We may all be stuck at home, probably going out less than we should when we can still be going outside…just not with other people we don’t already coexist with.
But Nature keeps on trucking without our presence.
Two of my treasures are growing like gangbusters.
The first is a plant called Paris quadrifolia.
A former co-worker, now retired, gave me one a few years ago. I think I planted maybe one or two more when I came across them at native plant sales. Now they have self seeded and are popping up in clumps in a few places, and I love them. They look like a trillium when they start to come up, but, except for a few math challenged ones like this, they have four leaves instead of three and they don’t throw up the pretty white flower. An interesting single green flower (with the same number of petals as leaves) opens up in the centre and eventually puts forth one single big blue-black, poisonous, berry that will sit perched in the middle of the flower.
The second treasure in the same shady corner of the garden lies a bit back in what we like to call Jurassic corner because everything in this corner grows very large. Ostrich ferns, Rodgersia, huge leaved hostas, and this treasure; Darmera peltata.
Also known as Indian Rhubarb or Umbrella Plant, the flower spike emerges before a leaf ever breaks through the soil, and it will reach upwards up to 3 or more feet above the ground. The small pink flowers resemble those that wash across another part of my garden on the blanket of Saxifrage plants. That’s probably because they are the same family of plants, although vastly different sizes. Where the Saxifrage plants tend to be 2-5 inches tall and a few inches wide, but spreads widely, Darmera grows to 3-5 feet in height and spread. Mine aren’t in a perfect spot so they are at the lower end of the size scale.
The fact that the garden keeps on growing does mean that I have a lot of weeding to do….later…
(114/365)
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