazing fall color.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
That's what I was going to say. As a matter
of fact, arguably I grow the plant for the fall color,
not the bottle brush blooms in spring, even though the
blooms are so unique and they're early and they're fabulous
and I love them. The plant saves the best.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
For last, It definitely does, and all of those spring
epemerals are long gone by that point. So if you
have a garden bed where you have these plants that disappear.
This makes such a great choice because you'll get that
prolonged season of interest. And then, of course because it's
a shrub, it's got those nice persistent branches over winter.
But let's get back to growing it. So moist, acidic
(17:43):
soil is very important. You're going to want to mulchhit
doesn't really need any pruning or other maintenance, and it's
quite deer resistant. Actually, even when I did attempt to
grow it, the deer never did actually eat it.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Well, the foliage tends to be kind of rough, firy
type of foliage, and again, any plant that has that
toem and toast type of foliage that's kind of hairy. Yeah,
the deer tend to pick something else in the buffet.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And it gets no other pests or diseases, no leaf spots,
no nothing like that. So it is actually an extremely
easy plant to grow and to use. And you know, again,
even though it's not native to Michigan, I think it's
very much at home here with native ephemerals like this
and Stacey.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
For people who are listening to the show on radio
or if you're listening to the podcast version, you're asking
to us to say, again, what is that plant, And
how do we spell that plant? Because I say father Gia,
you say father Gilla.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I was gonna, I was gonna mention that you're not
the only person I have heard say father Gia. Yeah,
but it is father Gilla. So f O T H
E R g I L l A. And the reason
that it is father Gilla and not father Gia is
because it is named after one doctor, Fathergil from England.
We go so now, so usually what I try to
(19:06):
do what I'm pronouncing a plant is to take that
root word and use that in the pronunciation. So it's
father Gill, named after doctor Fathergill, with a at the end
to make it you know, wow, it.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
All makes sense to me. That's why I asked the question.
Then I brought it up.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But you know, speaking of spring flowering shrubs, I am
breaking my own rule because, as we've said on the
show before, for Scythia is named after one doctor forsythe
But if I go around telling everybody that I love
there for Scythia, They're just gonna think I'm some kind
of maniac. So it is important to be understood. And
as long as you're walking out of the store with
a plant that you want. It's all good, and you
(19:41):
can always go for bottlebrush because most people will probably
know or witch alder, which is it gets that name
not because it's witchy or used in any kind of
magical ceremonies, but because it is from the ancient or
the Old English word wyh which means bent or pliable.
And it's also to which hazel, so it might also
(20:01):
be part of that. So it's in the Hammi melodecy
or which hazel family?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I love which hazel and which hazel has very similar
fall color to a I'm going to say, father.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, I know, fall habits are hard to break. And
I did want to talk about sun. So it does
grow in sun to part shade. It will grow in
deeper shade, but you're going to see the flowering is
very diminished, as is the fall color. So if you can,
especially if you live in a hotter climate, part shade
is going to be kind of your sweet spot here
(20:33):
in the north, you could easily grow it in full
sun as long as it has sufficient water because again,
this is not one of those very drought tolerant plants.
One last word I have to say, if you're thinking, hey,
this plant sounds great and I definitely want to add
it to my garden. It is slow growing and it's small,
and those two things combine to make it a lot
slower to produce than a lot of other plants like
(20:56):
hydrangeas and that kind of stuff that you'll see on
the market. So this plant has been out for a
little while. We are always trying to increase numbers on
it to meet the demand because so many people like
Rick do love this plant, but it is in fairly
short supply. So if you're interested in it, don't sleep
on it. Make sure that you pick it up and
add it to your garden because it will probably go
(21:16):
because there's not quite enough to go around, but we
are working on it and.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
To make sure to drive the point home, Stacey, So
you are talking about Legend of the Small Yes, there
is also a Legend of the Fall.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Right, which was selected for superior fall color, even better
than the standard from Father Gilla, And that one is
kind of a more standard size, so more like the
three to five or four to six foot range, So
two great choices. Legend of the Fall is much easier
to find, but if you do want this smaller size
in Legend of the small you might have to look
for it just for a couple more years so you
(21:49):
can get a little bit more out there on the
market for you. If you'd like to add it to
your garden, please visit proven Winter's Color Choice dot Com
to find a retailer. We're going to take a little
break when we come meck, we're opening up the so
stay tuned at Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs. We know
(22:11):
that a better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our
team of experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering
shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to ensure
they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable,
beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style,
look for Proven Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container
(22:31):
at your local garden center, or learn more at proven
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings, gardening friends, and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it is our
pleasure to help you with your gardening questions, quandaries and conundrums.
And boy, I tell you, our inbox is filling in fast.
We only have time for a few questions every week,
(22:51):
But we don't want to leave you hanging. So if
you find yourself out there struggling with something you don't
know what to do, you can always reach out to
proven winner's color choice. Do we have a contact form there?
You can even attach a photo and that will get
you an answer in your inbox a lot sooner and
you don't have to wonder if we've actually you know,
are going to answer it or anything like that. So
we want to offer that service to you. Can't answer
(23:12):
everything on air, or we wouldn't talk about anything else.
We'd just be answering gardening questions all the time. So
but we do care about your success and want you
to make sure that you have a good and stress
free spring. So please to take advantage of that if
you would like. And in the meantime, we got some
questions this week.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, hell Goo writes to us, I planted a new
lawn last fall at my cabin west of Baldwin. This spring,
I want to put down more seed, apply fertilizer, crab
grass preventor what orders should I do this first? More
grass than apply the fertilizer or fertilizer than plant grass.
The property is north about ninety miles from Grand Rapids.
(23:54):
What is the general timeline, So that's the point timeline.
It's based on soil temper so that's when annual weeds
like crabgrass will germinate in the soil, usually when soil
temperatures get to about fifty five to sixty degrees. Stacy,
A lot of people like to use a visual reminder
(24:15):
and that being the forsythios when they're in bloom, But
really technically you should learn about growing degree days GDD
as well as soil temperature and universities like Michigan State University.
It's a resource that I use. It's available to all
has a GDD tracker, and as a matter of fact,
(24:38):
I took a look at it yesterday and it's interesting, Stacey.
Every year is different. Oh, for sure, last year we
were in optimum application time for crabgrass pre emergent the
end of March because of the temperatures had warmed up.
We did not have as much snow in winter and ice,
(25:00):
whereas this year we haven't even hit the optimum point
yet and we're going to be more normal this year.
Where usually the crab grass controls are applied somewhere around
between the first and third week of April tax.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Day, tax day tax good to note. Well, I think, Helga,
that's all great information about timing. But the real key
here to answering your question is you're asking whether you
put down the fertilizer crab grass preventer first and then
the seed or vice versa. And the thing that everybody
needs to know about this question that makes such a
good question is that crab grass preventer. The majority of
(25:38):
crabgrass preventers are simply pre emergence. They prevent seed from germinating. Correct,
So if you put down your grass seed and then
put down the crabgrass pre emergent or even vice versa,
your grass seed will not germinate. So it's not like
it's specific to crabgrass. There are certain ones that might be,
but overall, the majority of crabgrass preventors prevent grass from germinating,
(26:04):
not crabgrass specifically.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
That's exactly so if I.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Would recommend so you kind of have a real issue here,
a real quandary, because you're going to have this optimum
time to put down your crab grass pre emergent, but
you need to get that grass germinated and growing first,
and you will see if you look at some packages,
and actually you don't even need to go to the
garden center. If you just look at some brands websites,
you can find all of the package instructions right there
(26:30):
on your computer or your phone and read what they say,
because it might say, for example, you know, don't apply
this within fifteen days of having put down grass seed,
so it will have some sort of you know, window
of time where that is safe to do, and you're
going to want to make sure you follow that exactly.
So we haven't hit the window yet. You might be
able to put down grass seed and get it germinating.
(26:53):
If not, then I would say go ahead and put
down your crab grass pre emergent. Read that carefully to
find out how long that's going to last. Then try
to get your grass seed growing. But these two things
are going to be difficult to time properly to make
sure that that it works.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
The time to seed alawn is in fall. That's the
time to do it. So in spring you're gonna find
with most pre emergent controls, they're going to put down
a barrier that lasts twelve weeks, so you can forget
about seeding. Unless you buy a product specifically made for seeding,
they're generally difficult to find and very expressed.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I would guess. I would guess, so, Hellga, I think
you're going to need to make a decision. Is it
going to be grass seed or is it going to
be fertilizer and pre emergence? Save the grass seed for fall?
Maybe I would do, especially since you're not going to be,
you know, there all the time of it's your cabin,
so timing, as in most cases, is everything is everything.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Joyce wrote to us about native plants for Michigan an
official list of Native plans. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
So I thought this was such a great question because
you know, I know that so many people out there
are so interested in learning about native plants, growing more
native plants. But you're kind of just like, where do
I start? And the first thing I would say is
decide how native you want to be? Like, are you
going to be native to your county? Are you going
to be native to your region of Michigan. Are you
going to be native to the state the peninsula. There's
(28:19):
lots of different ways that can go, and that is
a decision that each of us can make for ourselves.
And then we are going to put a nice long
list from Michigan State University of native plants in Michigan.
But bear in mind that there are roughly estimated, because
no one really knows for sure, but well over six
(28:39):
hundred different species of native plants to Michigan, and lists
like the one that we're going to share in the
show notes and in the YouTube caption there tend to
focus on the species that are more commercially available. You know,
there's certainly a lot of plants out there that are
native but just don't necessarily have the appeal at garden
(29:00):
centers where people are going to be, you know, grabbing
them up and wanting to plant them. So know that
it's not going to be a comprehensive list, but it's
going to be a good reference for you to know
what to look for in garden centers. Now, a couple
of other resources I have for you. We are lucky
at Michigan we have a couple of outstanding native plant nurseries.
I personally have shopped at Wild Type out near Williamston
(29:23):
multiple times. They're only open to the public a couple
weekends a year. They have a great selection, but there's
lots and lots of other ones. There's a wonderful one
near Anne Arbor. The name escapes me at the moment,
but you don't just search Michigan native plant nurseries and
see what you can find. Those would also be an
excellent choice because you can trust that everything that they
have there is going to be native since that is
(29:45):
their specialty.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
And many garden centers and greenhouses have added a native
plant section, and so yes, I would do that research.
I think you pointed out a really important thing Stacy
as it relates to the state of Michigan, and that
is you have to take regional approach because you're going
to find there's Southern lower, there's Northern lower, and then
(30:06):
there's up and different climates, different soils, it's gonna vary.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, you can split them mint up into many different sections.
And then finally, I just wanted to mention there is
a wonderful nationwide organization called wild Ones and they are
dedicated to educating people about native plants, and the Grand
Rapids chapter out here is very active. They do a
ton of great work, so definitely take a look at them.
(30:32):
They would be a great resource for joining together to
learn about native plants and learning from each other. So
take a look for your local wild Ones chapter as well.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Gonna hit this one real quick. Shelley Wondering, absolutely love
your show, learn so much. Thank you Gardening in West Michigan.
Wondering what are the best annuals for full sun window boxes?
And Stacey, I'll just throw a few out the Star
Divas Scavola's fabulous for how Weather, meteor shower, diamond frost, lemon,
(31:04):
coral sea. I mean, there are so many that that
you can pick from, and I love the mojave portolaca.
I just think it's a great plant for it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
It is a great plant if you're retired and can
see it open during the day, But that's one of
those ones that close up and the closes up in
the afternoon. Shelley, I think this is a great question
because you said that you know some of your window
boxes in part son have done better than your ones
in full sun, and you know window boxes, most of
them are a relatively small volume of soil, so you
(31:34):
definitely need to consider as you are. You know that
plants can withstand not just the sun, but drying out
more quickly and not having a really you know, big
volume of soil around those routes, so you're looking for
stuff that is very heat and drought tolerant. Now, I
think that it's interesting, Shelley that you and your own
message mentioned the start eve A blue scaffola, because that
(31:56):
is the plant that actually started the proven Winters brand.
They had found it in US Australia, where of course
they need everything to be super side and drought tolerant,
and it was they were growing it in window boxes
and hanging baskets and is a groundcover and they were
just like, hey, this plant can take it all. So
that would be a great choice I think as well.
Now I will put some links in the show notes
(32:17):
as well as in the caption on YouTube for some
great sun tolerant annuals. But a couple that I would
add to that, I would say yes geraniums. I would
even say ivy geraniums, even though Rick does not like
them as we discovered. Sorry, Rick, but I would say
yes to geraniums. Classic choice lantana. Now that is a
very heat and drought tolerant plant. And the cool thing
(32:39):
about lantana is you can pick one that grows up
or one that spreads or makes them both together. So
you just want to look at the plant tags to
find one depending on the look that you want, sweet
potato wine another super sun and drought tolerant.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Plant, pink gum free love that one. Oh that thing
and it'll stand up to the heat. And what about
many vistas.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, all the supertunias should do really great. I mean
they're not going to tolerate heat like in the South,
but certainly the summers that we have in the Midwest
and north, you won't have any trouble growing those all
summer long. So we'll put some resources for you on
the website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. Right now,
we're going to take a break and then we're going
to talk a little bit more about our beloved spring ephemerals.
(33:21):
To stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified podcast,
brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our
award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested
by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at
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Speaker 1 (33:42):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplify Show as we continue
our talk on spring ephemeral flowers and Stacey, I have
to say that bloodroot is one of my favorites. I
have numerous pictures to share on the YouTube version of
our show. But when that green scalloped foliage on furrows
(34:05):
and then that white flower emerges, and of course the
history of that plant a native plant, blood roots one
of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It is so special, and you know it is one
of those ones it does form large colonies. I haven't
seen very many large colonies around here, but that's what
I was talking about when I'm saying, if you just
see the trilliums from the highway and you never get
in there to see, you'll miss things like bloodroot. And
you know, the flower of blood root is pretty, but
that foliage is just glorious. It's so so pretty.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah, I have a picture of it just emerging through
the leaf litter. I'm with you on that. I think
another thing you and I agree on, Stacey, and that
is marsh marigold in the buttercup family, those bright yellow flowers.
When I'd be running on the trail and you get
some of these low areas where it's wet, marsh marigolds.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
All right, So you're telling me that this is a
marigold you can stand because it's not a true maragold.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yes, it's not a true it's so fund.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
An exception from your plants that people keltha. So yeah,
marshmare gold is such a cheerful plant. It does grow
in pretty much standing water, and so you'll often find
it where you found skunk cabbage, which is one of
my favorites. Skunk cabbage is so special, such a unique plant.
I know when I traveled to Australia, I was with
(35:29):
my father in law and he had a colleague that
lived there and he was taking us around and he
said to me, oh, does skunk cabbage grow where you live?
And I was like yeah, And he was studying it
as a material scientist because it actually heats up the
ground around it and melts the.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Snow generates its own heat, so.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
They don't bloom at the same time. But any place
that you find skunk cabbage really really wet, muddy, standing
water kind of soils, you will also find keltha or marshmaregold.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
A few weeks later, and think about groggy emerging pollinators
and how important skunk cabbage would be there.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Oh, yeah, for sure, especially flies.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, So there you go, as I mentioned in the
first segment, I view some of the minor bulbs as
a spring ephemeral in my yard. I love anemone Blanda,
just such a beautiful tuberus rooted perennial. I have a
picture to share with you that I took at Corkanhoff
(36:25):
Gardens in the Netherlands. This one's a tough one to pronounce.
Kon a doxa. Some people call it kayan odoxa. But
glory of the.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Snow yep, wow, very plastic socks off.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
As a matter of fact, I saw a great quote
on the plant from an individual who lives in Minneapolis.
It gets very cold in Minneapolis, folks, and this person
said this plant will continue to grow come hell or
high water or hard freeze.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Yeah, it's It's a tough one.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Galanth of snowdrops. They're bell shaped, ok, white flowers offset
by bright green markings. Love it. We've talked on this
show before. I think we got a question on it.
Winter aconite and one of the earliest bulbs to bloom
and spring.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Definitely love that one. Also a very cheery yellow kind
of rounded flower.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Yes, like yeah, And then I know Adriana I believe
likes Muscari grape pious.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Yeah, she planted a bunch last year, so she's going
to have a good display coming up into this year.
I love them too, and there's such a diversity, you know.
That's if you are just sticking to like the grocery
store varieties of muscary every fall, you know, and you
love it, you owe it to yourself to get a
catalog and order some of the specialty muscaris, like Valerie Finnis,
(37:47):
which is just the most glorious sky blue color. Oh
my gosh, that is such a beautiful plant. There's so
many cool ones out there.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah. I go back to again Cookinhoff Gardens in the
Netherlands and they create a blue river Muscary grape hyacinths.
But you're so right, Stacey. That the some of the
new varieties, and we have some pictures to share with
you on YouTube, including the pure white ones. Not only
the color is vivid, but just the shape of the flower.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
They're just unused and they smell so good. Now usually
you don't get down there and smell them because they're
so close to the ground, but they make good cut
flowers for a little vase, and they do smell absolutely.
They kind of smell like grapes. They kind of have
like that grape goool aid smell. I don't know it's
apartmental or but yeah, that's that's kind of the vibe
that I get from them.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
What about Dutchman's breechers, Oh, Rick.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Thank you for mentioning my Well, is it my all time?
Speaker 1 (38:41):
I mean, is it really?
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I don't know if I can pick a favorite spring ephemeral,
but Dutchman's breeches dicentric cuculaurea is easily one of my favorites.
And there's a park out here in West Michigan that
used to have the most breath taking display of them.
I mean there was tens of thousands of them off
this dune. It was amazing. It was something I look
(39:05):
forward to every year. And I have not seen it
the last three years, and I believe that unfortunately, what
has happened is that the deer are eating the flowers.
The plants are still there, but I've started hiking up
there with my binoculars, and when I look with my binoculars,
I see a lot of cut off stems, and so
(39:25):
I think unfortunately, my favorite display of them I have
not seen. But a lot of people might think that
it's called Dutchman's britches and it's here in West Michigan
and that's where it got its name. But no, these
really do look like funny little pairs of pants flying
off the stem. And it's just one of those plants
that if you were to see a picture of it,
like online or in a book or something like that,
you'd go, WHOA, that plant is so cool. I wonder
(39:47):
if I could ever see it in real life. And
it's like, No, you walk out your door and it's
like growing a mile down the road.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, it's beautiful with the feathery.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
It's just so pretty.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Love it. And for folks keeping score at home, if
you're watching or listening to our program in California or
outside of the United States in Canada, West Michigan is
notorious for Dutch people.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
That's true. Sorry, a lot of US.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Dutch people here in West.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
I guess I was assuming people would know that because
of the Holland Michigan movie that's getting so much publicity
these days.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
That's right, that's right. Squirrel corn or Dycentra canadensis. Some
people would Stacey referred to it as bleeding hearts, but
it is Dycentra canadensis. So you'll find this plant in
Canada all the way down the East coast in the
United States. And of course the blooms are unique and beautiful.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yeah, and so the foliage really looks very similar to
the Dutchman's breaches. Yes, and you often find them growing
in and around each other, which would make perhaps the
uninitiated thing like, whoa, is this some sort of mutation
of the other. But they're two totally distinct species. And
I love this. Do not dig one up, but so
take my word for it or google it. But the
(41:01):
reason it's called squirrel corn is because the root does
indeed look like a tiny little ear of corn with
like little like the bulblitz on it look like little
pieces of corn. It's a pretty amazing thing to see.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Very cool plant. How about Jack and the Pulpit.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
I love I'm sorry, I'm people are just gonna be like,
is there there is? There is no spring of Emerald
that I hate. There's not a single one. I love
them all, But Jack in the Pulpit is so special.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
This one pops right out of a fairy tale. Yeah,
you know, when I'd run on the trail. Take pictures
of it. Yeah, it's it's just this unmistakable hooded champagne
fluted shaped cup, the pulpit and then the slender stall.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yeah, what a cool And now that is a plant.
When we were talking, I mentioned briefly about the you know,
Asian and North American floristic disjunction, the commonalities between them. Now,
Asia got the lion's share of the jack in the
pulpits the arisima species that are native to Asia will
knock your socks off. They are stunning, amazing. I mean
(42:06):
ours is pretty great, but theirs are like who over
the top.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
So you've got a good location or source for Hepatica
Hepatica americana. Other people referred to it as liver wort
or liver leaf, so over really dark leaf to it,
bluish flower I think it has.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
So they can be blue, purple or white. Yeah, And
that's another plant that I feel like when I moved
here fourteen years ago, I saw everywhere in the woods,
and I feel like the populations have kind of disappeared,
and I don't know if that's difficult. I don't know
if that's an issue of the deer or you know,
I think one thing that I've seen, like around the
Muskegon State Parks is that I feel like the leaf
(42:47):
litter is staying so much and suffocating them, like it's
not blowing away to kind of expose them. So I
don't see nearly as many as I used to. But
that is a gorgeous plant that is also a very
very cool plant.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
The trail that I would one had all kinds of
wood anemone on it, so single flowers. Would you know?
They're white flowers is what they are. The edges of
the leaflets are kind of toothed, but very unique plant.
And you this is one that you would just see
in drifts. Yeah, love that wild wildflower and spring ephemeral
(43:24):
wild columbine right, love.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
It, absolutely, love it. Definitely on the verge of like
is it ephemeral? Is it not?
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Right?
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Because the foliage does persist on that and that kind
of I think brings up the tail end of the
ephemeral season because it starts to bloom sort of as
everything else is going out. But that's another plant that
if you were to just see a picture of this
red and yellow flower that's just so intricate and so different,
you'd be like, where can I see that? And it's like,
oh yeah, in the woods, and once it's happy and
(43:53):
it starts self sewing, it's everywhere in a really kind
and gentle way.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
And drifts just beautiful. Yeah, just beautiful. I got to
hit on this one because I think I'm pretty sure
it's a favorite of yours. While people in spring are
killing these in droves in their lawn. You love violas in.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Violet, I do, and the lawn violets is one thing,
but there are amazing native violets that they have, the
bird's foot violet, the yellow violet. I do get very
excited about those. You're absolutely right, I love them so much.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
But I think it's a good thing to point out, Stacey,
is that not all violets or violas or wild violets
are created the same. There are oval shaped leaves, toothed leaves,
heart shaped leaves. So there are If you're interested in
violets or interested in the spring ephemerals, get to know
(44:49):
them and do a little bit of research because they're
not all created the same, no, and.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
There's so much to see, so that's the main thing.
Get to know them. Get out there and see them
while you can because they don't last long.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
So anything I can add to your list, Stacy, or
did we hit them all?
Speaker 2 (45:04):
The only one that I would add would be a
very strange little creature that it did not encounter previously,
but it grows pretty abundantly around here, and that is
pendicularis also known as laoswort. It is a hemi or
semi parasitic plant, and it comes out with this really
cool kind of like rosette of feathery foliage, and then
(45:27):
the flowers come out and they're red and yellow, and
they're curved, and it's just such a unique plant. And
it gets its nutrition partially from the tree roots that
it grows on. So it's a very cool thing that
you can see around here, especially on the lake shore.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Interesting and when you think about it, in early spring
trees pull a lot of water out of the ground,
and so in early spring again, these plants are taking
the opportunity to do their thing and we all benefit
from it.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
We sure do, and you should do. You bet, get
out there.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Fun show, Stacy. Thank you so much, Thank you, Adrianna,
and thanks most of all to you for watching or
listening to our show. Have yourself a great week,
Coming to you from Studio A here at proven Winter's
Color Choice Shrubs. It's time for the Gardening Simplified podcast,
YouTube and radio show with Stacey Hervella, me, Rick Weist,
and our engineer and producer Adrianna Robinson. Well, Stacy, we
get to talk today about a subject that's near and
dear to my heart. Spring ephemerals merge, bloom and produce
(00:27):
seeds during a narrow window between the snow melt and
when the trees leaf out and then die back. By
early to midsummer they're gone. They just kind of hang
out the rest of the year, out of sight, and
there are so many wonderful We can loosely term them wildflowers,
(00:48):
but we're gonna call them spring ephemerals. Here today, gone tomorrow.
But it's something I look forward to every year.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Honestly, it is one of the most amazing experiences I
think that people can have. It's like you go into
the woods one day and everything is brown, and then
you go in the next and everything is green, and
it's just one of those blink and you'll miss it
kind of moments, and it can be so spectacular, and
I think it can be so inspiring for gardeners as well.
(01:19):
It's not just about, you know, going out now. For me,
it is actually going out and see how many species
I can see, because I do love that. But it's
also just about the inspiration and the magic of spring.
I just love it.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Perfect description magic.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It is magic.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
And I also like the way you say everything's brown
and then they emerge because you have oak leaves and
beech tree leaves that are on the forest floor. All
of a sudden things like trout lilies and trilliums appear
and it lifts your spirits. And this is a real
personal thing for me. Let me share something personally with you,
(01:55):
and that is number one. You know me, I do
not like winter. I know people have winter festivals, they
love skiing, they make snowmen, they have hot chocolate, they
love the season. Great, more power to you. I don't
like it. I'm always thankful when the month of April
comes along. Another personal point, Stacey is there was a
(02:17):
point in my life where I went through a real
rough patch. And when we go through a rough patch,
we do things to try and cope with that period
of time. For me, it was running, and so after
work every night I would run ten miles, five miles out,
five miles back on the trail. This trail was lined
(02:41):
with marsh marigolds, trilliums, trout lilies, all kinds of these
spring ephemerals. And I'll never forget it. As a matter
of fact, we have a picture to share on our
YouTube video. It just was, like you said, magical for me.
It lifted my spirits.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It really does. It's so inspiring. And I think you
know a lot of people here in Michigan. I know
we have listeners from all over the country and in
Canada and actually around the world. But you know, here
in Southeaster, in Michigan in general, you're gonna see spring
of them roles. If you drive on the highway, whether
you like it or not, you will see them. You know,
you're driving even on ninety six around here, and you
(03:21):
just see these massive patches of trilliums. But that's not enough.
You really do need to get in there. There's so
much diversity and there's so many interesting things to see.
And you know, if you look, if you drive and
you see the trilliums growing by the side of the highway,
and you think, oh, that's nice. The trilliums are in bloom.
You really owe it to yourself to get out there.
And it doesn't take a lot. You can go to
(03:42):
almost any park around here and see an amazing display
and it's I mean, if you haven't done this before,
I would say mark your calendars in the coming weeks
to just make sure you get out to a park
and see this, because I don't know. It's just I
don't know. It's very meaningful.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah it is. It's very meaningful, and it's very very
meaningful for me. So I share that with you. And
you're right. They see a lot of us think about trilliums,
and that, of course is an amazing plant. I was
reading from the US Forest Service. They were saying there
are forty three species of trillium known worldwide, with a
(04:17):
startling thirty eight represented in North America as natives.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
That's pretty that I had no idea was that. That's
absolutely incredible. And the rest this is actually very interesting
and you see this especially when it comes to our
spring ephemerals. I'm not going to go deep into this,
so don't panic, but there's a phenomenon called the Eastern
Asian Eastern North America floristic disjunction. Where you get into this.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
It's like deja vu. It's incredible. Yes, I have read
about it. Oh Arnold Arboretum, Yeah, does a lot.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
They have an excellent article on that. So basically what
it is is that the eastern half of North America
and Eastern Asia share a very similar number of plant
species and genera because at one point they were connected.
And so the other trillium species i'm guessing are all
Asian trilliums, and there are just some spectacular Asian trilliums.
(05:09):
Of course they're not our native trilliums, but they're still special.
And you'll see that with a lot of spring ephemerals,
the erythronium or trout lily as well, just to name
a few. And it's just such an interesting thing to see.
And I can't believe we are that many trilliums. Yeah,
so many in Michigan.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah right, And I have some pictures to share of
trout lily also a favorite of mine, as I would
run the trail. And as far as the trilliums are concerned, again,
the diversity is amazing and correct me if I'm wrong.
But is it the pedestal? Is it a pedestal that
the flower sits on. Is that the pronunciation, okay, so
(05:49):
a pedesol. And then there are others that seem to
just sit right on.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Top of the bracts, beestile trilliums. So yeah, sometimes you
see the ones that are nodding, the Trillium grand fluorum,
which is by far the most widespread one around here
in southwestern Michigan. But the cecil ones, Yeah, they nestle
right down into the foliage with no extra stem. Yeah,
those are really cool. If you are lucky enough to
live in the southeast, or maybe you're taking on the
(06:13):
Appalachian Trail or you're going on vacation, you will see
the most incredible diversity of trilliums down through the Blue
Ridge Mountains and Smokies.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I mean absolutely really.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
You mean know another interesting thing about trilliums, So they
do grow by seed. Obviously they spread by you know,
their their roots as well, but their seeds, their seed
pods have these what's known as an eliosome on that
and it's a little dot of nutritious oil and it
is like ants just go crazy for it.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
And they I mean like it's not just like, oh,
here's a nice little liasm. Guess I'll eat it. It's
like they go bananas. And that is how trillium is.
That is how trillium spread it. Trillium seed is dispersed.
Is these ants going after that alion and then carrying
it to who knows where, and that is why trilliums
are able to spread as widely as they do.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Wow, that is fantastic. Yeah. And if you're keeping score
at home and you enjoy the trilliums of spring, as
Stacey mentioned, then so it's pedestal and cecil, yes, and
the cecil are seated right on those bracts or that foliage. Yeah,
pretty cool. Trout lilies, I love them, the solitary nodding
(07:27):
yellow flower. Their colony forming and they the foliage looks
like trout, a brown trumk. Yeah, I guess that's where
it gets and its name.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
They look so pretty with the trilliums and they're so
often together, and that to me is where you know,
we were talking about mother nature and being inspired. I mean,
that is a combination that I just find so inspiring.
And it's the kind of thing that if you are
a gardener and you're out in the woods looking at
these things, you know, take a moment's not just go
oh that's pretty or oh that's interesting, but to really
(07:56):
think about what is it? Is it the colors, is
it the shape of the leaves? Is it the gestures
of those two plants together? And think about what that
means for you? Combining plants agree very much.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So, so I have a question for you based on that, Stacey,
And that is, as far as ephemerals are concerned, I
also consider non native minor bulbs like galanthus to be
a spring ephemeral based on definition. Would you agree with
that or yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
I think that's a fair you know, but it's yeah.
I think usually when most people say spring epemerals, they
are referring to our native wildflowers, but that they behave
the same way, you know, and most of our spring
ephemerals that are native to North America are similar. They
have some sort of bulb like storage organ underground, and
that's what they need because they have such a short
(08:43):
life cycle that they really need to take all the
energy that they're able to manufacture before the trees come
out making hay well the sun shines, and they need
to store that for another whole year before they come out. Again.
So they all have that kind of bulb like nature.
So yeah, I think that's a fair connection.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So we'll talk about them in segment four and continue
our talk on ephemerals before we move to Plants on Trial.
I wrote an ephemeral lyric just.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
For use to ooh, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah, here we go. We await with much anticipation. They
arrive with great adulation, a few moments on stage. Our
needs to a sage, then exit with short duration. Ephemerals
are plants that are temporary. Here's an inside joke in
my commentary. They put on a show, they come and go,
(09:34):
not a thorn in your side like Barbary. I wrote that.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I like it. I appreciate that. Thank you, Yes, because
you know, as I was saying in our plants are
show on plants that we don't like. I was saying,
one of the reasons I dislike Barbary so much is
because when I do go to the woods to see
the spring ephemerals and I see a Barbary, Yeah, that
makes me real mad.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
That's why I wrote it just for you. Plants on
Trial is coming up next, and in segment four we'll
get in to more of these ephemeral plants. List them
out for you and why we love them. As a
matter of fact, if we were to apply minor bulbs,
I know a favorite of yours, Stacey and mine are
the reticulated or Iris reticulata. Indeed, yeah, so an early
(10:17):
spring bloomer plants on trial is next here on the
Gardening Simplified Show.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Beautify your home and community with proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs.
With over three hundred and twenty five unique varieties to
choose from, there's a flowering shrubber evergreen for every taste
and every space. Just look for the distinctive white container
your local garden center or learn more at proven Winner's
Color Choice dot com. Greetings gardening friends, and welcome back
(10:49):
to the Gardening Simplified Show, where the order of the
day is our beloved spring ephemerals. And if you don't
know what we're talking about, in a nutshell, it is
the spring wildflowers that pop up in forests all around
Michigan and in fact around most of the eastern half
of the entire country. And again, if you've only ever
seen these driving by, seen a beautiful patche trolleum going
(11:10):
by it seventy miles an hour. You really owe it
to yourself to get out into a park. You don't
need to take a long hike, pack a lunch or
anything like that. Just find a local park with a
good wooded area and you will almost certainly see them.
But I did want to mention since it's Plants on Trial,
and Plants on Trial is really all about introducing you
to one of the three hundred and twenty plus proven
Winter's color choice shrubs and you decide if you're going
(11:33):
to add it to your garden. Well, when it comes
to spring ephemerals, I do want to say, especially early
in the show, that when it comes to adding them
to your garden, please, please, please be sure you are
getting them from a reputable source. There is a lot
of poaching that goes on among spring wildflowers that are
dug up. Not so much in Michigan, but definitely there's
(11:53):
a huge trade from the Smoky Mountains and the Blue
Ridge Mountains where they grow really, really abundantly. So these
are the kind of plants and I encourage you to
add them to your garden. You know, if you have
the right conditions, shade, reasonably moist soil, you'll do great
with them, but do make sure that you're getting them
from a reputable source that hasn't dug them up from
the wild without permission. You know, usually they do need
(12:16):
to be seed grown. They tend to be expensive because
a trillium takes about seven to ten years to flower
from a seed, and so usually if someone is real,
you know, responsibly propagating these plants, it does take quite
a while, so they cost a little bit more, and
if they're cheap, you should probably be very suspicious about that.
(12:38):
So there's some tissue culture out there which does help
to defray costs a bit, but please be sure if
you want to add these to your garden, you're sticking
mostly with native plant nurseries that are sourcing these in
a responsible manner. So I want to get that out there.
I didn't believe it at first, and I was like, yeah, whatever,
but every year you see reports of this and people
being arrested, and so there's a huge trade for it,
(13:00):
and we don't want to be a part of supporting that.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
A lot of talk about ramps also.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Oh yeah, especially ramps. Yeah, So anyway, let's get today's
plan on trial, which, as we were saying on the break,
is one of Rick's favorites.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
If you go to Gardening Simplified, honor Or dot com
look at our top ten lists favorite shrubs, you'll see
it there on my list, Stacey, So.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
It was already there before I picked it as today's
plant on Trial. So you know, in this theme of
spring ephemerals, you know in the woods, it's they're understory plants,
so they grow sort of through that leaf litter as
we were talking about. And we do have some native
shrubs here in Michigan, but mostly it's kind of like
you have the understory and then you have the trees. Well,
(13:40):
if you go down to the southeast, you will find
many more sort of shrubs in the understory, and they
make an outstanding companion to a spring ephemeral planting, and
especially today's plant on Trial, which is legend of the
small father Gilla. So Fathergilla is also as bottle brush
(14:01):
or witch alder, and it is such a great choice
for matching a spring epemerals because it blooms at pretty
much the same time. Has these lovely white bottle brush
as you might have guessed by that common name flowers fragrant.
They come out in early spring and the great thing
about the specific variety that we're talking about today, Legend
(14:22):
of the Small father gilla, is that it is well small,
so it's blooming and growing sort of in with the
spring ephemerals rather than towering above them. So it's a
companion sort of rather than a guardian. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
It makes perfect sense. And Stacey here in Michigan, unfortunately
we often get april snow. Ah, yes we do, and
so I have pictures to share of snow coating those
flowers when early spring. But I love that because you're right,
blooms about the same time as the other.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Right, And it's nice that this one so regular conventional
father gilla are going to reach anywhere between four and
six feet tall and wide, which is still a very
useful size for most residential landscaping. But it's really nice
to have a variety like Legend of the Small which
reaches just two to two and a half feet tall,
so that you have some different options for how to
(15:17):
use it in your garden and again kind of letting
it accompany this spring ephemerals that are in your garden. Now,
this isn't quite native to Michigan. This is really going
to be more of a southeastern United States again Blue
Ridge Mountains, Smoky Mountains. That is sort of the epicenter
for all of this, and that is actually where legend
of the small was developed at the North Carolina State
(15:39):
University Research Center in Asheville by doctor Tom Rainey, who
has developed a huge diversity of plants in the proven
Winner's Color Choice brand, including one of my favorites, El
Nino Chetalpa. He's been all over the place developing a
lot of interesting natives as well as interesting exotics like that.
But this comes from him, and his breeding goal really
(15:59):
was to have this smaller size so more of us
can use it in new ways in our gardens, which
makes sense.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
It's great in a perennial guard.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
It is great in a perennial garden, especially this one.
So a couple things about growing this wonderful plant. Rick
does have it in his garden. I do not, and
the reason for that is because it needs moist soil
and I don't water, and I have very very dry
sandy soil. I have tried to grow it. I'm very
sorry to that father gilla that I attempted to grow.
(16:29):
It did not last long, But like my mom over
on the east side of the state in Detroit grows
it beautifully where that soil is more clay like, so
it needs some moisture. This is not going to be
one of those drought tolerant plants that we tell you about.
You can kind of just you know, grow it, but
it is a low maintenance plant because if you are
growing it in the areas in the kind of environment
where it will thrive because it is so small, doesn't
(16:51):
need pruning, doesn't really need much of anything. And that
actually reminds me before I forget of another reason why
it makes such a great companion to spring ephemerals, because
not only does it have these wonderful, fragrant flowers in
early spring, it has amazing fall color.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
That's what I was going to say. As a matter
of fact, arguably I grow the plant for the fall color,
not the bottle brush blooms in spring, even though the
blooms are so unique and they're early and they're fabulous
and I love them. The plant saves the best.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
For last, It definitely does, and all of those spring
epemerals are long gone by that point. So if you
have a garden bed where you have these plants that disappear.
This makes such a great choice because you'll get that
prolonged season of interest. And then, of course because it's
a shrub, it's got those nice persistent branches over winter.
But let's get back to growing it. So moist, acidic
(17:43):
soil is very important. You're going to want to mulchhit
doesn't really need any pruning or other maintenance, and it's
quite deer resistant. Actually, even when I did attempt to
grow it, the deer never did actually eat it.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Well, the foliage tends to be kind of rough, firy
type of foliage, and again, any plant that has that
toem and toast type of foliage that's kind of hairy. Yeah,
the deer tend to pick something else in the buffet.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And it gets no other pests or diseases, no leaf spots,
no nothing like that. So it is actually an extremely
easy plant to grow and to use. And you know, again,
even though it's not native to Michigan, I think it's
very much at home here with native ephemerals like this
and Stacey.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
For people who are listening to the show on radio
or if you're listening to the podcast version, you're asking
to us to say, again, what is that plant, And
how do we spell that plant? Because I say father Gia,
you say father Gilla.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
I was gonna, I was gonna mention that you're not
the only person I have heard say father Gia. Yeah,
but it is father Gilla. So f O T H
E R g I L l A. And the reason
that it is father Gilla and not father Gia is
because it is named after one doctor, Fathergil from England.
We go so now, so usually what I try to
(19:06):
do what I'm pronouncing a plant is to take that
root word and use that in the pronunciation. So it's
father Gill, named after doctor Fathergill, with a at the end
to make it you know, wow, it.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
All makes sense to me. That's why I asked the question.
Then I brought it up.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But you know, speaking of spring flowering shrubs, I am
breaking my own rule because, as we've said on the
show before, for Scythia is named after one doctor forsythe
But if I go around telling everybody that I love
there for Scythia, They're just gonna think I'm some kind
of maniac. So it is important to be understood. And
as long as you're walking out of the store with
a plant that you want. It's all good, and you
(19:41):
can always go for bottlebrush because most people will probably
know or witch alder, which is it gets that name
not because it's witchy or used in any kind of
magical ceremonies, but because it is from the ancient or
the Old English word wyh which means bent or pliable.
And it's also to which hazel, so it might also
(20:01):
be part of that. So it's in the Hammi melodecy
or which hazel family?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I love which hazel and which hazel has very similar
fall color to a I'm going to say, father.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah, I know, fall habits are hard to break. And
I did want to talk about sun. So it does
grow in sun to part shade. It will grow in
deeper shade, but you're going to see the flowering is
very diminished, as is the fall color. So if you can,
especially if you live in a hotter climate, part shade
is going to be kind of your sweet spot here
(20:33):
in the north, you could easily grow it in full
sun as long as it has sufficient water because again,
this is not one of those very drought tolerant plants.
One last word I have to say, if you're thinking, hey,
this plant sounds great and I definitely want to add
it to my garden. It is slow growing and it's small,
and those two things combine to make it a lot
slower to produce than a lot of other plants like
(20:56):
hydrangeas and that kind of stuff that you'll see on
the market. So this plant has been out for a
little while. We are always trying to increase numbers on
it to meet the demand because so many people like
Rick do love this plant, but it is in fairly
short supply. So if you're interested in it, don't sleep
on it. Make sure that you pick it up and
add it to your garden because it will probably go
(21:16):
because there's not quite enough to go around, but we
are working on it and.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
To make sure to drive the point home, Stacey, So
you are talking about Legend of the Small Yes, there
is also a Legend of the Fall.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Right, which was selected for superior fall color, even better
than the standard from Father Gilla, And that one is
kind of a more standard size, so more like the
three to five or four to six foot range, So
two great choices. Legend of the Fall is much easier
to find, but if you do want this smaller size
in Legend of the small you might have to look
for it just for a couple more years so you
(21:49):
can get a little bit more out there on the
market for you. If you'd like to add it to
your garden, please visit proven Winter's Color Choice dot Com
to find a retailer. We're going to take a little
break when we come meck, we're opening up the so
stay tuned at Proven Winner's Color Choice Shrubs. We know
(22:11):
that a better landscape starts with a better shrub. Our
team of experts tests and evaluates all of our flowering
shrubs and evergreens for eight to ten years to ensure
they outperform what's already on the market. For easycare, reliable,
beautiful shrubs to accentuate your home and express your personal style,
look for Proven Winner's Shrubs in the distinctive white container
(22:31):
at your local garden center, or learn more at proven
Winner's Color Choice dot com. Greetings, gardening friends, and welcome
back to the Gardening Simplified Show, where it is our
pleasure to help you with your gardening questions, quandaries and conundrums.
And boy, I tell you, our inbox is filling in fast.
We only have time for a few questions every week,
(22:51):
But we don't want to leave you hanging. So if
you find yourself out there struggling with something you don't
know what to do, you can always reach out to
proven winner's color choice. Do we have a contact form there?
You can even attach a photo and that will get
you an answer in your inbox a lot sooner and
you don't have to wonder if we've actually you know,
are going to answer it or anything like that. So
we want to offer that service to you. Can't answer
(23:12):
everything on air, or we wouldn't talk about anything else.
We'd just be answering gardening questions all the time. So
but we do care about your success and want you
to make sure that you have a good and stress
free spring. So please to take advantage of that if
you would like. And in the meantime, we got some
questions this week.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, hell Goo writes to us, I planted a new
lawn last fall at my cabin west of Baldwin. This spring,
I want to put down more seed, apply fertilizer, crab
grass preventor what orders should I do this first? More
grass than apply the fertilizer or fertilizer than plant grass.
The property is north about ninety miles from Grand Rapids.
(23:54):
What is the general timeline, So that's the point timeline.
It's based on soil temper so that's when annual weeds
like crabgrass will germinate in the soil, usually when soil
temperatures get to about fifty five to sixty degrees. Stacy,
A lot of people like to use a visual reminder
(24:15):
and that being the forsythios when they're in bloom, But
really technically you should learn about growing degree days GDD
as well as soil temperature and universities like Michigan State University.
It's a resource that I use. It's available to all
has a GDD tracker, and as a matter of fact,
(24:38):
I took a look at it yesterday and it's interesting, Stacey.
Every year is different. Oh, for sure, last year we
were in optimum application time for crabgrass pre emergent the
end of March because of the temperatures had warmed up.
We did not have as much snow in winter and ice,
(25:00):
whereas this year we haven't even hit the optimum point
yet and we're going to be more normal this year.
Where usually the crab grass controls are applied somewhere around
between the first and third week of April tax.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Day, tax day tax good to note. Well, I think, Helga,
that's all great information about timing. But the real key
here to answering your question is you're asking whether you
put down the fertilizer crab grass preventer first and then
the seed or vice versa. And the thing that everybody
needs to know about this question that makes such a
good question is that crab grass preventer. The majority of
(25:38):
crabgrass preventers are simply pre emergence. They prevent seed from germinating. Correct,
So if you put down your grass seed and then
put down the crabgrass pre emergent or even vice versa,
your grass seed will not germinate. So it's not like
it's specific to crabgrass. There are certain ones that might be,
but overall, the majority of crabgrass preventors prevent grass from germinating,
(26:04):
not crabgrass specifically.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
That's exactly so if I.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Would recommend so you kind of have a real issue here,
a real quandary, because you're going to have this optimum
time to put down your crab grass pre emergent, but
you need to get that grass germinated and growing first,
and you will see if you look at some packages,
and actually you don't even need to go to the
garden center. If you just look at some brands websites,
you can find all of the package instructions right there
(26:30):
on your computer or your phone and read what they say,
because it might say, for example, you know, don't apply
this within fifteen days of having put down grass seed,
so it will have some sort of you know, window
of time where that is safe to do, and you're
going to want to make sure you follow that exactly.
So we haven't hit the window yet. You might be
able to put down grass seed and get it germinating.
(26:53):
If not, then I would say go ahead and put
down your crab grass pre emergent. Read that carefully to
find out how long that's going to last. Then try
to get your grass seed growing. But these two things
are going to be difficult to time properly to make
sure that that it works.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
The time to seed alawn is in fall. That's the
time to do it. So in spring you're gonna find
with most pre emergent controls, they're going to put down
a barrier that lasts twelve weeks, so you can forget
about seeding. Unless you buy a product specifically made for seeding,
they're generally difficult to find and very expressed.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I would guess. I would guess, so, Hellga, I think
you're going to need to make a decision. Is it
going to be grass seed or is it going to
be fertilizer and pre emergence? Save the grass seed for fall?
Maybe I would do, especially since you're not going to be,
you know, there all the time of it's your cabin,
so timing, as in most cases, is everything is everything.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Joyce wrote to us about native plants for Michigan an
official list of Native plans. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:59):
So I thought this was such a great question because
you know, I know that so many people out there
are so interested in learning about native plants, growing more
native plants. But you're kind of just like, where do
I start? And the first thing I would say is
decide how native you want to be? Like, are you
going to be native to your county? Are you going
to be native to your region of Michigan. Are you
going to be native to the state the peninsula. There's
(28:19):
lots of different ways that can go, and that is
a decision that each of us can make for ourselves.
And then we are going to put a nice long
list from Michigan State University of native plants in Michigan.
But bear in mind that there are roughly estimated, because
no one really knows for sure, but well over six
(28:39):
hundred different species of native plants to Michigan, and lists
like the one that we're going to share in the
show notes and in the YouTube caption there tend to
focus on the species that are more commercially available. You know,
there's certainly a lot of plants out there that are
native but just don't necessarily have the appeal at garden
(29:00):
centers where people are going to be, you know, grabbing
them up and wanting to plant them. So know that
it's not going to be a comprehensive list, but it's
going to be a good reference for you to know
what to look for in garden centers. Now, a couple
of other resources I have for you. We are lucky
at Michigan we have a couple of outstanding native plant nurseries.
I personally have shopped at Wild Type out near Williamston
(29:23):
multiple times. They're only open to the public a couple
weekends a year. They have a great selection, but there's
lots and lots of other ones. There's a wonderful one
near Anne Arbor. The name escapes me at the moment,
but you don't just search Michigan native plant nurseries and
see what you can find. Those would also be an
excellent choice because you can trust that everything that they
have there is going to be native since that is
(29:45):
their specialty.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
And many garden centers and greenhouses have added a native
plant section, and so yes, I would do that research.
I think you pointed out a really important thing Stacy
as it relates to the state of Michigan, and that
is you have to take regional approach because you're going
to find there's Southern lower, there's Northern lower, and then
(30:06):
there's up and different climates, different soils, it's gonna vary.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, you can split them mint up into many different sections.
And then finally, I just wanted to mention there is
a wonderful nationwide organization called wild Ones and they are
dedicated to educating people about native plants, and the Grand
Rapids chapter out here is very active. They do a
ton of great work, so definitely take a look at them.
(30:32):
They would be a great resource for joining together to
learn about native plants and learning from each other. So
take a look for your local wild Ones chapter as well.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Gonna hit this one real quick. Shelley Wondering, absolutely love
your show, learn so much. Thank you Gardening in West Michigan.
Wondering what are the best annuals for full sun window boxes?
And Stacey, I'll just throw a few out the Star
Divas Scavola's fabulous for how Weather, meteor shower, diamond frost, lemon,
(31:04):
coral sea. I mean, there are so many that that
you can pick from, and I love the mojave portolaca.
I just think it's a great plant for it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
It is a great plant if you're retired and can
see it open during the day, But that's one of
those ones that close up and the closes up in
the afternoon. Shelley, I think this is a great question
because you said that you know some of your window
boxes in part son have done better than your ones
in full sun, and you know window boxes, most of
them are a relatively small volume of soil, so you
(31:34):
definitely need to consider as you are. You know that
plants can withstand not just the sun, but drying out
more quickly and not having a really you know, big
volume of soil around those routes, so you're looking for
stuff that is very heat and drought tolerant. Now, I
think that it's interesting, Shelley that you and your own
message mentioned the start eve A blue scaffola, because that
(31:56):
is the plant that actually started the proven Winters brand.
They had found it in US Australia, where of course
they need everything to be super side and drought tolerant,
and it was they were growing it in window boxes
and hanging baskets and is a groundcover and they were
just like, hey, this plant can take it all. So
that would be a great choice I think as well.
Now I will put some links in the show notes
(32:17):
as well as in the caption on YouTube for some
great sun tolerant annuals. But a couple that I would
add to that, I would say yes geraniums. I would
even say ivy geraniums, even though Rick does not like
them as we discovered. Sorry, Rick, but I would say
yes to geraniums. Classic choice lantana. Now that is a
very heat and drought tolerant plant. And the cool thing
(32:39):
about lantana is you can pick one that grows up
or one that spreads or makes them both together. So
you just want to look at the plant tags to
find one depending on the look that you want, sweet
potato wine another super sun and drought tolerant.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Plant, pink gum free love that one. Oh that thing
and it'll stand up to the heat. And what about
many vistas.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Yeah, all the supertunias should do really great. I mean
they're not going to tolerate heat like in the South,
but certainly the summers that we have in the Midwest
and north, you won't have any trouble growing those all
summer long. So we'll put some resources for you on
the website at Gardeningsimplified on air dot com. Right now,
we're going to take a break and then we're going
to talk a little bit more about our beloved spring ephemerals.
(33:21):
To stay tuned. Thanks for listening to the Gardening Simplified podcast,
brought to you by Proven Winners Color Choice Shrubs. Our
award winning flowering shrubs and evergreens are trialed and tested
by experts with your success in mind. Learn more at
Proven Winners color Choice dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Welcome back to the Gardening Simplify Show as we continue
our talk on spring ephemeral flowers and Stacey, I have
to say that bloodroot is one of my favorites. I
have numerous pictures to share on the YouTube version of
our show. But when that green scalloped foliage on furrows
(34:05):
and then that white flower emerges, and of course the
history of that plant a native plant, blood roots one
of my favorites.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
It is so special, and you know it is one
of those ones it does form large colonies. I haven't
seen very many large colonies around here, but that's what
I was talking about when I'm saying, if you just
see the trilliums from the highway and you never get
in there to see, you'll miss things like bloodroot. And
you know, the flower of blood root is pretty, but
that foliage is just glorious. It's so so pretty.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah, I have a picture of it just emerging through
the leaf litter. I'm with you on that. I think
another thing you and I agree on, Stacey, and that
is marsh marigold in the buttercup family, those bright yellow flowers.
When I'd be running on the trail and you get
some of these low areas where it's wet, marsh marigolds.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
All right, So you're telling me that this is a
marigold you can stand because it's not a true maragold.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yes, it's not a true it's so fund.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
An exception from your plants that people keltha. So yeah,
marshmare gold is such a cheerful plant. It does grow
in pretty much standing water, and so you'll often find
it where you found skunk cabbage, which is one of
my favorites. Skunk cabbage is so special, such a unique plant.
I know when I traveled to Australia, I was with
(35:29):
my father in law and he had a colleague that
lived there and he was taking us around and he
said to me, oh, does skunk cabbage grow where you live?
And I was like yeah, And he was studying it
as a material scientist because it actually heats up the
ground around it and melts the.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Snow generates its own heat, so.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
They don't bloom at the same time. But any place
that you find skunk cabbage really really wet, muddy, standing
water kind of soils, you will also find keltha or marshmaregold.
Speaker 1 (35:55):
A few weeks later, and think about groggy emerging pollinators
and how important skunk cabbage would be there.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Oh, yeah, for sure, especially flies.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, So there you go, as I mentioned in the
first segment, I view some of the minor bulbs as
a spring ephemeral in my yard. I love anemone Blanda,
just such a beautiful tuberus rooted perennial. I have a
picture to share with you that I took at Corkanhoff
(36:25):
Gardens in the Netherlands. This one's a tough one to pronounce.
Kon a doxa. Some people call it kayan odoxa. But
glory of the.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Snow yep, wow, very plastic socks off.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
As a matter of fact, I saw a great quote
on the plant from an individual who lives in Minneapolis.
It gets very cold in Minneapolis, folks, and this person
said this plant will continue to grow come hell or
high water or hard freeze.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Yeah, it's It's a tough one.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Galanth of snowdrops. They're bell shaped, ok, white flowers offset
by bright green markings. Love it. We've talked on this
show before. I think we got a question on it.
Winter aconite and one of the earliest bulbs to bloom
and spring.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Definitely love that one. Also a very cheery yellow kind
of rounded flower.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Yes, like yeah, And then I know Adriana I believe
likes Muscari grape pious.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Yeah, she planted a bunch last year, so she's going
to have a good display coming up into this year.
I love them too, and there's such a diversity, you know.
That's if you are just sticking to like the grocery
store varieties of muscary every fall, you know, and you
love it, you owe it to yourself to get a
catalog and order some of the specialty muscaris, like Valerie Finnis,
(37:47):
which is just the most glorious sky blue color. Oh
my gosh, that is such a beautiful plant. There's so
many cool ones out there.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yeah. I go back to again Cookinhoff Gardens in the
Netherlands and they create a blue river Muscary grape hyacinths.
But you're so right, Stacey. That the some of the
new varieties, and we have some pictures to share with
you on YouTube, including the pure white ones. Not only
the color is vivid, but just the shape of the flower.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
They're just unused and they smell so good. Now usually
you don't get down there and smell them because they're
so close to the ground, but they make good cut
flowers for a little vase, and they do smell absolutely.
They kind of smell like grapes. They kind of have
like that grape goool aid smell. I don't know it's
apartmental or but yeah, that's that's kind of the vibe
that I get from them.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
What about Dutchman's breechers, Oh, Rick.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Thank you for mentioning my Well, is it my all time?
Speaker 1 (38:41):
I mean, is it really?
Speaker 2 (38:42):
I don't know if I can pick a favorite spring ephemeral,
but Dutchman's breeches dicentric cuculaurea is easily one of my favorites.
And there's a park out here in West Michigan that
used to have the most breath taking display of them.
I mean there was tens of thousands of them off
this dune. It was amazing. It was something I look
(39:05):
forward to every year. And I have not seen it
the last three years, and I believe that unfortunately, what
has happened is that the deer are eating the flowers.
The plants are still there, but I've started hiking up
there with my binoculars, and when I look with my binoculars,
I see a lot of cut off stems, and so
(39:25):
I think unfortunately, my favorite display of them I have
not seen. But a lot of people might think that
it's called Dutchman's britches and it's here in West Michigan
and that's where it got its name. But no, these
really do look like funny little pairs of pants flying
off the stem. And it's just one of those plants
that if you were to see a picture of it,
like online or in a book or something like that,
you'd go, WHOA, that plant is so cool. I wonder
(39:47):
if I could ever see it in real life. And
it's like, No, you walk out your door and it's
like growing a mile down the road.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, it's beautiful with the feathery.
Speaker 2 (39:54):
It's just so pretty.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Love it. And for folks keeping score at home, if
you're watching or listening to our program in California or
outside of the United States in Canada, West Michigan is
notorious for Dutch people.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
That's true. Sorry, a lot of US.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Dutch people here in West.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
I guess I was assuming people would know that because
of the Holland Michigan movie that's getting so much publicity
these days.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
That's right, that's right. Squirrel corn or Dycentra canadensis. Some
people would Stacey referred to it as bleeding hearts, but
it is Dycentra canadensis. So you'll find this plant in
Canada all the way down the East coast in the
United States. And of course the blooms are unique and beautiful.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yeah, and so the foliage really looks very similar to
the Dutchman's breaches. Yes, and you often find them growing
in and around each other, which would make perhaps the
uninitiated thing like, whoa, is this some sort of mutation
of the other. But they're two totally distinct species. And
I love this. Do not dig one up, but so
take my word for it or google it. But the
(41:01):
reason it's called squirrel corn is because the root does
indeed look like a tiny little ear of corn with
like little like the bulblitz on it look like little
pieces of corn. It's a pretty amazing thing to see.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
Very cool plant. How about Jack and the Pulpit.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
I love I'm sorry, I'm people are just gonna be like,
is there there is? There is no spring of Emerald
that I hate. There's not a single one. I love
them all, But Jack in the Pulpit is so special.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
This one pops right out of a fairy tale. Yeah,
you know, when I'd run on the trail. Take pictures
of it. Yeah, it's it's just this unmistakable hooded champagne
fluted shaped cup, the pulpit and then the slender stall.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Yeah, what a cool And now that is a plant.
When we were talking, I mentioned briefly about the you know,
Asian and North American floristic disjunction, the commonalities between them. Now,
Asia got the lion's share of the jack in the
pulpits the arisima species that are native to Asia will
knock your socks off. They are stunning, amazing. I mean
(42:06):
ours is pretty great, but theirs are like who over
the top.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
So you've got a good location or source for Hepatica
Hepatica americana. Other people referred to it as liver wort
or liver leaf, so over really dark leaf to it,
bluish flower I think it has.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
So they can be blue, purple or white. Yeah, And
that's another plant that I feel like when I moved
here fourteen years ago, I saw everywhere in the woods,
and I feel like the populations have kind of disappeared,
and I don't know if that's difficult. I don't know
if that's an issue of the deer or you know,
I think one thing that I've seen, like around the
Muskegon State Parks is that I feel like the leaf
(42:47):
litter is staying so much and suffocating them, like it's
not blowing away to kind of expose them. So I
don't see nearly as many as I used to. But
that is a gorgeous plant that is also a very
very cool plant.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
The trail that I would one had all kinds of
wood anemone on it, so single flowers. Would you know?
They're white flowers is what they are. The edges of
the leaflets are kind of toothed, but very unique plant.
And you this is one that you would just see
in drifts. Yeah, love that wild wildflower and spring ephemeral
(43:24):
wild columbine right, love.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
It, absolutely, love it. Definitely on the verge of like
is it ephemeral? Is it not?
Speaker 1 (43:31):
Right?
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Because the foliage does persist on that and that kind
of I think brings up the tail end of the
ephemeral season because it starts to bloom sort of as
everything else is going out. But that's another plant that
if you were to just see a picture of this
red and yellow flower that's just so intricate and so different,
you'd be like, where can I see that? And it's like,
oh yeah, in the woods, and once it's happy and
(43:53):
it starts self sewing, it's everywhere in a really kind
and gentle way.
Speaker 1 (43:58):
And drifts just beautiful. Yeah, just beautiful. I got to
hit on this one because I think I'm pretty sure
it's a favorite of yours. While people in spring are
killing these in droves in their lawn. You love violas in.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Violet, I do, and the lawn violets is one thing,
but there are amazing native violets that they have, the
bird's foot violet, the yellow violet. I do get very
excited about those. You're absolutely right, I love them so much.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
But I think it's a good thing to point out, Stacey,
is that not all violets or violas or wild violets
are created the same. There are oval shaped leaves, toothed leaves,
heart shaped leaves. So there are If you're interested in
violets or interested in the spring ephemerals, get to know
(44:49):
them and do a little bit of research because they're
not all created the same, no, and.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
There's so much to see, so that's the main thing.
Get to know them. Get out there and see them
while you can because they don't last long.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
So anything I can add to your list, Stacy, or
did we hit them all?
Speaker 2 (45:04):
The only one that I would add would be a
very strange little creature that it did not encounter previously,
but it grows pretty abundantly around here, and that is
pendicularis also known as laoswort. It is a hemi or
semi parasitic plant, and it comes out with this really
cool kind of like rosette of feathery foliage, and then
(45:27):
the flowers come out and they're red and yellow, and
they're curved, and it's just such a unique plant. And
it gets its nutrition partially from the tree roots that
it grows on. So it's a very cool thing that
you can see around here, especially on the lake shore.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Interesting and when you think about it, in early spring
trees pull a lot of water out of the ground,
and so in early spring again, these plants are taking
the opportunity to do their thing and we all benefit
from it.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
We sure do, and you should do. You bet, get
out there.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
Fun show, Stacy. Thank you so much, Thank you, Adrianna,
and thanks most of all to you for watching or
listening to our show. Have yourself a great week,
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