What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 4: Eastern red columbine

This is something I picked up for the end of one pollinator bed that is shaded for over half the day by a sweet gum tree. I planted it in the fall and it’s come out beautifully this spring. It’s good for bees and also for finches, hummingbirds, and it hosts at least one butterfly larva.

Once those blooms open, there will be a nice splash of red in the garden, but I really love the pale, muted color seen now. Read on for special uses as love charm.

More info:

Makin, Julie 

Aquilegia canadensis

Aquilegia canadensis L.

Eastern Red Columbine, Wild Red Columbine

Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family)

Synonym(s): Aquilegia australis, Aquilegia canadensis var. australis, Aquilegia canadensis var. coccinea, Aquilegia canadensis var. eminens, Aquilegia canadensis var. hybrida, Aquilegia canadensis var. latiuscula, Aquilegia coccinea, Aquilegia latiuscula, Aquilegia phoenicantha

USDA Symbol: aqca

USDA Native Status: L48 (N), CAN (N)

This is an erect, branching perennial, up to 2 ft. tall, well-known for its showy flowers. A nodding, red and yellow flower with upward spurred petals alternating with spreading, colored sepals and numerous yellow stamens hanging below the petals. The compoundleaves, divided into round-lobed threes, are attractive in their own right. 

This beautiful woodland wildflower has showy, drooping, bell-like flowers equipped with distinctly backward-pointing tubes, similar to the garden Columbines. These tubes, or spurs, contain nectar that attracts long-tongued insects and hummingbirds especially adapted for reaching the sweet secretion. It is reported that Native Americans rubbed the crushed seeds on the hands of men as a love charm. European Columbine (A. vulgaris), with blue, violet, pink, or white short-spurred flowers, was introduced from Europe and has now become well established in many parts of the East. Aquilegia canadensis readily hybridizes with the popular Southwestern yellow columbines (A. chrysantha, etc.), yielding some striking yellow-and-red color combinations in the flowers. This genus has been referred to as the flower for the masses. Once started, Columbine propagates for years and, although perennial, increases rapidly by self seeding. (Andy Fyon)

The genus name Aquilegia comes from the Latin aquila which means eagle and refers to the spurred petals that many believe resemble an eagles talons.

What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 3: Golden Alexanders

This is a very early blooming pollinator, which means it gives the bees something to forage when they’re just starting to build up for the spring nectar flow. It’s really pretty and although short-lived in terms of bloom time, the seed heads stay interesting and I leave them unless we get a lot of rain and they get moldy.

Here’s the first bloom - the plant will get much larger than this with many of these petite blooms before maturity.

Here’s a bit more info. I’m posting the photo that comes from the native plant site but it seems they aren’t showing up once the blog post goes live. Apologies. If you see a plant that catches your eye, look it up online and see it in all its glory through all its seasons!

Flaigg, Norman G. 

Zizia aurea

Zizia aurea (L.) W.D.J. Koch

Golden Zizia, Golden Alexanders

Apiaceae (Carrot Family)

Synonym(s): 

USDA Symbol: ziau

USDA Native Status: L48 (N), CAN (N)

Golden alexanders is a short-lived perennial with branching, erect, reddish stems. The lower leaves are divided into threes twice while the upper leaves are divided once. The yellow flowers less than 1/8 inch long. Each tiny flower has 5 sepals, 5 petals, and 5 stamens. Separate clusters of tiny, yellow flowers gather into a large, flat-topped flower head, the middle flower of each umbel being stalkless. Dry seedheads turn purple, adding summer interest. The plant is 1-3 ft. tall.

What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 2: Eastern Redbud

I’m stretching it a bit, as many of our redbuds were here before we were, but I have planted several to replace a couple that died over the past few years. They are early pollinator plants for bees and other insects and we love their fuchsia color.

This is my take on an older redbud residing in Poplar Folly, very close to the apiary:

They are all over our farm, mostly in the front edges of forested areas. While many in our larger area are further along, ours are just budding out.

After the blooms are done, the leaves on the redbud are gorgeous heart-shapes that make me smile every time I notice them. A huge benefit as we deal with COVID-19.

More info:

Makin, Julie 

Cercis canadensis

Cercis canadensis L.

Eastern Redbud, Redbud

Fabaceae (Pea Family)

Synonym(s): 

USDA Symbol: ceca4

USDA Native Status: L48 (N), CAN (N)

Tree with short trunk, rounded crown of spreading branches, and pink flowers that cover the twigs in spring. Redbud is a 15-30 ft. treewith one to several picturesque, maroon-purple trunks and a wide, umbrella-like crown. Its pink flowers, borne in tight clusters along the stems and branches before new leaves appear, create a showy spring display. Smooth, heart-shaped, deciduous foliage does not have significant fall color. Trees from the southern part of the species’ range have smaller, glossier leaves and often a more compact form. Stunning tiny pink flower clusters cover the entire tree.

What’s Coming Up In The Garden, 1: May Apple

Starting a new series, since everything I’ve been signed up for is now canceled - I’m all for “flattening the curve” when it comes to COVID-19. For someone who overextends as a normal mode of operation, this is pushing me to slow down, do the things that I already love doing but often rush through, and take the time to document some of them.

What’s coming up today, or at least what I’ll feature today, is the may apple.

This is a native North Carolina woodland plant that volunteered itself along our woods’ edge. I enjoy seeing the big patch of green in early spring, and will watch for the flowers and single berries that will appear as the plant matures.

A little more info:

Cressler, Alan 

Podophyllum peltatum

Podophyllum peltatum L.

www.izelplants.com

Mayapple colonizes by rhizomes, forming dense mats in damp, open woods. The common name refers to the May blooming of its apple-blossom-like flower. Although the leaves, roots, and seeds are poisonous if ingested in large quantities, the roots were used as a cathartic by Native Americans.

As you can see, we’re well on track for a May bloom, and keeping an eye on this beauty will help pass the days as we all live through the pandemic.

May we all stay healthy and use this time to putter, ponder, and do what we can to help those who need it most.

(Also, please consider the current administration’s poor response to this mess and prepare to vote for someone competent to lead in November.)

November Hill farm journal, 93

We’ve finally dried out enough to get a few things done outside. Husband helped me complete one big project yesterday which was to measure and cut the oak trunk that was taken down in the front pasture, and use the truck and a towing strap to move it about 30 feet to create a terraced area that will hopefully help with rainwater run-off.

His plan worked perfectly and once the huge tree trunk was in its new position, I worked on stacking fallen branches from the little grass paddock (which I call Salina’s Paddock) and the upper front pasture in a nice layer on the high side of the tree trunk.

Once this was done husband brought 4 wheelbarrows of stall waste and I layered that on top of the branches. The plan is to allow that to settle some and then continue layering with more branches and more yard/stall organic matter. After that and a rainfall or two, it should be settled enough to add the final layer of compost from our big pile, and then I’ll need to figure out something to plant there that can tolerate water run-off.

I meant to take photos but was so caught up in the doing of the thing, I did not. The area directly behind this new terraced bed is hard red clay and rocks which stays that way due to the run-off and resulting erosion. I’m hoping this will ease that enough that the area can heal a bit. I’ve got a small compost pile that’s been cooking on the edge of the eroded part and I began spreading it out a bit yesterday. When I plant the terraced bed I’ll finish spreading the compost down there and then plant some orchard grass/red clover mix to see if I can get some roots in the ground.

We also re-wrapped the tulip poplars with a green plastic netting material to keep the herd from chewing the bark. So far this year, knocking on wood here, they haven’t touched any living trees. I started their spirulina early and hopefully between that and the netting we won’t have any issues. Tulip poplars are not only regal and lovely, they are the largest source of nectar flow in our area for honeybees and also the native bees. Over the years of living here, we’ve lost several to storms and two more to equine girding. Not to mention the power company’s taking down several two years ago in Poplar Folly. I don’t want to lose any more!

While we had the truck in the pasture, we used it to move three large cedar logs that were salvaged when a dying cedar was taken down a year ago. These amazingly long-lasting logs are now in Brown Bunny Potager ready to create 1.5 garden beds. I’ll be working on that this week. There are more cedar logs in Poplar Folly that will have to be carried up by hand since we can’t get the truck back there. Between using brush pile waste and salvaged logs from dying/dead trees for the terraces and the garden beds, I’m getting some space cleared out. The brush piles mulch down pretty quickly even if left alone, and in that time they offer shelter for wildlife.

About a year ago I completed the paperwork and November Hill was certified as a wildlife refuge, and this week I did the same to have it certified as being on the Butterfly Highway. These are simple, honor system questionnaires that can be completed online. Getting the attractive signs that you can purchase is a good way to support the Wildlife Federation and also to remind yourself and anyone who visits that we can all participate in making our yards and farms part of the larger puzzle of supporting wildlife and insect life.

Two Advil and an ice pack at the end of yesterday helped avoid my waking up with sore muscles. Today we have to move one bluebird house, install a second one, and yuck chore but necessary, clean the dryer vent. Then I’m off to plant ecology class. :)