A Little Butterfly? A Tiny Plane? No, it's a Polygala paucifolia!

It's our first spring here in this house, and I have been excited to see what comes up in the woodlands in our yard.  So far some beautiful native plants and wildflowers have started making an appearance - Cinnamon Fern, Starflower, False Lily-of-the-valley, and wild Violets.  Then I stumbled (quite literally, oops!) into a patch of these while walking through our woods:

Polygala paucifolia

I have a little colony of Gaywings growing in my woods!  Polygala paucifolia, also known as Gaywings, Fringed Polygala, or Flowering Wintergreen, are short, little plants, easy to miss unless you look down.. (or trip and fall into them..)

Gaywings, spring-blooming wildflower

Gaywings are native to Eastern North America, growing from Canada down to the Georgia mountains.  They spread on creeping, partly underground stems, and are generally found in moist, acidic, wooded sites.  They bloom in May or June, and the winged flowers are often compared to butterflies or even little pink propeller airplanes.

Looks like a field of little tiny airplanes?
Or a bunch of little pink butterflies, alighting on some leaves?

The 'wings' of the flower are actually made up of sepals.  Each flower does have three petals, two of which form a tube around the reproductive structures.  The third petal is fringed, looking like a propeller for the airplane-shaped flower.  When a bee or other pollinator lands on this third petal, the weight opens up the tube, allowing access to the pollen (or cockpit, if we're still going with the airplane motif?).

ready for takeoff...

The resulting seeds are actually planted by ants.  The seeds have little attachments on them called elaiosomes, that are very rich in nutrients.  Ants like to feed these elaiosomes to their young, and in doing so they end up carrying the seeds off and 'planting' them in their ant nests.

And just in case the insects fail to pollinate the flowers and make any seeds, each plant also has a couple of tiny, inconspicuous flowers that are underground and self-fertilized.

Polygala paucifolia is in the Milkwort family, and people once believed that if they fed the leaves of this plant to nursing mothers or dairy cattle, they would produce more milk (in Latin, 'poly' means 'many or much' and 'gala' means 'milk').

yum, yum..

According to online reports, Gaywings are a little hard to get established, but when they are happy, they will make a nice colony.  I think they would make a beautiful clump of ground cover for a woodland garden, as the leaves stay mostly evergreen.

Polygala paucifolia is honestly quite hard to find if you are hoping to get some for your garden.  I can't find many reports of people propagating these from seeds, or really, too many reports of propagating these at all.  The main suggestions seem to be propagation from stem cuttings or by carefully dividing the rootstock.  I only found one online source for them: Enchanter's Garden Native Plant Nursery in Hinton, WV (maybe someone else knows of other sources?)  You could also try a local wildflower nursery.

For now, I am enjoying them where they are in the woods!

p.s. For a look at other wildflowers that are blooming this May, visit this month's Wildflower Wednesday at Clay and Limestone's blog!

Stone Soup, Anyone?

We haven't even finished building our veggie garden, and we already have an overabundance of our first crop.  

This crop seems to grow a little too easily in this area, as we have harvested dozens in just a small section of soil.  Some even seem to be growing one on top of the other!

While we do love this particular crop, it is pulling them out that is the problem. Some come out easily; others seem to have very deep roots indeed.  

  

It is somewhat exciting - these didn't grow nearly as big or in so much abundance in my previous garden in North Carolina.  If only they weren't so hard to harvest...

A few had grown so large that it took the efforts of both Mr. Red House and I to uproot them. And then there was the Big One.  It had roots so deep, that it defied both our efforts.  (We decided it was quite fine staying where it was.)

Anyone up for some Stone Soup?  You just have to dig a little... (or a lot!)

Seedlings-in-waiting

Back in February and March, when snow was still coming down and piling up on the ground, this gardener was eager to do something for the garden, so I started planting packets of seeds indoors in my guest room conservatory.

Sorry Mom and Dad, you don't mind sharing your room with the plants when you come to stay, right?

Well, now I have seedlings.. and lots of them!

pepper seedlings

I have seedlings in my guest room conservatory..

seedlings on my deck..

tomatillo seedlings

seedlings in my garage..

I think I might have gone a little overboard.

Some of these seedlings are destined to a local garden club's plant sale and some to friends and family.  We'll see if I can find room in my yard for all that will still be left!

Tomato seedling - one of about 492.  Okay, maybe not that many, but there's a lot!

Of course, for the past few weeks, we have all been waiting for that magic Last Frost Date.  It is now within sight, and it is so warm out, that I could probably start planting now..

Isn't this one of the best uses for the red Solo cup?

...except all of my spare time is being used to work on building our awesome new Veggie Garden!
Stay tuned...
And happy planting!

cucumber seedlings in newspaper pots

p.s. Anyone want a tomato seedling?  I have a few to spare...

When the Best Laid Plans Don't Account for Snow Plows

It's the end of April, and the bulbs are in full bloom at last, woohoo!

Finally at the end of April my daffodils are in bloom

Even though it is still rather chilly outside, there are so many blooms out there in the garden that it warms this gardener's heart!  Honestly, though, I was really quite surprised to see so many different blooms at one time...

Tulip 'Flair' and Narcissus 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation'

You see, last summer after I had moved and was between gardens, I did what any such gardener would do:  I meticulously planned what I was going to put in my new garden.  While waiting to close on our house, I poured over catalogues, made lists of what flowers would bloom when, and lived off the dream of a grand succession of blooms that would stretch throughout as much of the year as possible!

Grape Hyacinth labeled bloom time: Early/Mid Spring

For my fall bulb planting I ordered a variety of bulbs that had different bloom times, starting with the earliest possible blooming ones.  In North Carolina, I had had daffodils blooming in January, so surely, I thought, something would be blooming by March in Massachusetts, right?

Narcissus 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' labeled bloom time: Winter/Early Spring

Well, maybe they would have... 

except I didn't take into account was where all the snow gets put in the winter up here in the North.  Snow plows and the snowblower pile all the extra snow from the roads right next to the street and driveway, and guess where I planted all my early bulbs?

Narcissus 'Jetfire' labeled bloom time: Early/Mid Spring
Planted in the mailbox garden next to the road

Needless to say, in March, instead of beds full of early blooming daffodils, what I had were huge piles of snow left from all the snow plows.  And those huge piles of snow took a veeeerrrry loooonng time to melt!

Tulip 'Flare' labeled bloom time: Early/Mid Spring

But now finally in April the snow piles have all melted and my bulbs have come up.  I am so delighted to see all the flowers after the long winter -  however, I am rather surprised that, instead of the grand succession of different blooms that I planned...

my early bulbs and my later bulbs are up and blooming all at once!   

Narcissus 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' labeled bloom time: Winter/Early Spring.
Narcissus 'Golden Echo' labeled bloom time: Mid Spring.

So much for the six different successive waves of blooms that I planned.  For once in my life I get uncharacteristically organized, make lists and plan things, but it's still blooming chaos in the garden anyway!

Narcissus 'Thalia' labeled bloom time: Mid/Late Spring

The piles of snow delayed the early bulbs so much that I now have bulbs that were supposed to start blooming in Winter flowering at the same time as bulbs labeled Mid to Late Spring.  Ah, the best laid plans!

Don't these plants know that they are supposed to bloom in an order?!

Well I have now learned my first lesson as a Northern gardener - note to self: consider snow management when planning the garden! 

Though I do think that gardens are always variable and full of surprises no matter how much planning we do.  We as gardeners just usually do our best to roll with the flow and manage the chaos - then we get to enjoy the beauty of our efforts, no matter what is blooming when!  

Hyacinth labeled bloom time: Early/Mid Spring
Aren't these beautiful? 

Next year, though, I think I shall plant some early bulbs a little further away from the road.

Happy Spring to all you gardeners out there!

Bad Easter Bunny

Dear Easter Bunny,
Every year I have welcomed your presence despite the sugar comas and unnecessary calories you have added to our lives.  I usually even enjoy your coming, as my kids do love the fun and candy you bring.

But was this really necessary?

half-eaten tulip plants

You obviously decided to take a snack break right in my garden.  With my tulips.

Don't look so smug, rabbit.

I know you work hard on Easter and that my tulips probably looked like bunny candy to you, but really?  Isn't that against the holiday spirit or something?

I doubt these will bloom now..

Next year, dear Easter bunny, I think you owe me some flower bulbs for my Easter basket.  In fact, I think I would prefer that to candy anyway!  And in return, I have lots of nice, yummy weeds that you are more than welcome to nibble on along the way.  

Help yourself to all the dandelions and crabgrass you want - but stay away from my tulips!

p.s.  My kids probably still want candy.

I Didn't Want to Start Weeding Anyway

Well, it's finally arrived!  After much waiting, spring has finally decided to make an entrance here in Massachusetts - trees are budding, bulbs are emerging, and the first bloom has finally been spotted in my garden!

And what is the first flower to bloom at the Red House Garden? 

It is....

.

.

.

a weed!

coltsfoot

Well, beggars sure can't be choosers after such a long winter.  I'll take anything.  

Even a weed.

Thankfully, however, not long after the Coltsfoot weed in my yard started blooming, I did get a few real garden blooms.  

The diminutive early Crocus 'Spring Beauty' has started blooming.  These tiny Crocuses are so pretty and a little more unusual looking due to the dark feathering on their outer petals.

My favorite flowers blooming in the garden right now, though, are not what most people think of as flowers.

The soft, fuzzy catkins of my Pussy Willows have emerged.  Catkins are actually thin, long clusters of flowers that have either no petals or very inconspicuous ones.  

a catkin on a Pussy Willow

I have loved Pussy Willows ever since I was a kid, and I was thrilled to find them growing wild in my yard.

And it looks like I am not the only one!

To find out what else is blooming in other people's gardens around the world, visit Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day over at May Dreams Gardens blog!