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Early-blooming perennials for shade or morning sun

May 31, 2023   •   Leave a Comment

by Richard Tuttle

When my wife and I decided to plant the ground under a few of our trees and shrubs, some friends suggested various fast-growing groundcovers like vinca or English ivy for these darker spots, but we knew how invasive they could be to surrounding beds or natural areas. Also, we were avid, if inexperienced perennial gardeners, and wanted to try out everything under the sun (or in this case, under the shade), but had limited areas beneath the few shade trees and large shrubs on our property. With a little research we soon learned that some of the trees that provided shade for us, namely silver and Norway maple, also had such dense and shallow root systems that growing anything under them, even lawn, would be a challenge.

In the remaining shady areas, we prepared our future shade beds by first spreading 6 to 8 inches of municipal compost (made by the city from leaves and ground-up brush) and then gently rototilled it to mix the compost with the existing soil and all its micro flora and fauna. Then we dug pathways so that the planting and future weeding and mulching could be done without walking on the beds. Once planting was complete, we mulched with a few inches of leaves (don’t use unshredded oak leaves—they can smother plantings). The following plants are standouts that have prospered through the years.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) / Photo: Eric Hofley / Michigan Gardener

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

Despite an all-too-brief week or two of blooms, bloodroot is well worth planting. During a warm spell in late April, it appears out of nowhere. The cupped, scalloped leaves with their red sap are quickly followed by white-petaled flowers with gold stamens (centers). Our favorite variety (‘Flore Pleno’) has doubled flowers and fewer stamens. The double form seems much more vigorous and stays in growth much longer than the single form. Unfortunately, the doubled bloodroot seems more prone to rotting and must be divided regularly to avoid this. Grow bloodroot in deciduous shade.

Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis) / Photo: Eric Hofley / Michigan Gardener

Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis)

The popularity of hellebores rivals hostas for the premier carefree perennial for shade to part sun. Plus, they are resistant to deer. They are one of the first perennials to bloom in our gardens and can continue blooming for months. The large showy flowers come in many different shades of red, pink, purple and white. They are truly perennial, lasting for decades and are tough as nails through periods of heat, humidity and drought. Their tough, glossy leaves also last all summer and well into the winter.

Wild ginger (Asarum) / Photo: Eric Hofley / Michigan Gardener

Wild ginger (Asarum)

Sturdy, easy and handsome groundcovers for shade, asarums acquired the wild ginger name because of the ginger-like smell that the roots give off when cut. They love organically-rich, moisture-retentive soil that is a bit acidic and has good drainage. Hardy to zone 3, our native species (Asarum canadense) is easy and spreads quickly without being invasive. European wild ginger (Asarum europaeum) is more showy with thick, glossy, dark green and leathery leaves, and is hardy to zone 4. It is a favorite, making a big shiny patch over the years. Everyone wants to also try the very handsome Asarum shuttleworthii ‘Callaway’ from Callaway Gardens in Georgia. It’s slow and expensive, but has striking patterns on the leaves. Some books say it’s hardy to zone 5 and some say zone 6. All I know so far is that it’s beautiful and growable in southeastern Michigan.

Lungwort (Pulmonaria) / Photo: Eric Hofley / Michigan Gardener

Lungwort (Pulmonaria)

Lungworts are old-fashioned perennials that are grown both for their early spring blooms of pink and blue and for their silver leaves that brighten shade gardens all summer. They make a good groundcover for shade because they form large clumps, but grow slowly enough to not be considered invasive or aggressive. They prefer some morning sun and if enough moisture is provided, even full sun. Like all woodland plants, a humus-rich, well-drained soil is best. Slugs and powdery mildew can be minor problems. The Chicago Botanic Garden did years of testing on over 30 varieties, considering disease resistance, hardiness, flowering period length and general adaptability. Among others, they recommended the following varieties: ‘Majeste,’ ‘Mrs. Moon,’ ‘Little Star,’ ‘Roy Davidson,’ and ‘Benediction.’

Variegated Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’) / Photo: Eric Hofley / Michigan Gardener

Variegated Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’)

Several species of Solomon’s seal are native to Michigan woodlands and all add architectural interest to any shade garden with their graceful arching stems and fragrant pendulous flowers. Our favorite has creamy white variegation on the leaf margin and grows 30 inches tall and 12 inches wide. Over the years, clumps 3 to 6 feet wide can slowly form, so give it some space.

Barrenwort (Epimedium) / Photo: Eric Hofley / Michigan Gardener

Barrenwort (Epimedium)

While not ranked as one of the showiest groundcovers, barrenworts have many virtues. For starters, deer avoid nibbling on them. Known as a low-growing groundcover for shade, they are tough enough to take even afternoon sun if they are grown in organically-rich, well-drained soil. They spread slowly so are not at all invasive and have attractive, mottled foliage and small but attractive, orchid-like blossoms in the spring (some people will shear last year’s tired foliage in early spring so that the flowers are more visible). Epimedium grandiflorum‘ Lilafee’ and ‘Rose Queen’ are classic favorites.

Richard Tuttle co-owned and operated Saguaro Nursery & Gardens in Whitmore Lake, MI.

Related: Janet’s Journal – Double Your Perennials, Double Your Fun

Elsewhere: The last word on watering perennials

Filed Under: Plant Focus

Identify and control ground ivy in your lawn and garden

May 31, 2023   •   Leave a Comment

Ground ivy is shallow-rooted and roots at each joint whenever it touches the soil, making it difficult to pull by hand.
Ground ivy is shallow-rooted and roots at each joint whenever it touches the soil, making it difficult to pull by hand.

Description

Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) is an aggressive, low-growing, perennial invader of lawns, vegetable gardens, and ornamental beds. It is also known as creeping Charlie, creeping Jenny, gill-over-the-ground and other names that shouldn’t be used in polite company. It thrives in moist, shady areas, as well as sunny locations. Leaves of ground ivy are round to kidney-shaped, and 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches in diameter. They may be smooth or hairy, medium to dark green, and have a rounded, toothed margin. They produce a minty odor when crushed and have square stems, which is a sign of a mint family member (no wonder it’s aggressive). Ground ivy’s flowers occur from April to June. The small flowers are funnel-shaped, bluish-purple and actually can look quite pretty.

How to control naturally

To naturally control in turf grass, maintain turf density and health through proper culture. Mechanical removal in turf is difficult and rarely effective. Ground ivy is shallow-rooted and it roots at each joint whenever it touches the soil, making it difficult to pull by hand. In beds it can be controlled by diligent and consistent removal. Mechanical removal is accomplished by using a garden fork to loosen the soil about three inches deep and gently working the roots out.

Ground ivy's bluish-purple flowers appear from April through June.
Ground ivy’s bluish-purple flowers appear from April through June.

How to control with chemicals

To control by chemical means, a post-emergent herbicide needs to be used. Pre-emergent herbicides do not work on established ground ivy. As with all chemical applications, timing is critical to getting effective control. The best time to achieve good control is when ground ivy is just beginning to flower, near the end of April. The leaves of ground ivy develop a waxy coating after flowering and herbicides become less effective. In fact, the plant is almost totally unaffected once this coating is developed. The next best time to control ground ivy is in the fall, from mid-September to early November. Two herbicide applications, spaced 10 to 14 days apart, are usually necessary to achieve good control.

Care must be taken when applying broadleaf herbicides at any time, but especially in the spring. The succulent growth of sensitive, desirable broadleaf plants can easily be injured by spray drift or volatilization of broadleaf herbicides. Always read and follow label directions carefully when applying herbicides.

Article and photos by Steven Nikkila, www.gardenatoz.com.

Elsewhere: Ground Ivy Control for Home Lawns

Related: Janet’s Journal: Eye to Eye With the Worst of the Garden Weeds

Filed Under: Weed Watch

Collectors, explorers, and the art of plants

May 31, 2023   •   Leave a Comment

by Christine Jamieson

The film Master and Commander brilliantly recreated life on an 18th century man-of-war. One of the most thrilling episodes is where the ship visits the Galapagos Islands and the ship’s doctor attempts to collect plant specimens and then later draws them. This is an authentic depiction of voyages in those days.

Shortly before the onset of the war depicted in the film, Captain James Cook had made his famous voyage around the world. Financed by the immensely wealthy and exuberant Joseph Banks, there were two botanical illustrators on board, Alexander Buchan and Sydney Parkinson, who recorded in great detail the strange flora of Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti. Parkinson died before reaching England again, but his work lives on in some 700 paintings in Banks’ Florilegium, which was finally published in full color in the 1980s. Banks went on to found Kew Gardens, making it one of the world’s greatest herbariums and botanical gardens.

Another sailor, William Roxburgh from Scotland, enlisted as surgeon’s mate on a ship bound for India in 1786 when he was only 17. There he became so interested in the indigenous vegetation that he abandoned medicine in favor of botany and eventually ended up as curator of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens. 

This was the age of scientific inquiry when men (and later some women), mostly from Western Europe and England, journeyed to North and South America, Russia, and the Middle and Far East in search of plants. In 1712, English botanist Mark Catesby traveled to America as the first professional plant collector. Not only was he a consummate naturalist but his drawing skills were also outstanding. As a result of his travels he published his Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, filled with wonderful illustrations.

Up until this time the Americans, busy as they were with settling the land, cultivating crops and generally struggling to survive, had not produced a homegrown botanist. However, John Bartram, a Quaker born in Philadelphia, had an astonishing career. Not only did he send more specimens to Linnaeus for classification than any other plant collector, he also supplied the English aristocracy with plants and set aside five acres on his farm as a botanical garden. Not an illustrator as such, he nevertheless made a huge contribution to American horticulture along with André Michaux and Thomas Nuttall, who published A Genera of North American Plants in 1818.

Almost since the world began there has been an interest in plants and in depicting them, from the time of the Egyptians, to the Chinese, Greeks and notably the Dutch with their wonderful still lifes of flowers and fruit as well as lovely paintings of single tulips. But it was in the 19th century that botanical illustration for its own sake, rather than for scientific advancement or medical knowledge, became a craze. There still were books devoted to the medicinal qualities of plants, but it was the diversity of exotics from far flung places that appealed to the public. When pictures of the first peonies were exhibited they caused a sensation!

Before my artist friend turned to glorious abstracts, she was a botanical illustrator. “Ligularia ‘Desdemona’?” I exclaimed immediately upon seeing one of her delicate paintings, not only botanically accurate but innately lovely. The essence of this type of art combines accuracy with beauty and was one of the most fashionable ways of painting in the 19th century.

In 1797, Curtis’s Botanical Magazine became the first periodical devoted exclusively to plants, followed by other significant publications like The Botanist, The Gardener’s Magazine and Horticultural Register. Because there was so much competition, the standard of illustration was very high. It seemed that people could not get enough of flowers. Following the botanical magazines came books devoted to the language of flowers and books describing how to draw them.

Nor was the United States immune from plant mania and the best known magazine here was A. J. Downing’s The Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Taste which later merged with the Gardener’s Monthly.

One of the great illustrators was Jane Webb Loudon, who was a competent gardener as well as an artist, and published paintings of both garden and hothouse flowers in The Ladies Flower-Garden. The Belgian, Pierre Joseph Redoute, is remembered for his exquisite paintings of roses from the gardens of Malmaison, which were the pride and joy of Napoleon Bonaparte’s wife, the Empress Josephine.

Then there was Elizabeth Blackwell, whose husband Dr. Alexander Blackwell opened a print shop in London before he had completed his apprenticeship. As this was illegal he was arrested and imprisoned. Wondering how on earth she could help him and beside herself with anxiety, she heard that some local doctors needed an illustrated herbal guide. Elizabeth started work near the Chelsea Physic garden studying and sketching plants. She knew that as a woman it would be very difficult for her to get help to produce her book, so she decided to engrave her drawings on copperplate, and hand color them herself—a huge undertaking. Eventually she published a magnificent work, A Curious Herbal and made enough money to get her husband out of debtors’ prison. However, some are born to trouble as the old saying goes and no sooner was he released than he traveled to Sweden where he became involved in a conspiracy to change the Swedish succession! For this he was executed in 1747. Elizabeth never did any more illustrations and died 11 years later.

She was following a very early tradition of botanical drawing for medical purposes, which came long before both scientific exploration and cultural expression. For several thousands of years the Chinese were engaged in extensive medical botany and the Roman Pliny included botany in his Naturalis Historia. But it was a 1st century Greek physican, Dioscorides, whose work De Materia Medica was the definitive text for 15 centuries. According to one expert, its illustrations “display a standard of excellence in plant drawing that was not to be surpassed for almost a thousand years.”

Botanical art is still considered a valuable adjunct to photographs in horticultural academia. What about having a go yourself? Perhaps your botanical drawings could become the next best seller!

Christine Jamieson is a Michigan gardener and writer.

Filed Under: Garden Essay Tagged With: botanist, Christine Jamieson, GArden Essay

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