The warm July browns the moss on our rocky outcropping. The licorice ferns have disappeared into their summer dormancy. It’s the Nodding Onions that brave the drought.
photo by SVSeekins
The delicate pink flowers of Allium cernuum look too fragile to survive the heat – but here they are. 🙂
Last year the deer grazed this patch of wild bulbs. That surprised me because deer tend to leave smelly plants alone. But this year? It seems this onion is not on their menu. Who knows why?
photo by SVSeekins
Nodding onion is a native wildflower throughout the Pacific Northwest, liking the winter rain & summer dry of Southern Vancouver Island. It’s a perfect low-maintenance garden plant. Instead of primping & coddling exotic plants – I welcome more of these natives into our ornamental garden.
So, I’m letting this little clump just do its thing.
No deadheading,
therefore
Self-seeding.
I’m imagining a haze of summer pink on this hillside in a few years. Can’t you picture it?
What does Southern Vancouver Island have in common with Turkey on the Mediterranean?
Hardy Cyclamen.
photo by SVSeekins
Cyclamen hederifolium is native to Turkey, and that climate is quite like ours.
Would you’ve guessed?
So it kinda makes sense:
What prospers there…
prospers here.
photo by SVSeekins
Hardy Cyclamen likes our dry summer. It goes dormant. Later, the cooling temperatures & returning rain of September triggers the awakening. One morning flowers are popping out of the ground & dancing in the dappled shade. What a lovely surprise. Flowers in autumn!
(Plus, what a bonus – a pretty plant that doesn’t need me dragging around a garden hose… AND one that’s happy in those tough-to-garden spots under trees!)
photo by SVSeekinsphoto by SVSeekins
After pollinators do their thing, the flower stems curl into tight coils, pulling the seed pods to the ground. Leaves emerge, protecting the pods from our winter wind & rain. How tidy is that? I never feel the urge to deadhead. (Extra bonus – decorative foliage that stays green through our long, glum winter. And IF we get snow & severe cold, the cyclamen survives to -28C a colder winter than we’re likely to get.)
photo by SVSeekins
While so much of the garden is going nuts through spring, Cyclamen hederifolium is wrapping up its display. The leaves die back, revealing the maturing seed pods. A matt of balls on coil springs remind me where the plant is preparing for sleep. Doesn’t it look GROOVY?
photo by SVSeekins
Ants think it’s pretty groovy, too. The seeds are coated with a sweet film. Ants gather them & take them home to feed the masses.
Win – Win – Win.
Ants get a treat.
The seed is sown.
And the gardener has a new no-fuss plant.
photo by SVSeekins
What an ingenious system for naturalizing through the garden … and beyond.
Barely noticeable little seedlings sprout in lawns & woodland parks alike. Eventually, the tiny corms can grow to the size of dinner plates.
Welcome or not.
photo by SVSeekins
I grow a few varieties of Hardy Cyclamen. Over 10 years, I’ve noticed a couple baby plants growing near their parents. I’m particularly fond of the February bloomer Cyclamen coum.
C. coum is a timid seeder in comparison with the C. hederifolium. The fall bloomer out-competes the winter bloomer. I’m very careful to keep each cyclamen variety in its own bed.
photo by SVSeekins
Believe it or not — C. hederifolium is on the District of Saanich’s Invasive Plants list! It naturalizes that well around here. It must out-compete more than just the C. coum.
I have to admit to still holding a torch for these funky plants.
Does it count in my favour that I’ve dug some cyclamen invaders out of a couple wild parklands?
They’ve been planted in spots they’re not likely to escape without notice…
It is on a spring walk through Goldstream Park that we spot wild yellow violets.
So tiny!
But so precious!
(It’s very rare for me to catch sight of this native wildflower.)
It was SM who spotted them. Once we saw the first one, we noticed a few more further along the trail.
photo by SVSeekins
These are Viola glabella, AKA yellow wood violet, stream violet, pioneer violet, or smooth yellow violet.
They enjoy the moist woodlands of the Pacific Northwest & are even found along Asia’s Pacific Northeast.
🙂
I wonder how many more names they have there?
There’s another similar yellow violet, Viola pubescens, but it’s native to the eastern side of our continent. It’s definitely not this one either.
I first encountered yellow wood violets in a municipal campground in Washington State. Perhaps that patch was more mature, or further into it’s growing season because it was a larger clump.
photo by SVSeekins
Maybe it was bigger because it had a bit more sunshine? (Our walk at Goldstream Park was through lots of tall trees.)
I can easily imagine wanting some yellow wood violets in our own (dry) woodland garden if we weren’t tending a meadow of the western dog violet (Viola adunca).
photo by SVSeekins
Another friend (PS) has yellow wood violets in her irrigated woodland garden. They’re doing well & are slowly spreading between the other perennials. The challenge is sharing ground with the more persistent & dry tolerant western dog violet. They look so similar that it’s only when a dog violet blooms (purple) that PS digs it out, giving the yellow violets priority. It’s a longterm strategy. I have my fingers crossed for her.
On second thought, maybe I could find an isolated, shady spot in our yard where there are no dog violets & enough moisture…
Garden Variety Life 