~November 2013 Photo of the Month Entry Thread~

[dapjwy]

Originally Posted by EllenW

I may be able to get some locally.

~smile~ A lady after my own heart.

[havalotta]

Originally Posted by wildwatcher

...and I thought I would include a pix of some of the mayapple plots around my place, Attachment 40376 Attachment 40377 These things are grown from stolons, and I couldn't be happier to report that my mayapple natives have actually thrived by the selective thinning!

Now only 50 more to go... when Havalotta gets ready for them later this year. (I haven't forgotten,...yet)

This pix shows the bud of the flower that shall soon develop. Attachment 40378

May-apple rootlets were received and all are alive and well..... Going out to plant some near my pond where they can be admired next Spring from within, some up at camp and maybe some up at the other camp which means....I'll be disappearing for another couple of days.

[EllenW]

I did get some may apples from a friend nearby. Do they die back in the summer? They have disappeared.

[havalotta]

Yes....They do go dormant until next Spring. Something to remember lest you think the area bare and plantable.

[havalotta]

Now you tell me.....Do cowslips go dormant? Some of my transplants are looking mighty frail. Is there such a thing as being too damp and shady?

[havalotta]

I planted some of the may apples alongside the edge of my pond as intended....
I then planted quite a few very young butterfly weed-Asclepias tuberosas between. I think that combo should work out quite well as the butterfly weed's slow to come out of dormancy, the may apples do their thing, then disappear just as the butterfly weeds start to take off.

Right now, the echinacea and blue lobelias are taking the show, the water lilies, in full bloom with the ratibida pinnata awaiting its turn along its back side.

[EllenW]

Originally Posted by havalotta

Yes....They do go dormant until next Spring. Something to remember lest you think the area bare and plantable.

That's good news. I sure hope to see them next spring.

[dapjwy]

Originally Posted by havalotta

Now you tell me.....Do cowslips go dormant? Some of my transplants are looking mighty frail. Is there such a thing as being too damp and shady?

To which cowslip are you referring...the one I call marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) is also sometimes referred to as cowslip, I believe...but upon searching, it seems there is a primula by that name too.

Caltha palustris, does tend to go dormant.

[dapjwy]

Originally Posted by havalotta

I planted some of the may apples alongside the edge of my pond as intended....
I then planted quite a few very young butterfly weed-Asclepias tuberosas between. I think that combo should work out quite well as the butterfly weed's slow to come out of dormancy, the may apples do their thing, then disappear just as the butterfly weeds start to take off.

Timing wise, it seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure they both would do well in the same habitat. A. tuberosa needs drier, well drained sites...I think of may apples as needing a more woodsy soil.

Let us know how it turns out.

I have to wonder, is swamp milkweed, A. incarnata, as slow to come out of dormancy as A. tuberosa? That might be a more viable solution for the water's edge.

[havalotta]

Kinda, sorta I guess because I was wondering just where they were for a long time under the lower ground cover that I have in that area.

So far the A. tuberosa I planted two years ago are surviving in the pretty moist hugulculture bed surrounding the pond. Right now the humoungus ratiba pinnata overhang it but in spring there are other varieties that will shade the mayapples. I'ts located pretty near the house so it's not in full sun all day long. Just morning pretty much as the taller things block the rays once Summers full swing. By then the mayapples are back in the ground anyway. The only thing is.....They MIGHT not be planted as deep as they should be as I hit the under laying not yet decayed logs of the hugulculturness. We'll see come Spring. That's the reason why all my chickens aren't in the same basket so to speak. I'm scattering them here and there to see what works best.