A Majestic Wildflower

American Columbo is blooming its heart out this year and is looking the best I have seen it in the past three springs. Wowser on the blooms that the bees simply adore. But, as pretty as the little blooms are they are quite hard to really enjoy unless you get up close to the plant. The real show with the American Columbo is the stature of these grand native wildflowers.

From a distance of over 200 feet the American Columbo will draw your eye to it immediately. The unknowing plant person will likely wonder what the tall and stately plant can be. For you see, in my experience American Columbo is not so common around my area of Tennessee. I am sure many hikers and naturalists are familiar with it but until buying this property I had never seen or noticed it before. An interesting note is that when I was visiting my daughter in Louisville a few weeks ago we took a trip to Bernheim Arboretum (highly recommended trip) I noticed some plants of American Columbo and was most excited. There were only a few plants and none in bloom that I could see but hey, it was a start on finding this cool plant in a spot other than our property.

These plants range in height from three to eight feet tall. That is a really tall wildflower and I believe this particular wildflower is one of the tallest wildflowers in Tennessee. In fact, the book Wildflowers of Tennessee the Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians says it is one of the tallest in Tennessee. If you saw a mass of them in person you would be awed!

This mass of the wildflower is in the corner of my yard in a native plant area that I try to maintain by leaving it alone. All year long there will be a parade of stunning native wildflowers come in and out of bloom in this area. The butterflies and pollinators are in heaven. I was quite pleased to see the bumble bees and honey bees love the American Columbo flowers. My two beehives are still doing fairly well and the bees have been a lot of fun. I have been stung twice but that's okay and to be expected.

Like I said in the opening of  this post this year makes the best year ever for the American Columbo. The sad thing is that once all of these flowers have bloomed out and the plant has set seed these plants that are blooming will all die. Their dying will leave a void in the area, but a void I hope will be filled with new American Columbo plants from the interesting seed stalks the American Columbo will leave behind. I will do a post on the seed stalks once they come into their glory. I don't think there is a lot of information on the seed stalks but they are most interesting in their own right. This American Columbo grows in this field, in the woods, along side the hills, on road banks, and many places you would not expect it to grow. Despite it being so adaptable it is not an invader or a troublesome plant. Soon all of these plants that are not blooming will go dormant until next year....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

The Spring Wild and Cultivated Flowers in Tiger Way Gardens-One Year Later

It has been more than one year since we purchased our land in Stewart County, so, with a new growing season I thought I'd update you all on the progress. First of all, progress in a garden is always an ongoing thing. Natural gardens and really all gardens change daily. This is so out at the land so these pictures are only a snapshot in time. They vary from vistas to wildflowers to cultivated flowers. The one thing they all have in common is that it is clear Mother Nature is in control because I simply cannot cultivate everything you see--nor do I wish too! 



We start the tour with a beautiful vista down our back hill under a dogwood. This is a rather large hill and the vision is for it to be filled with wildflowers and grasses. This is where the majority of the wildflower seed was planted early this spring. An unexpected result of clearing this hill last spring has allowed a lot of already existing wildflowers to germinate and bloom. Some of them you will see in this post. On the day I took this shot Mr. Fix-it bushogged all of the broomsedge. This will allow even more sun to penetrate to the ground surface so that the wildflower seed that has germinated will get light and will grow.



One of the surprises in the area that was mowed last fall was all of the phlox found growing on the Wildflower Hill. The pinks and purples are delightful.


This is a native wildflower that I actually transplanted to the little pond area by our overhead shelter. It is of course Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum species). This is one perennial I can't get enough of due to its long period of interest and ease of care. Also, thus far the deer have not eaten it! I have several different cultivars of it and also the False Solomon's seal (Smilicina racemosa now apparently changed to Maianthemum racemosum). I have been busy trying to move every bit of it out to the land and I am actually making progress. This clump was moved last year and came back wonderfully.

Another shot of the little clump by the little pond.

These violets were nice bits of color on the Wildflower Hill. I am not sure what type of violets they are so if anyone can positively identify them let me know please. It is probably a woodland violet.

This is the view toward the overhead shelter I call the gazebo. If you will remember the canopy we had over the structure collapsed due to the weight of snow and ice within the last month or so. Mr. Fix-it did an outstanding job of replacing the roof with metal we had leftover from when our garage was built twelve years ago. Yes, I hold on to everything as you never know when you might need it. The metal is all different colors but it works to keep us dry and out of the sun. The gazebo is surrounded on the north and south by a prairie style garden. Behind the gazebo is a small pond and a woodland garden. This is also where the above Solomon's Seal grows. I'll post on the prairie garden later but for now suffice it to say it has growing in it: baptisias, asters, Tartarian asters, compass plant, helianthus, amsonia, salvias coneflowers, cannas, grasses, heucheras, catmint, sedum, veronica, liatris, and daylilies.

Here is an up close picture of the north side of the little gazebo. It looks like the plants are pretty far apart but remember these plants have been here only one year and will quickly fill in.The southern side has about 600 'Sun Disc' daffodils currently blooming in it but the whole area is pretty much natural. The electrical transformers and wiring is scheduled to go in the area so I have not done much with that side.

This is the view on the extreme north side of the prairie garden under the oaks. Here the divider between a cultivated area and the wild area are stepping stones. These heucheras 'Miracle' you see as the chartreuse foliage in the foreground are a truly a miracle. I planted them last spring and never watered them. They kept their foliage all winter long. As this new foliage came in the deer kindly came and ate all of the old foliage. I don't know how that happened but it did. I hope they leave the new foliage alone. These heucheras are a tough, large, and vigorous cultivar of heuchera. I highly recommend it. Also, these can take a lot of direct sun because they get the western sun each afternoon.

Spanish bluebells grow along side some pink Spanish bluebells behind the gazebo by the pond. They were moved while in bloom last spring and barely winked at the move. Firepinks have also joined the chorus in this area and the red of their flowers contrasts nicely with the blue and pinks of the Spanish bluebells.

I am not sure what this little yellow wildflower could be. It is growing sporadically in the field. It is a pretty yellow.

I had transplanted a lot of spiderworts out to the Driveway Garden. Imagine how surprised I was to find spiderworts growing wild on our Wildflower Hill. This type may be Tradescantia subaspera. It prefers moist, acidic soil and that is exactly what we have--even on the hill during certain periods of the year, like spring. This pretty little clump was mowed over by me while I cut the grass, but it seems to have not suffered any major damage. Big sigh of relief.

'Florida Flame' azaleas are blooming. I am loving the azaleas this year and so far the deer have not nibbled on them, tho they have sampled the rhododendrons. I can completely forget about hollies as they are all chewed down to nubs. Darn deer.

This last picture is of another wildflower area in our back corner of the field. The columbo grows here with wild abandon. Many of these American columbos are getting ready to bloom. I love this area as the columbo looks like hostas coming and so prolific are they that the sight is really something. Within another month or so all of these columbo will have gone completely dormant and the summer wildflowers such as butterfly weed, lespedeza, goldenrod, and asters will take over. Also growing on the land but no pictures of them are: ragweed (transplanted and wild), yellow rocket, waterleaf, and many, many more wildflowers yet to be identified....

in the garden....

We are finally breaking ground on the house so I am very busy working on that, but gardening is never far from my heart. I think that hopefully by the time the house is done most of my gardens will be moved. I've worked more than one year on this process but it is a very time consuming thing and I am not really where I need to be. As it is, it looks like I'll have another winter season to get everything moved before we put our house on the market. This is great news for me because as wonderful as it is having a new house to be, it is ever more so wonderful to have a new garden I create from scratch. I am so excited to have this opportunity! Thanks for following along....in the garden. 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

That Rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant!

 This is a tongue in cheek article I wrote for the Perennial Plant Society a few months ago. It was already published in their newsletter. I realize not all readers of this blog get the PPS newsletter and since I love this article so much, I thought I'd share it on here with you all and see if you too have "That rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant!"

Are you a plant geek? What is a plant geek you ask? A plant geek is a person who is simply obsessed with plants. And not just any plants either. Plant geeks must have only in their garden the most rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant. It is only in their garden. Oh yes, you all know I am talking to you! Well let’s just say you have the rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant and it is one you simply love. The only problem is you cannot identify the plant. You’ve tried to get help from all of your plant geek friends and you have even secretly hoped they could not identify your plant because you just know you have the most rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant. In fact, you have grand visions of even having discovered a new type of plant. Aha! All the while you are fervently hoping your rare and mysterious plant does not turn out to be some exotic invasive that is taking the state by storm and which everyone in the know is trying to eradicate. (Fingers crossed here!) Does that sound like you? Well, it is me to a T. Yes, as in a capital TINA.

My husband (Mr. Fix-it) and I recently purchased nearly sixty acres of wooded bliss in Stewart County. Think very private, very rural, and very teeming with wildlife and new to us flora in the form of mostly native wildflowers and trees. Every single day is a joy because each day on the land brings new surprises in the form of wildflowers. I am the first to say I do not know that much about wildflowers so each day is also a challenge for me to learn about the plants that grow on our land. Each time a new plant shows up I duly get out my wildflower book called Wildflowers of Tennessee, The Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians, (recommended by the Tennessee Native Plant Society) and I research the plant. I can usually find a wildflower pretty quickly by the color of its bloom or by the fact I’ve seen it for sale at one of the numerous plant sales I attend; which include wildflower plant sales at Cheekwood, GroWild, and Nashville Natives. Despite all of my efforts there are still plants that show up that I simply cannot identify or that I misidentify. I try though, I really do and most of the time I get the plants right but then along comes that rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant.

When I cannot identify a wildflower I turn to my handy dandy point and shoot camera and take a few pictures of the wildflower so I can send it to a few very smart plant geeks who happen to hopefully know a lot more than me about wildflowers and who can perhaps identify this rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant. And guess what? No one I knew right off hand could help me identify this rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant. Now I was getting excited because I just knew it was a new plant that only I had! Ha!

 

Now, most of you are saying, “Hey, why didn’t you get a plant book and key the plant?” Well yes, any self-respecting plant geek probably knows about keying plants but I simply did not think about keying this plant. I do know how to key trees and have quite a few books to help me out with keying trees but it simply never occurred to me to try to key this wildflower or that you could even key plants. Enter a state plant scientist who was very interested in this rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant because he had it on his land and he knew what it was because he keyed it. Duh. Despite his in depth knowledge of this rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant he was not the one who identified this plant for me.

In desperation I posted a picture of the rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant on my professional FaceBook page and lo and behold. A dear friend who happens to be a local friend and not a plant geek at all sent me a link and simply said, “Hey Tina, I think I saw this plant here on this blog.” The blog? It is called Tennessee Yards and Neighborhoods (TYN) Native Plant Blog. Eureka! My friend just cannot possibly know how grateful I am to her for identifying this plant for me. Thank you Terrie!!! I bet you all would like to know what it is too huh? The rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant turned out to be-drumroll please-American Columbo, aka Green Gentian (Frasera caroliniensis).

Have you ever heard of it? I bet not unless you are a plant scientist or a very well educated naturalist. American Columbo is a fascinating native plant and wildflower but it does not have any major medicinal, or culinary, or any other kind of uses that I can learn of, so it is not really a valuable plant. If it was something like ginseng we’d all know it well right? You all do know ginseng is a very valuable plant and has been collected so much its populations are in decline. To complicate matters even more for American Columbo is the fact that it has a very large range but it is rated as not common in its range according the Lady Bird Johnson  Wildflower Center and is even listed as a species of special concern in Canada, threatened in New York, and endangered in Pennsylvania. In fact, many websites rate American Columbo as rare in its range. Well then it would seem its range would not be so wide then right? How does Tennessee rate American Columbo? According to the Natural ResourcesConservation Services website American Columbo can be found in approximately thirty counties in Tennessee including Montgomery and Stewart Counties. I personally know of the population on my land in Stewart County and also managed to find a small population in western Montgomery County. Tennessee however does not have enough information to rate whether or not American Columbo is threatened or endangered because there just is not enough data to be found on it.  

Just through my observations of American Columbo I find it to be a fascinating plant that does serve a purpose in our ecosystem and is beneficial in that it is native, provides food sources for many pollinators, and belongs here because it does not in any way harm humans (like poison ivy and poison oak which are both native and don’t belong here! Just my opinion!) American Columbo also has some unique traits in that it is a monocarp. A monocarp flowers once then dies. It is unknown how long it takes American Columbo to flower but on my land I can tell you several plants did flower this spring and are now setting their seeds and dying. The seeds must be fully saturated and in contact with the ground in order to germinate and grow more American Columbo. I also find it interesting to note American Columbo is extremely adaptable and can grow in acidic or calcareous soils in a wide variety of habitats. Why then do you think it is so rare? Well, from what research I can find it is because many of loss of habitat to invasives that include: Dames Rocket, Japanese barberry, multiflora roses, buckthorn, mustard, and several others I will not list here but which you can find on this website. (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources)  

And do you want to know the best part? I can finally breathe a big sigh of relief that the rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant was not some foreign invasive that was trying to take over the wild on our little sixty acres in Stewart County. Mr. Fix-it and I are going to do our best to protect our fairly large population of this wonderful native wildflower and all of the wildflowers we are lucky to live near. I even hope to get to study the plants once we move out there sometime next year. And do you know what else? I am fairly confident I can still say I am the only one of my gardening friends and plant geeks alike that has this rare-and-wonderful-no-one-else-has-it-plant….in my garden.

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

American Columbo Blooms...In Tiger Way Gardens

(May 19, 2013)

I wanted to share some pictures of the American Columbo, aka Frasera caroliniensis. When Mr. Fix-it and I purchased our land a friend of ours (the Saint) noted a neat plant growing on it. I posted about that neat plant here. You can see this majestic native wildflower as it comes up on the other post. Today's post is the progression from bloom and back. The above flower is a perfect flower. This means it has both female and male parts and is self fertile. Many seeds will be set from this plant as it dies. Yes, the plant will die because American Columbo is a monocarp; which means it blooms once then dies. But don't worry, there are tons of nearby plants waiting to take its place. No one knows for sure just how many years it takes for an American Columbo to bloom but various estimates say between seven and fifteen years. I plan to try to research it a bit by marking new plants and cataloging them.

(May 19, 2013)

The above flower is but one of many. You must also look from below to see the flowers as they hang down from a very tall plant. These two are over four feet tall. According to my wildflower book Wildflowers Of Tennessee, The Ohio Valley and the Southern Appalachians, American Columbo is one of the tallest wildflowers in Tennessee.

(May 19, 2013)

I began recording the bloom process on May 2 and finished it up on May 22. So within a period of less than three weeks this native wildflower set buds and then progressed through its bloom. The plants are still blooming now and still look good. I hope to record American Columbo as it slowly fades away and then I will also post a picture of the cool seedheads. They are quite distinctive!



(May 15, 2013)

I was a bit worried about what pH our soil would be since all of this American Columbo was growing on our land. I have read where American Columbo grows in lime glades and calcareous soils. I had to look up calcareous and found it is a soil that is usually high in pH. According to our recent soil test our soil pH is actually quite low at 5.3! The soil is not limey though it is formed from limestone. I will easily be able to grow blue hydrangeas and blueberries but will have to add lime if I wish to have a good vegetable garden. Most vegetables will want a pH a that is higher. But it appears American Columbo is quite happy in an acid soil.


(May 15, 2013)

Here the buds are just forming. That is a lot of flower buds!

(May 2, 2013)
Prior to the buds getting really big they look like the above two pictures. They had me avidly watching this particular plant quite closely because I was very excited to see the bloom. The pictures on the Internet and even my pictures don't really replace seeing the flower and plant in bloom. It is quite a unique plant....

in the garden.... 

Happy Memorial Day to you all. Take time to remember your soldiers. Today I remember my uncle who lost his life last April due to Agent Orange. 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden