Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => General Gardening => Topic started by: Subversive_plot on March 17, 2023, 12:43
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I was going for a walk yesterday in a wooded park near our home. Suddenly, I saw a wildflower in the forest that I didn't recognize, yet which seemed familiar. Sky blue bell-shaped flowers held above attractive bright green foliage, photo attached.
I looked it up, it is Virginia bluebells (known by several other common names, the species is Mertensia virginica). It is native in Georgia, but we are in the southernmost part of its range. Range maps indicate it is rare here, and is supposed to grow in Georgia only in counties a hundred miles or more to the northwest of here.
Fortunately, it seems to be commonly available as seed or root divisions. More information about it here: https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/grow-virginia-bluebell/ (https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/grow-virginia-bluebell/)
I've thought about making a native shade garden in my own woods, this will be a part of it. I also hope the single plant I found has a chance to grow and multiply where I found it.
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That's really pretty Subp, I hope you get it to grow for you.
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Well, for now it's just a note in my gardening notebook, for a future shade / wildfower garden. I hope to have a space in the back woods as a shady place to sit and converse, or just read. Many projects that are more urgent are in line ahead of it. Then i need to find a nursery that sells that plant!
In the meantime, I hope that wild clump of plants stay safe (I initially thought it was one plant; wrong, it is six or so, in a clump).
I'v taken some notes on the soil around that plant, it is growing on Cecil sandy loam, which is the soil in my back yard and woods, but it's just down slope from some Davidson clay loam which usually has a more neutral pH. The pH is probably why the plant is living where it is.
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I think it’s what we would call Borage in the UK.
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You might like this page
https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/grow-virginia-bluebell/
They can be a little invasive in good growing conditions, but perfect in a woodland setting.
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You might like this page
https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/grow-virginia-bluebell/
They can be a little invasive in good growing conditions, but perfect in a woodland setting.
{Psst . . . see link in my original post :nowink: . . .}
There is a good close-up of the Virginia bluebells flowers at that link, the color is close to borage (genus Borago), and it is absolutely closely related, but the flower structure is very different.