Bloodroot
Wildflowers for the Home Garden
Along a shady bank I pass walking to town there is a always a large colony of Bloodroot (Sanguinarea canadensis) that blooms in April. The eight to ten white petals easily identifies the plant. Bloom lasts about two weeks, but even when not in bloom Bloodroot is easy to recognize. Its deeply-lobed leaves unfurl in bright light, looking somewhat like fat, blue-green hands.
Like many gardeners, identifying wildflowers, shrubs and trees is one of my favorite hobbies. As I admire the wild growing flowers, the thought often crosses my mind what a wonderful addition they would be for my own garden.
Wildflowers lure most gardeners to try growing them. There are good reasons to use native plants in your garden. They have already adapted to the climate and soil type in your local, and therefore thrive with less care. Most can survive on natural rainfall. Native plants also provide food and habitat for wild animals, birds and butterflies.
With Trillium (T. grandiflorum) blooming along many roadsides in the spring, many people are tempted to dig the plants to enjoy in their own yard. Our wildflowers should never be transplanted or picked. For Trillium, Ladyslippers and many others, it is against the law. Ladyslippers grow in a symbiotic relationship to organizisms in the soil, and do not survive transplanting. Even for those not on the state protected list, moving can deplete the local plant community. That said, plant conservation groups often remove wild plants from slated development sites before excavation. These plants are then sold to the public.
With so many wild plants growing in our area, what is wrong with picking the flowers? Although abundant, they are not plentiful everywhere. For each flower picked, the potential for seed production is lost, reducing the chances for the wildflower community's continued survival or for the establishment of colonies in another site.
Luckily, during the past decade plantsmen and conservationists have collected wild seed and used it to grow plants to produced more seed, so gardeners can now purchase plants for their garden without hurting the local native plant populations. Michigan has several native nurseries. (Locations can be found on the internet at Wildflower Association of Michigan
Some native plants are rescued when development threatens their existence. These rescued plants are often sold, giving gardeners another opportunity to collect wildflowers in a safe way.
Advancements in propagation techniques allow gardeners to purchase nursery-grown Ladyslippers, but be prepared to pay up to a hundred dollars or more for each one. These orchids are very rare in the wild as the flowers seem irresistible to everyone who sees them. For most of us, purchased plants may become the only way to ever enjoy the blooms.
Some easily cultivated native plants, like Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum), Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), and Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), have been developed by commercial growers and are commonly available as garden plants at nurseries.