The rain and cool temperatures have been great for the garden. Everything is looking lush and the blooms are lasting for a long time. The woodlanders like the native tiarella cordifolia above are especially beautiful right now.
Geranium maculatum or wild geranium has done very well. The blooms are abundant and the foliage is spreading into a lovely ground cover. The geranium is growing under a mature fir tree so it receives considerable shade. The soil is poor and the root competition fierce but the wild geranium is taking it in stride.
Here's another shot of the wild geranium. For a plant that produces such a delicate little blooom it's actually quite tough. This is a native plant of Ontario.
It took about three years for the wild columbine to take off but now that it has there is no stopping it. I started with a handful of plants and allowed them to self-seed over the years. They have established a lovely ring around the base of the eastern redbud. The columbine gets almost full sun in early spring before the tree canopy fills in, plunging the garden into almost full shade. Aquilegia canadensis is another great native.
I'm on a roll with the native plants. This wood poppy (stylophorum diphyllum) was a volunteer, nestled in among the wild columbine. These plants seed themselves so willingly. It makes me wonder why they aren't thriving in the wild. 
Every shade garden needs some Solomon's Seal. Check! This was a pass-along plant and it keeps on giving and giving. After only a few years I have already divided it a few times. It's a very elegant plant that is great for shade. I'm not sure what variety of Solomon's Seal this is but am fairly sure it is one of our natives and a lovely one at that.
3 comments:
wood poppy - why is it so hard to find? where do I get seeds? can I come and steal some of yours? :)
Hi Claire. Thanks for stopping by. I can try to collect some seeds and send them your way. Send me an email (on the profile page) if you are interested and I'll see what I can do.
irena
I like the fluffy beauty of your Tiarella. I grow some of the cultivars of Tiarella and appreciate the nice leaves and pretty flowers. It's good that your columbine has started to self seed enough to fill in the space around the tree. It makes a great natural underplanting for the redbud. Solomon's seal looks so appealing with the rows of dangling flowers. My Solomon's seal are just starting to open the bottoms of their bells now. I have some that are supposed to grow tall, but after 3 years they are only a few feet tall.
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