demise of an Erythronium border
Diane Whitehead (Mon, 09 Apr 2018 18:35:43 PDT)

About 40 years ago I planted two Erythronium revolutum. Despite my sending seeds to several seed exchanges
each year, they managed to seed themselves so that I had hundreds, and their pink flowers were one of
the joys of spring every year. Till last year. I couldn't see any. Had the deer eaten all the flowers? But there
weren't any leaves, either.

Then I noticed Anemone nemorosa leaves along the whole border. This is a wild form with incredibly long
twiggy rhizomes, not the short-rhizomed named forms. It had been way down at one end of the bed, and
while I wasn't paying attention it had zoomed over the Erythronium territory where its intertwined rhizomes
had completely blocked Erythronium access to the sky.. I began digging it out, and bucket loads went
into the garbage. I cleared about a quarter of the area.

Today there are ten wan-looking flowers and lots of single leaves in the cleared area. I started clearing
again. It is going to take a couple of years for them to get their strength back.

Diane Whitehead
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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