Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Alpines => Topic started by: TheOnionMan on January 09, 2010, 08:24:44 PM
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I'd like to share with SRGC Forum members a photographic essay on one of my favorite plants, Houstonia caerulea (Hedyotis caerulea), common name Bluets, a member of the Rubiaceae.
Ubiquitous in Eastern USA and here in Massachusetts (Northeastern USA), it is extremely variable, always charming, yet perhaps because it is so common, the plant is largely underappreciated. Nor has the great range of variability been explored, documented, and enacted upon. Typically seen growing on sunny to partially shaded highway embankments in areas with poor soil that support only sparse grass and mosses, it is a familiar sight in its most insignificant manifestation, a mere wisp of a plant making filmy sprays of tiny white or faintly bluish flowers.
But I have seen specimens that dazzle the eye and spark the imagination, a rock gardener's dream to be sure. Typically such spectacular plants, as I have spotted them, are growing in moist locations in neighborhood lawns amongst lush, deep green spring grass, where trespasser's shall not venture, but the eye strains for glimpses of 6" round domed mounds of pristine white, as if imitating Aretian Androsace, at least from afar, but merely growing in someone's lawn! The prospect so close, yet unreachable. I imagine knocking on someone's door with what would surely seem a bizarre and suspect request to gain access to these magnificent domes of white, for a petite snippet, when they are mere "weeds" in someone's un-mown spring lawn.
Occasionally serendipity happens. On an unusually hot Sunday afternoon late April 2009, I ran a local 10k road race in Groton, Massachusetts. After the race, I walked back to a large business where runners were allowed to park. I crossed the multi-acre lawn in front of the business, approaching a partly sunny hollow at the edge of a grove of mature trees, and there before me was a fantastic colony of Houstonia caerulea. These were in a somewhat drier site without the luxuriant hemispherical domes mentioned previously, but nonetheless an exciting colony of variable Bluets.
Let me share some photos exploring the diversity of this colony. Most were pure white, but some light blues were present too. In western Massachusetts, I have seen some very deep blue forms indeed, but none of such color were to be found here, however the range of flower size, impressive floriferousness ratio on some plants, and forms with tight foliage masses, more than compensated. What this colony revealed to me was, the superior forms with extraordinary flower count were not necessarily a factor of soil and moisture, but were indeed genetically separate individual plants where one could select superior forms. I hope to have some of these growing in my lawn soon!
Tangential detour: somehow when I see massed bluets, I think of Androsace and Dionysia, but here they grow in the lawn instead of on the undersides of sheer cliffs and caves, how convenient :-)
http://www.dionysia4u.com/index.htm
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A very pleasant looking plant, Mark. Certainly worth a place in the garden. Many thanks for the series of photographs which show the plant perfectly.
Paddy
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Mark, the bluet colony is fantastic. I love bluets, they are one of my absolute favourite plants.
They flower their hearts out and always cheer me up.
I haven't seen white ones. It's not easy to find seeds and I have yet to see it in any of the seed exchanges.
Here's one of my little clumps.
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Superb images folks ... many thanks for posting.
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I have only ever seen Houstonia growing in a rock garden or trough, where it is certainly very charming but I have never seen such a sight as these swathes of the gorgeous plants, looking ffrom a distance for all the world like a snowdrop wood..... quite lovely. 8)
Very neat growing patches, too....giving the "flavour" Mark suggests of some of the primulaceae..... I see what you mean, Mark
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The form I have, I bought as 'Millard's Variety' and it is a good blue, though much looser in growth than what I have as H. c. alba. I love them both. I've also had seed of HH. acerosa and rubra but neither has germinated, alas.
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Helen, your blue looks very good and compact. Mine is so sprawling (in quite a lot of shade though) that is has scrambled through and more than half killed a decent sized plant of Rhodo. keleticum. :'(
It's quite possible to transport Houstonia because I sent the white one to Sweden a couple of years ago, I believe successfully. Maybe when your weather warms up again...?
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Lesley, all mine grow in lovely little round clumps, I've never seen a sprawling one.
I keep finding little babies and sticking them them here and there, am so scared of losing them.
I just remembered I had bought some rubra seeds a couple of years ago, not one germination from them. They are supposed to be fragrant I think.
Will look forward to the warm weather ;D
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Wonderful to see these plants in their habitat Mark.
We grew the Millard's var. by the 1000's for the trade for many years, but the H caerulea we always lost.
Maybe the soil too calcareous for them? and planted on the wrong place too.
The Millard's var. was (and is still) a very good seller in spring, but I never found seeds, so probably sterile?
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Mark, the bluet colony is fantastic. I love bluets, they are one of my absolute favourite plants.
They flower their hearts out and always cheer me up.
I haven't seen white ones. It's not easy to find seeds and I have yet to see it in any of the seed exchanges.
Here's one of my little clumps.
Helen, that's a fine blue-flowered one you have. These do make seeds, just that the capsules and seeds are so small to make any sort of seed collecting tedious indeed, it is no wonder these rarely show up in seed exchanges.
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The form I have, I bought as 'Millard's Variety' and it is a good blue, though much looser in growth than what I have as H. c. alba. I love them both. I've also had seed of HH. acerosa and rubra but neither has germinated, alas.
I haven't heard of 'Millard's Variety' (seems like a nice blue), nor even "alba" appended to H. caerulea.
I think when you see such colonies in a variety of shapes, growth forms and colors, I wouldn't put much stock in an epithet like 'alba', as plants I've seen in New England typically range from white to light blue. In western Massachusetts, in the gardens of the late Geoffrey Charlesworth and Normal Singer (South Sandersfield, Massachusetts), the natural color spectrum of wild Bluets on their large property went from white, through many shades of blue, to some really standout strong blue ones, just part of the color variability.
By the way, I referred to the plant habit so often seen as being mere wisps of a plant making filmy sprays of tiny flowers. To see it in open half-shaded wooded areas, you might not give this plant a second look, it is so thin, wispy, and inconspicuous. You can see in some of the photos I uploaded, even is this excellent colony of plants, some are much looser in flower, with flowers more spaced than others. I selected a couple tight growing ones, and the foliage actually started to "dome up", it shall be interesting to see what they do this year. They're also starting to seed around already.
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Mention of bluets takes me back a long time. When I was in elementary school in the early 1950s, in the suburbs of Washington DC, there were school-sponsored Saturday morning nature walks; we'd bus to some site of interest and there be exposed to Ma Nature.
At the golf course on the grounds of the US Soldiers Home (http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.935061,-77.015297&spn=0.007411,0.013776&t=h&z=16) I was introduced to bluets, growing in the grass. That would have been no later than 1955. Never saw them again until some time after 1975 I found a pot in a local garden center here.
Unfortunately, they are only an annual for me. Can't handle our infernal dry summers. But when I see them in the spring, as happens quite often, I will buy a pot for old time's sake and a walk down memory lane. Truly a sentimental journey!
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I think they are one of those species which like lots of moisture but in a very sunny spot, not always easy to achieve. Many water loving irises are the same. So if they have these conditions they grow really well but tight and if they need shade to achieve the cool soil, they tend to be looser.
I guess the "alba" is just another way to say it's a white form, not necessarily a variety. And I suppose the 'Millard's Variety' was simply a selection of a decent blue. Helen's blue looks almost lavender bluwe whereas my Millard's is just about a sky blue, the colour when you look straight up in the air on a beautiful sunny day, (whatever that is ???) And who was the Millard I wonder. This form has been around for many years. I think I first had it perhaps 40 years ago. I've not had self sown seedlings on either of mine and if there's been any seed it's been too small to notice. I'll have a better look shortly. They're both in bloom now.
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I think they are one of those species which like lots of moisture but in a very sunny spot, not always easy to achieve. Many water loving irises are the same. So if they have these conditions they grow really well but tight and if they need shade to achieve the cool soil, they tend to be looser.
Yes, but that is the point of my posting. Some of the overhead shots I posted, looking straight down on numerous clumps of H. caerulea, all growing inches apart from each other and getting the same degree of moisture and same amount of light, show dramatically different growth forms, so there are GENETIC differences in the various forms, not just different environmental and edaphic reactions affecting their growth in general. So, in this population, it should be possible to select a tight clumping, super floriferous, non-meandering form of Houstonia caerulea versus the run-of-the-mill nondescipt form of the species. My seedlings from a few selected forms of this colony already this past fall started mounding up into tight mounds versus the insignificant filmy wisps of plants that grow just a few hundred feet away naturally in a clearing in the woods behind me. But I agree, this plant need the right balence of sun and shade, half day of sun is best.
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Nice looking carpet, Mark. 8) I don't think I've heard of them before. Very pretty. I am guessing they wouldn't like our summers though?
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Rodger, I have never seen bluets for sale in fact I have often wondered why they aren't offered as they are wonderful in my garden.
I have some in a place that gets very neglected as far as watering goes, the only thing that fazes them there is when some of the neighbourhood cats decide to crap on them.
Btw, they grow well indoors if they get morning sun, I used to have some on my windowsill in the kitchen. Was lovely to see blue flowers in winter.
Mark, all my seedlings grow into tight little clumps. I have never seen a scraggy looking one.
Here's a pic of a couple of seedlings I dug up and brought inside for winter.
I don't think mine get more than around 2 inches in height , not counting the flowers.
Will have to measure them in Spring.
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Mention of bluets takes me back a long time. When I was in elementary school in the early 1950s, in the suburbs of Washington DC, there were school-sponsored Saturday morning nature walks; we'd bus to some site of interest and there be exposed to Ma Nature.
Unfortunately, they are only an annual for me. Can't handle our infernal dry summers. But when I see them in the spring, as happens quite often, I will buy a pot for old time's sake and a walk down memory lane. Truly a sentimental journey!
Glad this plant could evoke such a fond memory; it's funny how this works. This plant has a similar sentimental effect for me. As a young boy I already had an interest in plants and wildflowers. The scrappy grass in our backyard had more common violet (V. sororia) and the white purple-striped confederate violet (Viola sororia f. priceana) than it had grass. At the edge of the lawn were my favorite; bluets. In brushy areas that bounded our property were Trillium cernuum, Arisaema triphyllum (in varied colors from all-green spathes to dramatic blackish-brown spathes with whitish stripes), and poison ivy en masse. Whenever I see any of these plants now (except the poison ivy), suddenly I feel like an 8 year old boy again.
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I've also had seed of HH. acerosa and rubra but neither has germinated, alas.
There are some very interesting Houstonia (or Hedyotis) species in western USA. I once had H. rubra but it died quickly. Here are some photo links:
http://www.alplains.com/images/HoustRubra.jpg (http://www.alplains.com/images/HoustRubra.jpg)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/madridminer/3633361118/# (http://www.flickr.com/photos/madridminer/3633361118/#)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54352856@N04/5143280033/# (http://www.flickr.com/photos/54352856@N04/5143280033/#)
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Mark, all my seedlings grow into tight little clumps. I have never seen a scraggy looking one.
Here's a pic of a couple of seedlings I dug up and brought inside for winter.
I don't think mine get more than around 2 inches in height , not counting the flowers.
Will have to measure them in Spring.
Fortunately you seem to have a rather good form, and of a very good color. By the way, I have seen bluets for sale at nurseries in this area, where they jack up the price because they are in the "wild flowers" section of the perennials benches, where such plants are sold at a premium. I've never bothered to purchase, as I figure I can just collect some if I really wanted to.
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I get your point - at last - Mark and I seem to have a naturally loose form, the Millard's var, so seed of Helen's would be good. What does edaphic mean? It's not in my dictionary.
I really like the H. rubra. From its surroundings it would perhaps be more drought tolerant than the eastern species.
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Fortunately you seem to have a rather good form, and of a very good color. By the way, I have seen bluets for sale at nurseries in this area, where they jack up the price because they are in the "wild flowers" section of the perennials benches, where such plants are sold at a premium. I've never bothered to purchase, as I figure I can just collect some if I really wanted to.
I have only seen them growing in one place, so not easy to replace mine if I lost them.
That's why I get a bit obsessive with them and stick them everywhere.
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I get your point - at last - Mark and I seem to have a naturally loose form, the Millard's var, so seed of Helen's would be good. What does edaphic mean? It's not in my dictionary.
I really like the H. rubra. From its surroundings it would perhaps be more drought tolerant than the eastern species.
edaphic:
Of or relating to soil, especially as it affects living organisms.
Influenced by the soil rather than by the climate.
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Just sharing some google search information on Houstonia:
Houstonia caerulea, image from Missouri Plants (very unusual with dark reddish foliage):
http://www.missouriplants.com/Blueopp/Houstonia_caerulea_page.html
Houstonia rubra (Red Bluets) - a nice looking Southwestern American species
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-lifeform=any&rel-taxon=equals&where-taxon=Houstonia+rubra
http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=224
Houstonia wrightii (Pygmy Bluet, Southwestern American species)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HOWR&photoID=howr_001_avp.tif
http://www.nazflora.org/Houstonia_wrightii.htm
http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=1540
...this link has a photo that shows a handsome plant:
http://www.wnmu.edu/academic/nspages2/gilaflora/houstonia_wrightii.html
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Does anyone know who Millard of H. caerulea 'Millard's Variety' refers to?
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Just sharing some google search information on Houstonia:
Houstonia caerulea, image from Missouri Plants (very unusual with dark reddish foliage):
http://www.missouriplants.com/Blueopp/Houstonia_caerulea_page.html
Damn. I just realized from the link and the foliage shown this is the little "weed " I have been pulling out of my troughs and a peaty area in the garden for the last 10 years. :'(
johnw
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Damn. I just realized from the link and the foliage shown this is the little "weed " I have been pulling out of my troughs and a peaty area in the garden for the last 10 years. :'(
johnw
Arghhhhhhh!!
Hopefully you haven't totally eradicated them. I don't think I have ever seen red leafed ones.
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Does anyone know who Millard of H. caerulea 'Millard's Variety' refers to?
A very interesting question, Mark but I remembered having read somewhere about it.
Here is the answer:
Mr. F.W. Millard was a gardener in Sussex and with his wife owner of Camla Gardens.
There are several plants originated here and some got the cv. name ‘Camla’,
or ‘Camlaensis’.
The gardens were at their best in the 1930’s.
In AGS Bulletin Vol XXV, 1957, pp. 290-299 is a good article about the garden.
We grew Houstonia Millard’s var. more than 25 years as H. sepyllifolia Millard’s var. but
Hortus Third says that (Houstonia = Hedyotis) H. serpyllifolia is H. michauxii.
The strange thing is that in The Plantfinder mentions a Houstonia Fred Mullard, ??? but this will probably the same plant.
I believe the H. Millard’s Var. is more cultivated on the Eur. Continent than in GB.
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There is also a Primula marginata cultivar 'Millard's Variety'
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I really like the dark foliage form. It would set off the blue flowers very nicely. I'm pretty sure Mr Millard was called Fred. As for 'Camla,' the Phlox of that name (a subulata var?) is very good, a large flowered soft pink.
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Mr. F.W. Millard was a gardener in Sussex and with his wife owner of Camla Gardens.
We grew Houstonia Millard’s var. more than 25 years as H. sepyllifolia Millard’s var. but
Hortus Third says that (Houstonia = Hedyotis) H. serpyllifolia is H. michauxii.
Thanks Luit. I haven't looked at Reginald Farrer's The English Rock Garden for quite some time, so I checked out the entry for Houstonia, and I was surprised that he waxes poetic on the genus: "Houstonia, a family of American rubiads, of charm and daintiness inestimable, of which the oldest and still the favourite in cultivation is H. coerulea..." and he goes on.
Damn. I just realized from the link and the foliage shown this is the little "weed " I have been pulling out of my troughs and a peaty area in the garden for the last 10 years. :'(
johnw
John, maybe your weed is H. serpyllifolia and not H. caerulea? Not sure of the last word on whether H. serpyllifolia = H. michauxii, or even what the dispostion of the genus names Hedyotis versus Houstonia, the Rubiaceae is not yet published in the new Flora of North America.
Also found this little snippet regarding Houstonia: Linnaeus dedicated this genera to Dr. William Houston, an English botanist who collected in tropical America, and who died in 1733. There are about twenty-five species of this genus in North America.
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Here are two buns of H. caerulea, almost a year after taking a few "snippets" from the colony shown at the beginning of this thread. I selected forms that grew bun-like versus those that were more open and spreading. I'm surprised by the fact some are red-leaved in winter and early spring, while others are green-leaved. These two photographed today, 3-16-2010.
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They've done well Mark. I'm relying on you or Helen in Canada to produce a little seed of a good blue. My own blue, a loose, spreading mat, has totally been cooked this summer, even in a cooler, shadier place than the tight, bun-like white which is doing well.
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They've done well Mark. I'm relying on you or Helen in Canada to produce a little seed of a good blue. My own blue, a loose, spreading mat, has totally been cooked this summer, even in a cooler, shadier place than the tight, bun-like white which is doing well.
In the variable population I found, the pure white forms outshine the pale blue forms by far, but I'd love to get my hands on a deeper blue form like the one Helen showed us. My bun-forming white ones are already seeding around, I hope in time to have it growing is swathes similar to the photos I showed. I'm signing up for the 10k road race again this year, now with a double objective. :D
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McMArk, my first thought was that the different coloured foliage must be caused by some (extremely) local condition and/or weather effect.... but now I'm asking whether there might be a difference between the white and blue flowered varieties? That is, might the redder foliage belong to the deeper blues? ???
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McMArk, my first thought was that the different coloured foliage must be caused by some (extremely) local condition and/or weather effect.... but now I'm asking whether there might be a difference between the white and blue flowered varieties? That is, might the redder foliage belong to the deeper blues? ???
In this population, there are some very pale blues, and it is possible I took some snippets from bluish ones too, but I was trying to select the pure white forms. The reddish foliage one has white flowers. In April when I viewed these all foliage color was the same... green, I just think it is some sort of genetic trait (colored foliage in the winter months), in this case unrelated to flower color.
This past fall, I took some other very interesting photo "essays" specifically to illustrate how some plant genetics reveal themselves by fall foliage color. For example, I have hybrid swarms of Hydrangea serrata with other lace-cap varieties like 'Blue Bird' and 'Blue Billow', each of the latter two have drastically different strong fall color. With summer foliage they can be rather lookalike, but in fall, one can recognize parentage instantly. Many Epimedium reveal parentage by virtue of their fall/winter color.
And, there is a converse example, where the American native Hypericum frondosum (wonderful shrub) seeds about, but in autumn, some color up flame red and orange, some turn yellow or pinkish, others turn dark maroon, some remain steely blue-grey.
But I'm familiar with the darker-leaf equating to a darker flowered form in some plants; I allow the mildly aggressive Campanula persicifolia to pop up in my garden, and I can always tell from the leaf and petiole colorations which will be white or blue.
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The red foliage on the Houstonia is VERY attractive.
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Bluets are on my list to locate and photograph in the wild this year in western Nova Scotia---as they were not native to my former area of Ontario. They are apparently abundant near Halifax.
I have found references to a variety (Houstonia caerulea var. piersii) described by Captain Barbour in 1905 on his botanical explorations of McNabs Island (off the coast near Halifax). I am not sure if this is still recognized as a distinct variety. It's description is in the following (very fascinating) original account.
http://dalspace1.library.dal.ca/dspace/bitstream/handle/10222/12628/v11_p4_a1_Barbour_flora_McNabs_Island.pdf?sequence=1
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Bluets are on my list to locate and photograph in the wild this year in western Nova Scotia---as they were not native to my former area of Ontario. They are apparently abundant near Halifax.
I have found references to a variety (Houstonia caerulea var. piersii) described by Captain Barbour in 1905 on his botanical explorations of McNabs Island (off the coast near Halifax). I am not sure if this is still recognized as a distinct variety. It's description is in the following (very fascinating) original account.
http://dalspace1.library.dal.ca/dspace/bitstream/handle/10222/12628/v11_p4_a1_Barbour_flora_McNabs_Island.pdf?sequence=1
Kristl, an interesting link. The author describes observing 1500 plants and finding some H. caerulea flowers having flowers with 6 petals instead of the normal 4, and even found a few flowers having 7 petals, although I think we've all seen plants with aberrant numbers of floral parts at times. I have never seen H. caerulea plants have anything but the usual 4 petals, but will look more closely next time. The Flora of North America project hasn't published the Rubiaceae yet, but it is my belief none of the very local or minor varieties are recognized.
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I plan an outing to McNabs Island this year---as I am most interested is seeing the Houstonia populations, and counting petals....
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I plan an outing to McNabs Island this year---as I am most interested is seeing the Houstonia populations, and counting petals....
Excellent! Please post back here with some close-up photos to give us a sampling of the diversity you find. The McNabs document does not describe flower color, so I'm interested to see what the blue color range might be.
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The buns of Houstonia caerulea are showing new growth and buds, the red-leaf buns are now turning green. Here's a closeup showing the flower buds forming.
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Yup, there's a lot of nice growth going on there, and what a change to the foliage colour.
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Yup, there's a lot of nice growth going on there, and what a change to the foliage colour.
Well, the red-leaved ones are still discernibly reddish, but quickly changing to green. My guess, in a week all will look the same. The photo shows the winter green-leaved one.
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The buns of Houstonia caerulea are showing new growth and buds, the red-leaf buns are now turning green. Here's a closeup showing the flower buds forming.
Yup, there's a lot of nice growth going on there, and what a change to the foliage colour.
Well, the red-leaved ones are still discernibly reddish, but quickly changing to green. My guess, in a week all will look the same. The photo shows the winter green-leaved one.
Ah, I misunderstood your earlier post... thought that the one pictured was the redd version in transition.
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Here's what the winter-red-leaved bun looks like today, March 26, 2010.
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My, not only is it greening up, it has even managed to open some flowers already.... nice work, eh?
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My, not only is it greening up, it has even managed to open some flowers already.... nice work, eh?
They are weeds here, although in their best forms, choice weeds indeed. :D
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Scanning through my digital photo library, I came upon two more photos of Houstonia caerulea in a rock garden setting, taken in a friend's garden, one is white and the other is light blue.
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Yes, those are very nice indeed. My white is just like that white but my blue - now deceased - was a wide, loose scrambling mat that tried to smother Rhodo keleticum before its own demise.
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The abnormally hot weather and string of sunny days pushed things along faster than usual, and suddenly the Houstonia caerulea plants are starting into their main flush of flowering.
Maggi, it is interesting that the winter-green bun turns out to be bluest form, whereas the winter red-leaf bun turns out to be white ever so slightly tinged blue. The bluest one also has flowers 2-3 times larger than the others.
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Mark,
Are these growing in your yard? You are obviously an 'enthusiast' where bluets are concerned. There is a yard about 6 miles from us that is awash with them. They are obviously native as opposed to garden plants and in full sun. They are predominantly white. The one plant I photographed (See my Kentucky posting) was in the deepest shade and is an intense blue. Having gone back and looked through my shots, other plants in the near vicinity were also white. Strange !
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Mark,
Are these growing in your yard? You are obviously an 'enthusiast' where bluets are concerned. There is a yard about 6 miles from us that is awash with them. They are obviously native as opposed to garden plants and in full sun. They are predominantly white. The one plant I photographed (See my Kentucky posting) was in the deepest shade and is an intense blue. Having gone back and looked through my shots, other plants in the near vicinity were also white. Strange !
Alan, the original photo essay that I started this thread with shows a remarkably variable colony a mere 1-1/2 miles from my house in northern Massachusetts. In fact, I'm signed up to do the same 10K road race shortly (in a couple weeks), so I shall check out what this colony is doing again this year, as the opportunity presents itself. The photos shown more recently in the thread, are indeed plants growing in my garden, from "snippets" taken at the subject colony. Years ago when I visited the garden of Geoffrey Charlesworth and Norman Singer in South Sandisfield, Massachusetts, near the Connecticut and New York border, their native bluets were deep blue indeed, growing in full sun. Wish I had some like that, although I'm pleased with these new willing-to-grow newbies.
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This shot taken specifically to show the degree of slope these are planted on. I'm delighted, they have seeded around from last year's planting, and lots of babies coming up... they'll flower no matter how tiny a young plant they are.
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Some more views as the plants are starting to "flower up a storm". More and more single baby seedlings appear, each putting up a single sweet floret. The eventually goal is to have bluets as an underplanting to my various Trillium species.
An interesting phenomenon I have observed first hand, is the deepening of flower color, some that were basically white with the slightest hint of blue, have become decidedly blue. Not sure if this is due to the weather, soil, or just a naturally occurring feature.
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On then anniversary of my finding a terrific Houstonia caerulea patch, this past weekend I once again entered a 10k roadrace, followed by scouting around the grounds of a business that allowed runners to park and shuttle from. I found a couple different patches of Houstonia, but in one wooded hollow just in front of the building, there were drifts of Anemone quinquefolia in flower, and the diminutive Panax trifolius.
1. View of the deciduous wooded hollow and driveway passing around it. Here Houstonis grew best at the fringes where they received more light, and were fiound as only small individual non-clumping plants in the shadier spots.
2. Small and large patches of Anemone quinquefolia, very attractive but short-lived in bloom.
3. Only a little bit of variation with A. quinquefolia, there were dark-leaf forms, but with normal white flowers.
4. There were a few A. quinquefolia tinged pink on the back of the petals. Flowers that go over, turn beige.
5. A. quinquefolia, Panax trifolius, and Linnaea borealis
6. View of woodland edge, with variable populations of Houstonia caerulea.
7-9 Variable forms of Houstonia caerulea
10. Lots of bluets, can you spot the one 5-petalled flower. The article that Kristl Walek posted about bluets found with 5 petals, had me looking to spot such individuals, but they are just aberrations on normal 4-petalled plants.
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Maybe you're asking yourself "I wonder how McMark's Houstonia plants are doing now?" ;D I'll tell you, they exceed my expectations, after a full month of flowering, and getting bigger and more floriferous than I imagined they would, there appears to be no end of flowering in sight.
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Maybe you're all wondering "what do McMarks bluets look like now at the height of summer". Well, they flowered up a storm for months, but are mostly gone over now, with clouds of little spindly stems and tiny seed pods, sporadically popping out a flower or two. At peak flowering the basal rosettes basically give way to innumerable flowering stems, with little resemblance to its former self. But now, during and mostly after flowering, the compact basal rosettes are reforming and rebuilding. Here's a recent photo, a couple arrows pointing to young seedling mounds.
I will trim one or two of these clumps, cutting off all the spent stems, to reveal what it's doing below.
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Mine (my present white and my lost blue) never looked like that but I never had identifiable seed on either of them. But I received some seed in the post today, from Helen in Canada.