Monthly Archives: May 2014

Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)

It’s lily of the valley time, which is certainly a pretty time of year. Buying this pretty little plant can be quite expensive, and while a little will spread and go a long way, it takes a while to get established. We were fortunate in two ways. First, we knew of a house that had been condemned and was to be torn down for a road widening project. We got permission from the owner to take whatever we wanted from her garden, before it was gone. That included a huge amount of lily of the valley. Then, when we moved to our new house a few years later, we found a reasonably large patch already established in one area of the back yard.

One difficulty in taking pictures of lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) is getting them from a different angle. Most of you know that getting down on the ground doesn’t bother me in the least. But I wanted to get lower still, down far enough that I could look up at the blooms of this little beauty. With a macro lens on the camera, getting down far enough to still have room to focus was the real trick, but I think I’ve accomplished it here. So, an mole’s eye view of lily of the valley flowers.

Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon)

In the area that used to be under the big tree in our back yard there are a few things growing. The tree is gone and we’ll probably change some of the plants, moving them to shadier spots if necessary. I also plan to put a few roses there, now that it’s got a good bit of sun. One of the more successful plants there is yellow archangel (Lamium galeobdolon), a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae). It is considered by some to be an invasive species, although we haven’t found it nearly so problematic as a few other things in our yard. It makes a nice ground cover, although it isn’t evergreen, so it doesn’t do the job year round. It is under a foot tall and, as you can see, has yellow flowers right about now.

White Flowering Dogwood

This is a white flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) that’s growing in the northeast corner of our yard. I’m pretty sure it just happened to grow there rather than having been planted. While the one up against the house is eventually going to go, I don’t see any reason not to keep this one. It’s well sited, not in the way of anything else, and of course, it’s lovely when in bloom.

Pawpaw Flowers

We went for a hike on Billy Goat Trail C today, after a walk out to the overlook at Great Falls (and because Trail A was closed because of flooding). It was a lovely day, not too hot but warm enough. There are a lot of pawpaws along this trail and I was able to get one decent picture that shows their flowers as flowers. They are quite dark and almost brown, but have a little bit of red in them, which you can see in the right light, as in this picture.

The pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is an native tree with a very interesting fruit which, according to Wikipedia, is the largest indigenous to the United States. The fruit has yellow, custard-like flesh that is quite sweet and luscious and I’m a big fan. Dad planted quite a few in Pennsylvania and a couple in the yard. One drawback is that the flowers smell a bit like rotting meat. Dad would actually hang small bags of meat scraps to attract blowflies or carrion beetles for pollination. Yes, it’s as gross as it sounds. But the fruit is worth it.

Bleeding Heart

The flowers are coming fast and furiously now, so we’ll be seeing a few more of them before the summer heat sends them all away and we move on to different subjects (like bees and wasps). The bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis, formerly Dicentra spectabilis) is a pretty thing and a nice addition to a shady, woodland garden like we have at the north end of our front yard. Like many of the early bloomers, it will die back to the ground when it gets hot.

Fireflame Tulip

Tulips are beautiful but of all the bulbs, they are probably my least favorite. I’m not entirely sure why but I think it’s because they don’t live forever, like so many others seem to do. Daffodils seem to have more flowers each year and grow into massive clumps over time. Tulips dwindle. Actually, I had some species tulips at our last house that did really well, and perhaps I should get some of those. They are actually pretty hardy and quite beautiful, although not as showy as the large, hybrid tulips we usually see. This is a fireflame tulip (Tulipa acuminata), and I like that it’s different to the standard, simple tulip.