Plant of the Week: Intermediate Wood Fern (Dryopteris intermedia)

This is one of the largest and most showy of all the ferns in Kentucky.  It loves rich woods and has a tendency, particularly these days, to be somewhat evergreen, although the fronds do lay on the ground during the winter.  It is now just growing in the woods and makes a wonderful foundation planting in the woodland garden.  It has several cousins including Goldie's wood fern (D. goldiana), marginal wood fern (D. marginalis), log fern (D. celsa), southern wood fern (D.ludoviciana), and autumn fern (D. erythrosora) among numerous others. For the most part, they all look alike superficially except the autumn fern which can turn a beautiful cinnamon color.  Furthermore, this group of ferns is known to hybridize which can make exact field identification difficult. However, that is not a concern for the gardener. The intermediate wood fern grows from about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 feet tall. It is very delicate, graceful, and lacy and has lobed leaflets on twice compound fronds. The spores on the underside of the leaflets are usually produced in mid to late summer and there is a translucent tissue that covers the spores, which are circular. This species likes slightly acidic to neutral soils that are well drained and high in organic content, which is typical for most mesic woodland wildflowers like trilliums, lady slippers, etc.

Plant of the week: Foam Flower (Tiarella cordifolia)

Foam Flower is one of the main stay plants with any woodland or shade garden.  It is very adaptable to a wide variety of conditions and numerous other woodland wildflowers work well in creating a dynamic and colorful garden.  Some excellent companion plants are wild blue phlox, dwarf crested iris, Jacob's ladder, bellwort, trilliums, jack in the pulpit, violets, yellow lady slipper orchids and even may apples as seen in the photograph above.  This is such a delightful and charming plant that has captivated plant breeders and there are now dozens of varieties in the market place.  Some cultivars have dark brownish, blackish, or reddish veins, some have foliage that turns bronze in the fall and winter, some have pinkish flowers, others have bluish flowers.  I have observed a tremendous amount of variation in the wild with leaf and flower color.  This plant gets its common name from the fact that the tiny white, spider-like flowers on a short stem look like foam.  The scientific name arises from the Latin name tiara which is a Persian crown and ella which means a turban shaped dry fruit. This species is member of the Saxifrage family which includes the commonly planted Alumroot.  The wild version of this species is a natural clump forming species that sends out above ground runners and if given enough time can become an excellent shade ground cover.  The leaves look similar to maple leaves but are highly variable in shape where some look more like Japanese maples (highly dissected) to a more thickened type leaf representative of a red maple.  The plant gets no taller than 8 to 12" and the leaves are evergreen to semi-evergreen. This is a good deer and rabbit resistant plant and it has no serious insect or disease problems. The tiny 5 petal, 10 stamen flowers are pollinated by small bees, syrphus flies, and butterflies.  It is relatively easy to grow but does best in rich organic soils that drain well because they are killed easily in the winter if the soil stays waterlogged.  They like dappled sunlight as well.  This is one of those species that every woodland garden should have and should be a foundation species for small woodland spring wildflowers.

Plant of the Week: Robins Fleabane (Erigeron pulchellus)

When most folks think of fleabanes, they concentrate on the tall, weedier species that can be found in road ditches and other weedy, idle areas in the spring and early summer.  This species, however, makes a great woodland garden species because it grows no taller than a couple of feet and the flowering heads are quite large, sometimes up to 1.5 inches across. It has basal leaves that persist throughout the growing season and these soft, fuzzy like leaves add considerable interest to the summer woodland garden. During the flowering period, the leaves and stem are soft and hairy. This is an easy species to grow as it likes average to dry garden soil,  The flowers attract numerous different types of small insects from bees, to flies and butterflies. Mammals like the leaves and small rodents like the seeds.  I love the flowers when they first emerge and have a pinkish to lavender tone to the ray flowers.  Planted in a nice clump, this species would make quite a showing in the front of a native plant wildlife garden.

Plant of the Week: Cumberland Rosemary (Conradina verticillata)

 

 

The Cumberland Rosemary is a very rare plant known only from several counties in Tennessee and Kentucky. It grows on gravelly river banks which are seasonally flooded then left high and dry in the summer. The plant looks like a semi-prostrate juniper growing about 8 inches tall and spreading several feet. Its leaves are semi-evergreen and look like those of Rosemary. They are wonderfully and strongly scented as you would imagine a wild Rosemary and can apparently be used like Rosemary in cooking. Lavender flowers appear in May. This species must be grown in extremely well-drained soil or pure sand in very slightly acidic conditions in full sun. Use it for its fine texture where a low plant is needed. I grew this in a container by the front porch so folks could smell the wonderful fragrance. There is also a white form of this species available.  There is only one nursery I know of that has the permits to sell this species and it is Sunlight Gardens in Andersonville, TN.  A great companion plant to grow this with is Barbara's buttons (Marshallia grandiflora).

Plant of the week: Large flowered bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora)

This is a nice woodland clump forming species that actually makes a pretty good cut flower, of which there are not that many native species that can be used for this purpose in the spring.  It grows to 2' tall, with lance shaped leaves that are perfoliate (leaf base encircles the stem), slightly twisted, and bright green in color.  The flowers have 6 tepals (sepals and petals look alike) that hang below the stem and in early stages of growth gives it a droopy appearance.  It is very easy to grow in the garden in rich organic soils in full to partial sun habitats. The three celled and lobed seed capsules are quite showy after the plant has flowered.  This is a highly preferred deer browse and it will be quickly destroyed in areas with high deer densities.  It is primarily pollinated by various bees and like many woodland species, the seeds are dispersed by ants because of the fatty acid elaiosomes (ants eat this and leave the seeds to germinate). It has been reported in the literature that the young tender sprouts can be eaten like asparagus. As with many native plants, the Native Americans used this species to treat a wide variety of ailments ranging from swelling to diarrhea to healing ulcers and broken bones.

Plant of the week: Violet woodsorrel (Oxalis violacea)

Violet woodsorrel is the only native woodsorrel in Kentucky with lavendar to purple flowers.  All the remaining species have yellow flowers.  The use of this in the woodland garden is as a filler plant, filling in and under some of the earlier blooming species and I love this plant for the usual red blotching in the trifoliate (clover like) leaves (hence the name trinity grass) and for the fact that deer do not typically eat this species (because of the oxalic acid). Because it is sour tasting, many herbivores do not eat this plant and historically after sheep would overgraze pastures, this species would invade and thrive because the sheep would not graze it (hence the name sheep sorrel).  The oxalic acid gives rise to the genus name of Oxalis and of course violacea refers to the lavendar flowers.  It has also been called Indian lemonade as the Native Americans brewed a sour tasting beverage that was used to treat mouth ulcres, stomach distress, and urinary tract problems.  It has also been used to treat scurvy, as a fever reducer, diuretic, and appetite suppresant.  This is a diminuitive plant that only reaches 6" tall when flowering but it is very easy to grow in the woodland garden, in a rock garden, or any place with good well drained average soil.  It is quite drought tolerant and the sour tasting leaves add an interesting tart flavor to salads.  It has few natural pests and will spread to form a nice colony if it is planted in favorable growing conditions of part shade, well-drained slightly acidic soils.  The leaves and flowers typically "open" or unfold on sunny days and stay tightly bundled on cloudy and rainy days.  It is pollinated by primarily carpenter, cuckoo, mason, andrendid, and halictid bees.

The purple martin scouts are back, get your houses up and cleaned out now!!!

Purple martin scouts began returning to Kentucky in late February this year but right now in the past few days, more reports are coming in of seeing purple martin scouts.  So now is the time to get that martin box up and cleaned out and prepared for the birds this year.While you still have some time to get a new house up and running, the only time you should open your nesting box early is if you see birds using a neighbors house that is within 1 mile of your property. Generally speaking you have about 4 - 5 weeks to get your house up and running after the first adult scouts arrive because the birds that will select a new housing location are sub-adult (last year's fledglings that have not yet nested) birds. Older or mature martins rarely, if ever, can be lured into moving to a new location because they have a strong nest site fidelity, which means nothing more than coming back to the same place they have nested in the past. In Martin culture, the oldest birds arrive first and the youngest arrive last and it occurs over a several month period with new birds arriving daily, but you should be prepared because if you want to attract a new colony of martins (and it can be difficult) now is the time to get things ready. Why is it so difficult to attract a new colony? The biggest and most common reason is that houses are placed in the yard incorrectly. These aerial acrobats can't tolerate trees that are as tall as the housing unit located within 40' and to be on the safe side it should be 60' from the housing unit. This spacing should be in three directions and as for the fourth direction, it should be from 40 to 120' from your house or building. It appears that martins have "learned" that housing units in close proximity to human habituation reduces predation (the likes of raccoons, snakes, hawks, owls, and crows) and the birds have a better chance of fledging more young. If you aren't getting martins nesting, try moving the housing unit closer to your home. Reason number three as to why folks don't get nesting martins is that the unit is not painted white. Why white? Well because it reflects the sun better and the birds don't experience as much heat stress, it creates a contrast with the dark entrance hole making it more enticing, and finally, male birds seem to prefer it for courtship. Another reason you don't attract martins is opening the unit too early and it gets invaded by house sparrows, finches, starlings, and other nest site competitors. If this happens you might never get martins to nest in that unit. This doesn't mean you shouldn't open the house before the birds arrive because if you wait until you actually see birds, it is too late. So open at least a few holes on each side prior to birds arriving and maintain vigilance to keep the other species out. For established colonies you can wait until you see birds returning because of their strong nest site fidelity. If you have vines, shrubs, or bushes growing up the pole, remove them as the birds rarely if ever nest where vines, and other plants crawl up the pole because the birds instinctively know it increases the chances of predation. In the same vein, do not put any guide wires or have the house located near ANY wires that are close enough for a predator to access the house and this means at least 10' which is about how far a squirrel can jump. Finally make sure the housing unit has the correct dimensions and while it may sound silly, there are varying recommendations as to what housing should look like. The most important feature of any housing unit is that the size should be no smaller than 6" x 6" although 7" x 12" is preferred, the entrance hole should be 1" above the floor, and the size of the hole should be 2 to 2 1/4." Lastly, the housing unit should be secured to a pole that can be raised and lowered by either a telescopic or pulley system so that pest birds can be evicted, units can be cleaned and closed/opened, and you can check on the baby birds to keep records of what is going on. Good luck in attracting these beautiful birds.