I visited the Atlanta Botanical Garden in late March and headed straight to the woodland garden. On the way in I encountered a carpet of the daffodils,
Daffodils, Scilla and Puschkinia
Narcissus ‘Tete-a-Tete’ planted in combination with Puschkinia scilliodes var. libanotica and Scilla siberica. These perennial bulbs are easy to grow and a delight in early spring. Great for the woodland or the edges of borders, they also naturalize easily. In another area of the garden I was delighted to see the spring ephemeral cutleaf toothwort, Cardamine concatenata, formerly known as Dentaria laciniata (a name I prefer). This native wildflower not only attracts butterflies but I just read that it is consumed by the white-footed mouse. Last year George Sanko, Director of the Native Plant Botanical Garden at Georgia Perimeter College, the Decatur campus gave me a good definition for a spring ephemeral. As George puts it, these plants are “living in the fast lane.” Because they need sun to grow, they come up in early spring and go through their sexual life cycle and then 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 the 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, George recommends that you combine them with ferns. The ferns act as a marker and then they provide a transition to summer. Other spring ephemerals that I spotted included Mayapples, Podophyllum peltatum and Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis. Patches of the exotic Primula veris ranged in color from the typical soft yellow to red and shades of pink.
cutleaf toothwort in late March
Shrubs like Corylopsis species and the striking Stachyurus praecox ‘Rubriflora’ were also in full bloom and added to this spring scene.
In another garden in my neighborhood I discovered a big patch of trout lilies, Erythronium americanum. According to some the leaves look like a trout but I find the flowers to be charming.
These are just a few of the delights that let us know that spring is really here.
Each day brings more blooms and new discoveries. If you have a woodland garden think about adding some of these plants and you will be rewarded next spring and for many years to come.
Stachyurus praecox 'Rubriflora' in late March
