Wildflowers in bloom
Mary Sue Ittner (Fri, 09 May 2003 11:37:09 PDT)

Dear All,

As long as we have wildflowers in bloom here in Northern California I'm
going to try to add a few to the Wiki each week that I have seen in the
wild. Last week's hike was at Kruz Rhododendron State Park where the native
Rhododendrons (Rhododendron macrophyllum) were just starting to bloom. My
offerings are Trillium ovatum:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…

And this photograph of it at another time when the white flowers had faded
to rose:
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…

I haven't been very successful in growing this in my garden. I tried direct
seeding and also started some in a pot. They lasted a couple of years but
are gone. So perhaps I just have to enjoy them when I am out hiking.

The next picture is Oxalis oregana which is the Oxalis that you find as a
carpet under our Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens). In some of the
stands where there is deep shade the Oxalis is one of the few plants that
grows well.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/…

Under one patch of my Redwoods I have Oxalis oregana, Smilacina stellata,
Cardamine californica, Lilium maritimum, Dicentra formosa, Chlorogalum
pomeridanum, Vancouveria planipetala and lots of Viola sempervirens. Under
another Iris douglasiana and Clintonia andrewsiana. Maybe every time I see
Trillium seed in the wild I should keep trying to introduce it and some day
maybe it will take. Now that Jane McGary has made me realize that
Trientalis latifolia is a tuber I want to look for seed for it too. We saw
lots of it in bloom yesterday on my hike (and other geophytes too) so maybe
next week I'll have time to get yesterday's blooms on the wiki.

Mary Sue

Mary Sue