Photo: May 13, 2008
This Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens) is a small plant--no more than 12 inches high. It grows in a stand of Eastern Cedar trees, catching only a couple of hours of sun a day. The flowers are about 1/2" in diameter but with several in a cluster are quite showy against the dark green of the cedar trees. The soil is quite poor and the only other flower there is the columbine.
Photo: May 13, 2008
Wild Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum) is a native sedum that grows in many areas of the woods. I transplanted it once and put it on a sunny, rocky slope. It dried up and died soon after but I was transplanted stonecrop by accident later. I had transplanted a clump of Christmas fern to plant near our house. To my delight, Wild Stonecrop sprouted between the rocks I had placed around the fern.
Photo: May 14, 2008
This close-up photo shows the tiny 1/4-inch flowers. The white flowers against the darkening forest floor remind me of stars twinkling in the night sky.
Speaking of transplanting wildflowers, I have had the most success with geraniums.
Photo: May 13, 2008
The Wild Geranium (Gernanium maculatum) has been blooming for several weeks. I transplanted one plant many years ago and the geraniums have spread to make a 100 square-foot flower bed in a semi-shaded area (as shown in photo). According to Leonard Adkins in Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, the dark lines on the petals of the geranium have an important role in germination.
If you were a bee, these lines would be even more pronounced due to your ability to see ultraviolet light, and would direct you to land on the plant's reproductive parts, to deposit he pollen you picked up from the previous plant you visited, and thus insure the propagation of the species. (p. 158)Adkins notes that the pollen is blue, rather than the more common yellow. So, the Wild Geranium is a lot more interesting than at first glance!
