Western Trillium Is not your typical flower.   When the bloom first opens, the petals are white. Over time they turn pink.  It’s two plants in the space of one. 🙂

At the Garden Club’s plant sales table, I was fortunate to find a mature Trillium. (It can take up to 7 years before the first bloom!) Now, it grows in our courtyard — safe from hungry deer.

Each year I’m thrilled as the perennial emerges in March & blooms by Easter.

Trillium is from the Latin ‘in 3’s’.
• 3 leaves circle the stem.
• 3 sepals frame the flower
• 3 petals highlight the bloom
• the stamens are set in groups of 3.
• there are 3 chambers to the seed pod

I reckon it looks slightly alien. Trillium ovatum, aka Pacific Trillium, is native to Pacific Northwest. It’s a delight to come across on a walk through a local woodland.

Alien or native… bright white or soft pink… I enjoy Trillium. I’m glad to have it in our garden. There are other trillium species native to other areas of North America & further afield. A couple of varieties have made it into our borders. Hopefully, one day — or one year — they’ll bloom, too.

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