Plant of the Week: Bloodroot (Sanguinara canadensis)

Now is the perfect time to be planting our native woodland wildflowers, particularly those that are early spring bloomers, like bloodroot.  The reason for planting now is that you will be greeted with flowers next spring instead of waiting a whole year before they flower again.  This woodland beauty can begin flowering in March in Kentucky and some individuals can extend their flowering into April.  The 1 1/2" wide pure white flowers with bright yellow stamens rarely last more than a day or two and for this reason it should be planted in large masses for an extended flowering period.  Once done flowering it has wonderful palmate type leaves and can be 8" wide or larger.  Like most woodland species, this delicate beauty likes filtered shade (not on the north side of the house in dense shade) and highly organic soil.  No clay.  You can create a bed for this by putting three to four inches of compost on top of the soil and planting the dormant rhizomes directly into the compost (heck that is the way they grow in the woods, leaf compost).  This plant gets its name from the red sap in its roots that was used as paint by Native Americans and as a dye by early settlers.  Today it has a wide range of medicinal properties, too many to list here but a publication by the southern US Forest Research Station in Asheville, NC has an excellent publication that covers all aspects of this plant.  It can be located at http://www.sfp.forprod.vt.edu/pubs/sfpdoc8.pdf Excellent companion plants include twinleaf, squirrel corn  Dutchman's breeches, trout lilies, blue phlox, and yellow corydalis.