My February Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post has caused some confusion due to the aberrant behaviour of one of my Geum triflorum sub. triflorum plants (Prairie Smoke a/k/a Old Man's Whiskers). This native forb is a member of the Rose family, and is found in dry prairies from Northern Canada south into Northern Illinois, Colorado, South Dakota and Minnesota and east through Michigan and into New York. It is a threatened species in the latter two States. In the garden, it is usually not bothered by pests* and is low maintenance, generally succumbing only to winter rot. It is hardy to Zone 3 and can be grown to Zone 7 in well drained soil in full sun to partial shade. The basal, divided, foliage is evergreen and turns red in autumn.
Prairie Smoke forms buds very early, often under the snow. It spreads by rhizomes and seeds, but I haven't had it self-sow in the garden.In my Zone 5 garden, Prairie Smoke usually blooms in early April, making it one of the earliest of the native wildflowers. I have never had one bloom in February before, although in that horrible drought year of 2005, it had buds as early as February 12th. It is often difficult to determine whether it actually is in bloom or just in bud, as the flowers are pendent closed bells.
It blooms for about two months, and then the seedheads provide interest for another couple of months. It also occasionally sends up another bloom stalk or two during the summer.I apologize for any confusion. With so many wonderful Bloom Day posts, it is easy to skim through the text and linger over the photos. Geum triflorum is a wonderful spring blooming plant that should be more widely grown.
(edit. 2/17/09, on inspecting the garden after returning from Florida, I have discovered that something has eaten all the buds (save one cluster)! I blame the squirrels!)
19 comments:
MMD, I'll try this again. I'm so glad you posted on this plant, all by itself! Do you think it might tolerate a little shade, at least? I would love to try it!! (Do you think you could save some seeds? If not, I'll check around!)
I'm having a terrible time when it comes to the Spring Fling. I so want to be there, for the whole event, because I would love to meet you and see Your garden! However, I'm slated to be on the local garden tour which takes place at the end of June. There's a lot to do around here...
MMD,
I love this plant and have admired it for many years. Admiring it being the extent to which I go. My garden has terrible drainage in winter. Perhaps I can find a place to raise the soil and make this beauty happy! If I had $5 for every time I said that I could make the money back I've lost on planting plants that need sharp drainage! Most are dead!
Gail
What an interesting plant. If yours does not reseed itself, do you save the saves and then plant it again?
Shady - mine are in partial shade (shade in til about 10 in the morning, then again after 5 in the afternoon). Do you think you might visit Chicago later in the year? I could give you a couple of divisions, as they probably could stand it this year.
Gail - Geum triflorum likes to grow with Phlox pilosa, so if you have room by the PPP, you could try it there.
Darla - I have never had to replant the Prairie Smoke, as I have excellent drainage and have had no losses. I've had to divide it a couple of times as it has tried to outgrow its space.
Very cool plant. That's too bad something ate it.
Oh those rotten scoudrel squirrels! Winter rot? Sounds bad even though our drainage is good. Worth a try I think. I will look at my local nursery and ask her about it, she knows a lot about what we can manage here. I know they offer it at High Country Gardens. Thanks for giving us all that info. I do love those seed heads.
Frances
Looks like a great plant. Doesn't surprise me that the squirrels might be the culprits, they'll eat or damage anything.
MMD - Like Frances, I just saw it at High Country Gardens. It's really amazing - I love your detailed second post with all the info and the photos from different growth periods and a wider shot of the whole plant. It really gives us a great perspective - thanks!
We'll be in Chicago sometime, certainly. I would be so happy to meet you, see your garden and have a little something (this plant!) to put in my garden!! It would be named "MMD!" ;-)
I LOVE your 'truth about' posts and plan to do some about the plants in my garden after watching them for a few years and accumulating enough pictures. This is the kind of information I'd always like to have when considering a plant but can rarely find. Keep em coming. Thanks! - VW
This plant sounds divine MrMcD, a must have. We have lots of squirrels. They would probably be eating our buds too. The rotten rodents.
I think it was the squirrels too, I have watched them eat the blooms off my miniature rose on the deck. Rotten b***ards! You need to put them up with Peter Rabbit and his buddy Benjamin.
Janet
One of my master gardener friends is a prairie expert in southeast Michigan, and I was mentioning Geum triflorum to her and how I've always wanted one. Apparently in our little corner of the universe, the flower blooms those cute pink flowers, but for some reason its seed heads aren't as showy as elsewhere! I'm sorry to hear someone ate the flowers! I think it may be rabbits, not squirrels. I have about 2,629 squirrels and have never seen them eat foliage or flowers... If groundhogs weren't still hibernating, I'd for sure blame them!
Gardeness - it's one of the Murphy's Laws of gardening - the cooler the plant, the more likely it is to get eaten.
Frances - Prairie Smoke likes to grow on a hillside, so your garden should make it very happy.
PG - I don't know if it's just curiousity or if they are really hungry by this point, but the squirrels are a menace.
Diana - you're welcome. I'd like to see neat little native plants become more popular.
Shady - sounds like plan!
Thanks, VW!
Lisa - it's sad, but I no longer find squirrels to be cute.
Hi, Q of S - maybe I should put the shot of the squirrel munching a Halloween pumpkin on the sidebar. They really are running amok.
Monica - I used to blame rabbits, but then I caught the squirrels in the act. Also, rabbits generally eat what they bite off. Squirrels often clip off a bloom and leaving it lying on the ground, adding insult to injury!
It really is beautiful MMD. I haven't made native plants a focus in my garden in the past although I do have quite a few.
Blogging has exposed me to so many more possibilities though, and impressed the importance of including more natives in our gardens.
I probably don't have enough sun for Prairie Smoke to be completely happy here, but it sure is tempting.
So sorry the critters got at most of your buds. I suspect that would be a problem here too.
The seedheads of Prairie Smoke look so lovely and ethereal.. I didn't realize it was a spring bloomer, and a Geum.
Garden Girl - I've been drawn to the native plants because they were so plentiful around the house I grew up in (at least the shade ones were). The more I planted, the more I learned about and wanted to plant.
Sweet Bay - the seedheads are similar to those of Pulsatilla, only later in the season.
I've been looking more into the native plants here in VA since I've been blogging. There are quite a variety that I was unfamiliar with & might be able to plant here.
I know about the squirrels. I have, at any given time, 15 or more of them rummaging through my gardens...often, more than that. That's just at a glance. Throughtout the day it's horrifying. My dog loves to run out the door & chase them up trees. Too bad he can't chase them out of the yard, permanently;) However, because we have so many trees it's an environment they frequent. It probably doesn't help that I have birdfeeders all over my backyard, but, perhaps I have to pay the price in some flower damage--'cause I really won't be giving up my birds. I love watching them too much. The squirrels seems to go for my tulips and lilies...topping them off, as you said, and leaving the blooming lying there. 'Someone' also tops off my pink phlox...but I think that's the deer that occasionally drop by. It is a battle with nature...with no clear 'winner'...and on and on it goes....
Jan - we're supposed to co-exist with the critters; I coexist with them best while armed with repellant and a big stick.
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