Plant of the Week: Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens)

Is it a shrub or a wildflower?  This common species of eastern Kentucky and the Appalchians is one of the very first things to flower in the woods.  It grows on the upland sandstone ridges and you should begin looking for it when March arrives. This may be one of those species you just need to enjoy in the natural gardens because it is exceptionally slow growing, very difficult to transplant or grow in a nursery, and very hard to find in the nursery trade (although you can do it). Technically this is a tiny shrub growing only to 4" in height with alternate leaves that are simple and oval shaped. Like many of the species growing in acidic conditions, this little gem needs a particular mycorhizzal association to grow and reproduce successfully. I love this diminutive and tough plant because it is highly fragrant, showy and the flowers range in color from deep pink to light pink or white. There are several nurseries that sell young plants and if you decide to take a stab at growing it around the garden, the soil must be highly acidic, sandy and it should consist of just coarse sand and humus.  It is a member of the heath family (think mountain laurel, azaleas, etc.) and has much history associated with it.  It is the state flower of Massachusetts and supposedly street vendors collected this from the wild and sold it yelling out "Mayflowers for Sale." which is why the poets like Whitier and others made it a legend such that this plant greeted the settlers at Plymouth Rock.  It has been used medicinally by making a tincture to treat bladder and urinary troubles as is a astringent and diuretic. While Munckin Nurseries has a limited supply of plants in quart containers, be reminded it is difficult to grow in the garden.  Good companion plants include wintergreen, spotted pipsessewa, and spleenwort ferns.  Lazy S'S Farm Nursery also sells plants.

Plant of the Week: Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra)

This is one of the first trees to leaf out in the spring and as the leaves just unfurl they have this 3 - 6" in length and they appear like they are in a whorl but in actuality there are 5 leaflets in a compound palmate leaf that gets dark green and glossy during the middle of the summer.  This tree grows 20 to 40' tall and is usually not considered a good street or homestead tree because of all the debris it produces and because all parts of the tree stink when bruised.  This a stunning tree for the natural woodland wildflower garden or rain garden and can be one of the canopy trees where it can get full sunlight or some shade.It likes limestone soils and is quite common in Central Kentucky whereas the other buckeyes in the state, the dwarf red in western and the yellow in eastern, are not as common as this species.  The bark is nothing special to write home about and the fall color is usually a muted yellow although in some years it can be spectacular and even have a tint of red in it. The fruit, believe to bring good luck, is quite appealing and is a dark mahogany color with a light tan eye and it glistens and shines. The nice cluster of 1" long fragrant greenish-yellowish flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies but the plant is not consider an especially good wildlife tree and the fruit is poisonous and parts of the plant are also poisonous. The Native Americans called this the "hetuck" tree because the fruit resembles the eye of a buck deer and "hetuck" means eye-of-the-buck.  The tree is susceptible to leaf blotch, anthracnose, and powdery mildew.  As you wander around the woods this early spring, look for the buckeye as it will probably be the first tree leafed out in the woods.

Plant of the Pinxter Flower Azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides)

I don't know about you, but I am just about sick and tired of winter.  So to brighten up this week, I have decided to discuss one of your native azaleas, the pinxter flower, because it is generally the first to flower in the spring and it is probably the most common. This is a 2 - 8' tall shrub that is quite showy as the 1 1/2 to 2" wide flowers, light pink on the outside with deeper pink in the center, occurs in clusters that appear just before the leaves appear or about the same time as the leaves appear.  This species can have some fragrance although it is not as strong as swamp (R. viscosum) or rose (R. prinophyllum) azaleas. The leaves are alternate (although they appear whorled) and range in length from 2-4" in length.  This species is often confused with R. canescans, which shares the same common name.  The name pinxter flower is related to the seventh Sunday after Easter in Dutch and is supposedly when this plant flowers.  In Kentucky it typically flowers in early to mid-April. Like growing any azaleas in the landscape, you need rich, humus soil with lots of organic matter and the soil must be extremely well drained.  This plant does not like its feet wet and if it does, it will develop root rot and die fairly quickly in the landscape. This is also a fairly shallowly rooted species and hence a good bark mulch will be necessary for continued growth and flowering. Do not dig or cultivate around the roots as this will also cause the plant to die.  Furthermore, it should be in the part-sun setting or where you get high afternoon shade.  To keep it flowering year after year, cut the blossoms off as soon as each cluster is done flowering. This is a fairly good butterfly and hummingbird attractant in the early spring.  It can develop lots of problems if it is not grown in the proper environment and these problems include canker, crown rot, root rot, leaf spot, rust, powdery mildew, aphids, borers, lacebugs, leaf hoppers, mealy bugs, mites, nematodes, scale, thrips, and whitefly.  If grown in the proper environment it has few problems.  The other important things to consider when using this in the landscape is to acidify the soil and the plant, all parts, are highly poisonous. I like growing this at the back of the naturalized woodland garden because it is denser and can handle more shade than the other native azaleas and works well with mountain laurel.  A variety of understory woodland plants look good with this including things like foam flower, Jacob's ladder, blue violets, dwarf iris or vernal iris, Virginia bluebells and many, many more species.  It is becoming quite common in the nursery trade because it is the easiest of all the native azaleas to grow.

Plant of the Week: Field Chickweed (Cerastrum arvense)

Field chickweed or Field Mouse-ear has to be one of my favorite native ground covers for full sun to part-sun locations.It loves dry, often gravelly soils, spreads slowly, rarely gets above 8" tall, usually no more than 6", has a delicate baby's breath appearance,   It has large flowers for a chickweed and should not be confused with those obnoxious exotic species mouse-eared chickweed.  It is a member of the pink family which includes other species such as fire pink, etc.  This species can easily be confused with the exotic, invasive mouse-eared chickweed although if you closely look at the plants you will find that this species has longer, more narrow hairy leaves that are a darker green whereas the exotic species has more round leaves.  In addition, this species has much larger, showier flowers and is a larger plant.  It is not that common in Kentucky but occurs pretty much across the United States and is available at specialty nurseries. The flowers are up to almost an inch wide, have 5 regular parts and the petals are usually strongly cleft (or pinked).  It gets the scientific name from Cerastium from the Greek keras "a horn" which means the shape of seed capsulte and arvense which means of planted fields.  This would be a great plant to use with starry cleft phlox, some of the small (tiny) glade scutellarias like S. parvula or S. nervosa.  You might even add a little wild strawberry into the mix.  This species is usually restricted to limestone in Kentucky but from the literature it does not indicate it is a limestone specific species and will tolerate a variety of soil types as long as it is well-drained.  Most of the nurseries that sell this plant are located in the western United States because it is more common out there.  Give it a try, I think you will really enjoy it because it flowers in the spring and will stay in flower for a month or so.

Plant of the Week: Dwarf Juniper (Siberian Juniper): Juniperus communis

This is one of those believe it or not situations, but this is the most widely distributed conifer in the world, although it is rare in Kentucky. Unlike its cousin, eastern red cedar, this specie is usually an evergreen shrub that rarely grows taller than about 5' in this part of the world.  It can grow up to 25' tall, but that is in more northern New England habitats. Like other junipers, it has needle-like leaves and these occur in whorls of three on this plant.  The white on the upper leaf is due to stomatal bloom and the leaves persist for three years.The cones are about 1/4" in dimater and are round with smooth leathery scales and take three years to mature.  When mature they are bluish black and they are always covered with a white bloom. The bark is often hidden by the needles but is very attractive, flaky and reddish-brown in color. Some folks might confuse this with J. conferta but J. communis has a broader white stomatal stripe and J. conferta has a green line in the middle of the white stripe. This species is quite adaptable to poor soils and requires full sunlight.  Once established it requires little maintenance and deer do not like to browse it as do other mammals. It can be susceptible to juniper blights.  There are a variety of cultivars on the market and var. depressa is one that rarely gets more than 3' tall.  This is one of those species that can serve as an alternative plant for foundation plantings other than boxwoods or other standard species used in the landscape trade.  It can also but used in naturalized plantings or as a hedge. There is a cultivar 'Effusa' which would make a good rock garden plant and in mass plantings.  If you are into making your own gin, the berries can be used to flavor it. In the past, if you mixed it with cedar oil, the ancient Egyptians used it to embalm the dead.  In medieval Europe is was burned to fend off evil and its berries were used as an antidote to poison and to heal animal bites.

Plant of the Week: Winged or Shining Sumac (Rhus copallina)

Kentucky has four species of sumac in the state, three are common, and one is rare.  The smooth sumac (Rhus aromatica) and winged sumac (R. copallina) are the most widely used for landscape purposes and the winged is probably a much better choice because it doesn't get as tall (usually no more than 10') and it is not as aggressive in its suckering and the leaves are darker more glossy green color in the summer.  In the fall, they turn brilliant scarlet red and because of this they are sometimes called "flameleaf" sumac. The way to tell the difference between the two species is to look at the toothed leaflets in aromatic versus untoothed in winged and the "wings" between the leaflets in winged sumac.The tiny, greenish-yellow flowers, borne in compact, terminal panicles, are followed by showy red clusters of berries which persist into the winter and attract wildlife. This is a great wildlife tree for the following birds: Northern bobwhite, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, yellow-shafted flicker, catbird, cardinal, bluebird, brown thrasher, hermit thrush, robin, phoebe, crow, and starling. A variety of insects also use this plant including a variety of moths and red-banded hairstreaks and Spring/summer azures.  It also provides outstanding fall and winter interest in the landscape.  It is very easy to grow, particularly in poor soils that may be rocky, sandy, and even clay soils, nutrient poor soils, and acidic, basic, or neutral soils. It will tolerate urban pollution, poor drainage, is very drought resistant, and has few problems except some, but not much in the way of, leaf spots, rust, scale, mites, and aphids. The best use for this is in naturalized plantings where the root suckers can be controlled or in areas with erosion problems.

Plant of the Week Wild Leeks or ramps (Allium tricoccum)

Yummy.  This native spring perennial is one of the first plants to show their oval leaves that are 4 to 9" long and 1 to 3" long.  The flowers will come along later in the early summer when the foliage has disappeared.  The bulbs of this plant are considered a spring delicacy in many parts of its range which extends from Canada to South Carolina.  It has an onion-garlic smell and taste with the garlic side being a bit stronger than the onion side. Because this plant can reproduce fairly easily from seeds or bulbets, it is often found in large clusters which makes digging a mess of wild ramps, which they are also called, easy.  The typical onion like flowers appear on a short stalk several inches tall and each flower cluster (1-2" across) has about 20 to 40 individual small yellowish to white flowers.  The plants typically remain in flower for several weeks.  This is a plant that likes dappled shade with more intense shade during the heat of the summer.  It has to have good loamy soil (no clay will do for this little gem) and it appears to tolerate somewhat acidic soils.  If you have some on your property already, the best time to transplant is in the fall and this is also the best time to seed this species. This species is being monitored in the wild because the invasive garlic mustard, which is taking over the understory of many mesic woodlands outcompetes and shades out this plant and is causing declines in the native populations.  This is a great garden plant for a whole host of reasons and deer and other mammals typically don't feed on it and it is primarily pollinated by various types of native bees. This is such a wonderful native plant that a variety of communities in the Carolinas, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York have festivals associated with this plant. While there is much folklore surrounding this plant perhaps the most interesting is that the city of Chicago (yes you read that correctly) was named for a large patch of wild ramps growing near Lake Michigan in the 17th century. The area was described by Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle and the plant was called shikaakwas (Chicago) by the local native Americans.   While leeks are used in a variety of ways, here is a recipe for a simple leek potato soup.

Ingredients
4 -6 slices of bacon
4 cups wild leeks with green still attached
5 cups red potatoes cut into small pieces
3 T flour
4 cups chicken broth (low sodium if on a restricted diet)
1 cup heavy cream (fat free will make it healthier)
pinch salt and pepper

In a large skillet fry bacon until crispy, reserve liquid and remove meat for later as a garnish if so desired
Placed leeks and potatoes in the skillet and cook on low to low-medium heat until tender.
Slowly add flour stirring continuously until flour is completely absorbed
Stir in chicken broth and simmer until hot.  Slowly add the cream and heat thoroughly then pour into a bowl and add crumbled bacon and some reserved, finely chopped wild leeks for garnish.  Serves 4 to 6 people.