Plant of the Week: Bloodroot

My sister-in-law and her husband recently bought a house. The backyard is heavily shaded and there is a stream running along the back property line. I checked out the flora growing back there when they moved in and the place is over-run with wild violets, though I did find a May Apple (fun!). This is their first spring in their new place, and a few days ago she discovered she has a small patch of bloodroot.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is a wildflower native to North America. It's name is derived from the red-orange sap that runs freely from the rhizome root when cut. When my sister-in-law cut the flower to bring inside, red-orange liquid came out of the stem. I knew about the abundance of sap in the root, but it never occurred to me that it would be in the stems as well.

(Since I didn't want to damage my sis-in-law's plants, the above pic is from on a Google search.)

Bloodroot grows in conditions exactly where my sis-in-law found hers: moist or dry woods and thickets, usually on the shores of a pond or a stream. The flowers in her yard are widely dotted in an area about 10 x 10 feet. This is common for this little flower, as the rhizomes spread to form a nice little colony. Hers are only growing where beams of sun are breaking through the trees and between the houses.

Fun Fact: Although bloodroot spreads most efficiently by the rhizomes, it also produces seeds. The seeds are tiny, black discs that ants carry back to their nests. This provides the seeds with a wonderfully rich growing medium and helps start new bloodroot colonies. That is why we found a single flower 20 feet away from the main colony. (see lower right corner of the picture below).

The flowers bloom between March and May, are a bright, clear white, and have approximately eight petals. The leaves are initially curled around the flower stem, making it appear like the flower is coming out of a cocoon. The flowers are quickly pollinated so the bloom time is short-lived.

Once done blooming, the leaves unfold completely. The leaves are a unique, heavily lobed oval and will lie parallel to the ground in shadier locations. Bloodroot will go dormant in summer, so they are what is called a spring ephemeral.

Good-Bye, Old Friend

The 90+ year-old elm in our yard apparently lived quite a long time with Dutch Elm Disease. Last May we noticed several large branches didn't leaf out, and the new leaves on other branches started to turn brown. Not a good sign. My husband and I were in Spain for three weeks in June. When we came back, all the leaves on the entire tree were brown and crispy. The elm was dead.

My husband and his cousin (who is a licensed arborist) used to remove trees with a local tree company, and on their own when they started their own company. They still have all the rigging, saws, etc. but bad timing throughout the summer and fall prevented them from cutting the elm down last year. So it stayed all winter, slowly losing branches and bark.

Yes, we gave these two chain saws.

We were finally able to coordinate a weekend to take down the elm. Unfortunately, the one weekend that everyone was available was cold (high of about 40*F) and windy (20mph steady with gusts up to 30mph). Oh, and it snowed about an inch the night before. Wonderful conditions to remove a tree. 

They only worked from 10am to about 2pm on Saturday because the wind became too strong. They picked up again Sunday at 1pm and had everything down by 6pm.

Because of its location in the yard, it had to taken down in small pieces to prevent the lilac hedge, the house, gardens and existing trees from being damaged. With a series of ropes, pulleys, harnesses, and other things I'm not familiar with in regards to tree removal, my husband, his father, and his cousin pieced out the elm.

The next series of photos are of the last piece that required a saw. It was considerably large and leaning away from where they wanted it to land. So they connected the rope to the van's trailer hitch and pulled to make the piece fall in the right direction.

And it did land in the right place. I regret not getting this on video; it made a really great sound.

All throughout the process they were piling up the smaller branches and fallen bark next to the fire pit. We had a nice fire all weekend.

 Here is the pseudo-time lapsed progression:

So we had all these logs of varying sizes strewn about the lawn. We knew of two people who wanted the wood, but somehow the word spread. At least five separate parties came armed with saws, trucks, vans, trailers, and took what they wanted. By Wednesday afternoon 90% of the logs were gone. We never had to move them off our own property. I like our end of the deal.

Except there are still sticks strewn over the lawn and stuck in the shrubs and trees. And there's a big hole in our landscape. Being on the corner of a busy intersection and across from the bank, we used to feel like we were on display or on stage before..... that hedge needs to get a-growin'.

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With the exception of early spring bulbs like crocus, daffodils and tulips, it can be hard to tell if anything is growing at this time of year. The grass is starting to show signs of wanting to turn a shade of green again, but the trees are still bare and gardens are still brown, so we are left to wait for signs of life.

I decided to get on my hands and knees to see what might be hiding underneath the leaves and mulch. Here is what I found.

Sedum kamtschaticum
I love how they start out as little rosettes.

Hemerocallis sp.
These daylilies are the orange type that are commonly seen along roads. They are very ambitious growers. If you look away for a minute, you'll swear they grew at least two inches when you look back.

Heuchera
Since these coral bells were a gift it's hard to tell what cultivar they are. If I had to guess I'd say Palace Purple - ?

Phlox subdulata 'Emerald Blue'
Emerald Blue Creeping Phlox

Paeonia tenuifolia
Fern-leaf Peony - my favorite.

What's this? Could it be....a flower bud?!

Iris germanica
These Bearded Iris were also a gift so again I'm left to guess the name. The flower is the traditional soft blue.

Alcea sp.
Check out my previous post Super Hollyhocks! It's amazing how something that starts out this little can grow to be so tall!

Rhubarb - yum!

Salix discolor
Pussy Willow

Acer saccharinum
Silver Maple flowers are really quite beautiful.

Full Bloom

I took these pictures this afternoon. Loving the color!

Behold! The Harbinger of Spring!

Yes, I know what day it is, and no, I'm not going to point and laugh at you as I yell "April Fool's." For this is a subject a Minnesotan just doesn't joke about: Spring has officially arrived in Minnesota.

The past few weeks have been a torment of weather conditions: flirting with 50 degrees, sun, clouds, back down to 30 degrees, rain, snow, and any combination of those conditions. It starts to wear on a person and eventually one is convinced that the world is going to remain a cloudy, brown, soggy, too-warm-to-freeze-but-too-cold-to-melt  world. Oh, to see some green....

In the hopes that Minnesota will be green, warm and snowless once again, today I decided to prepare my maintenance van for the gardening season. Now, there is a spot in our yard between the house and the garage that has always been low. But in the last week, we've noticed that this low spot seems to be lower than normal, and the sidewalk next to it seems to be higher than normal. Could it be frost heaving? We did dig out a new basement for our 100+ year old house a few years ago...maybe something is settling? And then there is the mysterious low wet spot in our neighbor's yard - could it be spreading to our yard?

Anyway, those were my thoughts as I walked along the sidewalk to the garage to take care of my van this afternoon. As I walked, I looked reproachfully at the low spot (how dare it be lower) and absently said out loud to myself:

"I just don't remember that spot being so AH-HA-HA! CROCUS!"

Then I giggled like the horticultural fool I am.... and looked about to see if anyone was in hearing distance of my odd outburst.

But I don't care! Because looking up at me from that oddly lower low spot, are three clumps of crocus, just showing their purple and yellow buds. Life! Color!

Of course my next action was to get my camera. (my husband has a better camera than I do so these are his pictures) As I was setting up the shot, I noticed something else. 

Daffodils! Oh, it just gets better!