On trilliums
James Waddick (Mon, 05 Jun 2006 06:48:35 PDT)

Dear all;
As a sole midwest voice. I grow quite a few Trilliums and
some are exceptional. My favorites include T. recurvatum which grows
like a weed self sowing around and popping up widely in a shady
garden . The small ruby red flowers are like spring jewels held well
above the foliage.

T. viridescens while not a great beauty is native here and
grows very well with no care at all. And it stays in tidy clumps.

T pusillum ozarkanum is a TINY beauty. It is the first T. to
bloom and at about 4 inches tall it needs some searching. It has
spread slowly in small clumps of a few dozen plants and more self
sown seedlings. Amazingly freeze and drought tolerant. The perfect
white flowers fade to pink over a long bloom period.

T. underwoodii and T. discolor have to get awards for their
gorgeous foliage. Both are like subtle mosaics of various shades of
green and maroon with an almost stained-glass-like appearance. T.
underwoodii is the better grower of the two.

I do like the yellows especially yellow T. luteum and others.
I have a few T. luteum among the T. recurvatum where they mix very
well, but in another planting of just luteum they glow in spring sun.

I have another dozen or so species here and there and they
mostly do well except T. grandiflorum. Really only a single plant by
itself in one spot only 'thrives'*, blooms and looks 'happy'. Others
in other spots mostly sulk and the double flowered form has only
bloomed once in 10 years.

Some are essentially curiosities like T. decumbens which just
lies flat on the ground. And others are larger and healthy, but not
terribhly excitiing (T. cuneatum comes to mind).

I may have missed all the Trillium comments, but has no one
mentioned two excellent recent books on this Genus ? Trillium by Fred
and Roberta Case (Timber Press) and Trilliums in Woodlanmd and
gardens: American Treasure by Don & Rob Jacobs (privately Published.
Both are filed with plant-lusting color pix and extensive quantities
of info.

Best Jim W.

* "Thrives' Here in the Trillium context is relative. T. grandiflorum
at its most happy gets less than a foot tall , has one flowering stem
and does not multiply. maybe 'survives' is a better word.
--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +