May Favorites

by Dan Jaffe

 
May has brought us rain and with the opening of the lupine flowers (dare we say) an early summer. With the past days of rain we have seen a great flush of growth, when visiting Garden in the Woods make sure to check out the meadow and rare plant garden which are truly summer gardens.

Botanical name:  Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum
Common name: small yellow lady’s-slipper
Bloom color: yellow
Bloom time: late spring
Sun requirements: part sun to light shade
Height: 1-1.5 feet
Soil moisture: average to moist
Zones: 4-8
Ecoregions: 58, 59, 83

Yellow lady's slippers are probably the best place to start for someone looking to get into the world of native orchids. Cypripedium parviflorum var. parviflorum is the smaller of the native yellows and there seems to be an even distribution of people who prefer this species over the large yellow lady's slipper (C. parviflorum var. pubescens). The flower consists of a deep yellow lip with dark red sepals, a great contrast of colors. Though the flowers are smaller than the large yellow lady's slipper, more of them tend to be produced on each stem. Can't decide? We like to plant both species together.

Botanical name:  Diphylleia cymosa
Common name: umbrella leaf
Bloom color: white, followed by blue berries on a red stem
Bloom time: late spring
Sun requirements: part sun to shade
Height: 1-3 feet
Soil moisture: average to wet
Zones: 4-8
Ecoregions: outside of New England

What we love about umbrella leaf is that no two people can seem to agree on what time of the year this plant is at its best. There are those who think early in the season when the leaves are unfurling like a spiral-folded umbrella is best. Still others prefer the late summer when the leaves have fully matured (this is when the name umbrella leaf seems most fitting). Lastly there are those who await the fruits which form after the flowers have faded; blue fruits on a deep red stamen make for a truly spectacular contrast. Either way, despite its nativity to areas outside of New England, it is a plant that we have come to love and will continue to grow here at New England Wild Flower Society for years to come.

 
Botanical name:  Lonicera sempervirens
Common name: trumpet honeysuckle
Bloom color: red and orange
Bloom time: early spring to late summer
Sun requirements: sun to light shade
Height: 4-15 feet (depending on support)
Soil moisture: average to moist
Zones: 4-9
Ecoregions: 58, 83, 84 and likely in 59

There are few plants with the ability to bloom as long as, or as heavily as, trumpet honeysuckle. When this plant is happy you practically have to push the flowers aside to find the leaves underneath (alright, perhaps a slight exaggeration but lots and lots of flowers). Flowering typically begins in late spring and will bloom right through the summer and sporadically afterwards. While tolerant of some shade this plant truly shines when in the sun.

Botanical name:  Lupinus perennis
Common name: sundial lupine
Bloom color: blue/purple
Bloom time: early summer
Sun requirements: sun to part sun
Height: 1-1.5 feet
Soil moisture: dry to average
Zones: 3-9
Ecoregions: 58, 59, 82, 83, 84

While not the common lupine seen all along the road-sides up north this species is easily as beautiful and plays an active role in our New England ecology (host plant for both the Karner Blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa sub. samuelis) as well as the Frosted Elfin butterfly (Callophrys irus)). Blue/purple flowers range in their degree of coloration making a patch of these plants seem almost calico in nature. A great plant for sunny dry sites and thus works well with other such species like Aquilegia canadensis, Allium cernuum, and Asclepias tuberosa.

Botanical name:  Maianthemum canadense
Common name: Canada-mayflower
Bloom color: white
Bloom time: late spring
Sun requirements: part sun to shade
Height: 2-4 inches
Soil moisture: dry to wet
Zones: 3-8
Ecoregions: 58, 59, 82, 83, 84

Maianthemum canadense is capable of forming a mat of deep green foliage with white flowers and red berries in areas that are more often than not bare of understory growth altogether. Take a walk though Garden in the Woods and you will find many patches of the dry, acidic shade that many New Englanders are forced to deal with. It is within these areas that we have a number of M. canadense patches interspersed with Dennstaedtia punctilobula. While it will form a sporadic carpet in dry shady sites, when given some extra light and a touch of moisture these plants will form a thick mat which will travel over the ground and any logs moist enough for a moss layer.
 

Ecoregion Key:

58 Northeastern Highlands

59 Northeastern Coastal Zone

82 Acadian Plains and Hills

83 Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands

84 Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens