#21 From the Greenhouse to Ephemerals

                The madman just received an email from Pike Bartlett of Maine Garden Products asking how things are going in the greenhouse. Funny you should ask, Pike, the madman had been thinking that it was time to discuss activity in the greenhouse because it is such a great thing to have at this time of the year. Now is a time of transition: overwintering plants need to go outside to make room for flower and vegetable seedlings looking for sun and some heat.

                Because the madman keeps the greenhouse fairly cool in the winter (35-40˚at night), he learned the hard way not to try overwintering exotic tropicals and tender succulents. We did get some extra pots from those experiments, but he did learn what will tolerate a cold evening.

Making Room for the Seedlings

                Aloes, cactus, Jade, passion flowers, rosemary, citrus and a variety of succulents too numerous to mention fair quite well in the greenhouse. But, as the weather warms up, these plants have to be moved out, both to get acclimated to life outside and to make room for the next wave of plants needing the greenhouse environment. The plants that get moved out aren’t scattered throughout the yard just yet – the madman keeps them together in what he refers to as a holding area so he can cover them in case of a late frost. One can’t be too careful, and if he kills my passion flowers I will kill him.

                The free space in the greenhouse is quickly filled with trays of seedlings. The first set of plants went out just before our road trip to Death Valley. Our good friends Bridget and her son Greg (the madman’s gardener) took great care of the seedlings’ watering needs. Unfortunately, a couple of abnormally cold nights dropped the temperature below freezing inside. Tsk. Tsk. Some plants didn’t make it and the madman is playing catch-up. He says that by July no one will know the difference.

Looking for Ephemerals

                Since we are home it is easy to keep an eye on these babies. But, we are spending a majority of our time in the yard, preparing garden beds, moving plants and just enjoying nature. The ephemerals are up!  An ephemeral is a perennial wildflower that shows up early, produces flowers for a very short time and then fades away before the trees leaf out. The back of our property is a deciduous woodland and wetlands which is an ideal place to find these delicate blooms.

                Spring Peeper season is winding down, so the madman is often out back looking for ephemerals. The Spice Bush (Lindera benzoin) blooms have popped and that always signals to the madman that it is time to catch the transient blooms of the woodland flowers. About a week ago, he came running in to tell me that he had noticed the speckled leaves of the Dogtooth Violet (Erythronium americanum) along the back path.

Dogtooth Violet

                We were first introduced to the Dogtooth Violet by our neighbor Gen while the kids were still very small. She brought the madman and me over to a spot near the stone wall separating our properties. There was a beautiful little yellow flower with her trademark branch stuck in the ground next to it – this was how she always marked plants of interest in her gardens. “Make sure the boys don’t pick this flower,” she said. Then she went on to tell us that it was fairly uncommon and that it took 8 years to bloom from seed. The next time the madman went to see it, the stick was still there, but no sign of the plant. He quickly learned the meaning of ephemeral.

                Over the years we have noticed that the Dogtooth Violets have been spreading throughout the back woods, and we make sure that we do not disturb them during their active growth. But we also make sure that we enjoy them. The name Dogtooth Violet refers to the tooth-like shape of the underground bulb. They are also referred to as trout lilies because the spots on the leaves resemble those of a brook trout.

Summer Thinning

                We have a couple of very densely populated areas of these plants without blooms. In late summer we will try to thin some out. Since the leaves will fade quickly after the blooming period we plan to mark “to thin” areas with a yellow twine – of course we will note in our journal what we should do with these yellow-twined areas because you know how easy it is to forget things.

Marsh Marigolds

                The Dogtooth Violets are a nice addition to the Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris L.) that began blooming just before them. A harbinger of spring, Marsh Marigolds, a member of the buttercup family, grow in wet fertile soil near oxygen rich water. Their cheerful yellow blooms only last a short time but certainly perk up the madman and the post-winter landscape. The heart shaped leaves will fade away as the plant goes into its dormancy period.

Trillium

                The moist shade is home to another of our ephemeral friends, the large flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum). This white flower blooms in late April in our woods, attracting a variety of bees and wasps to pollinate it. Early in his gardening days, the madman sent away for some red and yellow varieties (T.  erectum and T. luteum), both native to the Great Smoky Mountains. They have been happy in our woodlands – interestingly, they are pollinated by flies instead native bees. These days we are a little more apt to add only native plants to our woodland garden which is why we are happy seeing the Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) return this year.

Mayapple

                A native of Eastern forests, this plant was absent from our landscape until we hiked in a nature preserve in upper New York state. We came across a vast field of blooming umbrella-like plants and of course the madman had to know what they were. After a little research, he ordered a few rhizomes of these Mayapples. They are slow to establish themselves, but they are moving in the right direction. Each plant has only two leaves and one flower which grows in the axil of the leaves. Since the plant is a loner, it does not like competition so we do try to pull other plants from its area.

Anemone and Oats

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                As I have told you before, the madman spends a fair amount of time looking for all sorts of things in the wild. Near the edges of our woodlands he recently found a couple of new plants – actually, they are not new, but rather newly identified. On the edge of the back garden, he came across a couple of patches of Rue Anemone (Thalictru thalictriodes). These little flowers belong to the buttercup family and are favorites of native flies and bees. Along the brook he spotted a gathering of Wild Oats (Uvularia sessifolia), with their cream colored bell-like flowers. As with our other spring ephemerals, they shoot up quickly and enjoy the sunshine that will be blocked as soon as trees and shrubs leaf out.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

No woodland forest discussion is complete without noting the Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum). The madman has always been intrigued by this large cylindrical hooded flower. A member of the Arum family, Jack produces distinctive red berries in the fall, like its cousins The Arums. Not far from Jack, the fronds of the ferns are beginning to unfurl their leaves, but that’s a discussion for another time because we have some great news.

Good news on a Bleak Day

It has been cold and rainy for more days than we can count. But a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) showed up at the front feeder this morning. (We reported this on the Journey North website).  If the madman wasn’t trying to get his mulch on the garden before the rain we would have had a fine celebration. As it was, we mulched what we could and got some covers ready for the tender plants he moved out of the greenhouse – frost is in the forecast!

So is cocoa.