Woodland flowers brighten up early spring gardens

I just returned from a weeklong trip to Colorado where daffodils are poking up through the snow. In this short amount of time, my shade garden has started to explode with color. Trilliums, Phlox divaricata ‘Stella Blue’, and Chrysogonum virginianum Green and Gold are just a few of the blooms that delight me. These harbingers of spring never cease to amaze me, especially the ephemerals like Virginia bluebells, Mertensia virginica, cut-leaved toothwort, Dentaria laciniata (the Botanists have changed the name to ), celandine poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum, bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, trout lilies like Erythornium americanum and rue-anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides.

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ERICA GLASENER/Special

Phlox divaricata ‘Stella Blue’ adds color to an early spring shade garden.

ERICA'S PICK
Virginia Bluebells
Botanical name: Mertensia virginica
About the plant: This native wildflower appears in early April. The blooms start out pink in bud but open to a soft blue on 12- to 24-inch stems.
Use in the garden: Combine Virginia Bluebells with yellow flowered Celandine Poppies, other spring ephemerals and ferns as well as shrubs and trees like Redbuds and Dogwoods. Grow them in the woodland or in a shady border with other perennials. Planting and care: Plant them in part shade in a moist, well-drained soil. Plants can be propagated by division when the foliage is dying back.
Source: Georgia Perimeter College, Decatur Campus, Native Plant Botanical Garden (refer to dates above), 3251 Panthersville Rd., Decatur, GA 30034; 678-891-2668.

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Erica Glasener is a horticulturist and host of "A Gardener's Diary" which airs at 7 a.m. Thursdays on HGTV. For questions visit www.ericaglasener.com

For a good definition of a spring ephemeral, I called George Sanko, director of the Native Plant Botanical Garden at Georgia Perimeter College’s Decatur campus. As Sanko puts it, these plants are “living in the fast lane.” Because they need sun to grow, they come up in early spring, go through their sexual life cycle and die back before the deciduous canopy puts out its new leaves. Mission accomplished, they remain dormant until next spring.

In many cases it’s as if they plants have disappeared — no top growth is visible — even though the roots are storing up sugars for a performance next year. To keep track of where spring ephemerals are growing in your garden, combine them with ferns. Not only do the ferns act as markers, they provide a transition, appearing after the early show and continuing through the summer. For companion shrubs, there are many native azaleas that thrive in the same environment wildflowers favor.

Last year I was fortunate to participate on one of the many hikes to view wildflowers as part the annual spring wildflower pilgrimage in the Smoky mountains. To find out about this year’s 59th annual pilgrimage visit www.springwildflowerpilgrimage.org. Even if you can’t make it to the mountains, there are opportunities closer to home to see spring wildflowers.

The Native Plant Botanical Garden is offering a series of guided walks with Sanko from 2 to 3:30 p.m. April 5 and 19. The focus will be trilliums. Native plant sales, which will offer a variety of trees, shrubs, vines, perennials and grasses, are scheduled for April 4 and 18 and May 5 and 16. For more information, visit www.gpc.edu/~decbt/ or call 678-891-2668.

The Georgia Native Plant Society is another source for information, tours and plant sales. On April 19, they offer a tour of gardens (2 public and 3 private) with an emphasis on native plants. There plant sale at Stone Mountain Park on Saturday, April 25 is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information visit them at www.gnps.org