An Iowa Garden

Delicate is a word that can seldom be used in our garden; any plant that remotely fits that description is usually chewed up and spit out by our inclement climate in short order. That is why I am quite beside myself seeing this little darling rising up from the still half-frozen soil to check out spring in Iowa. It was planted last year, a tiny little cluster of grey-green leaves, which on the first hot day promptly disappeared... was it going dormant, or was it D-E-D; one never knows in these cases. So, it's a delight seeing it back and blooming. It's Eranthis stellata; the genus eranthis is in the buttercup family and has eight species, all native to Asia except for Eranthis hyemalis, the only one that is well known to gardeners (it's the winter aconite and native to southern Europe). Even winter aconite is not that often seen, so I am intrigued by reading that it supposedly has naturalised in North America... in fact some claim "widely naturalized". Well, I admit I don't get out enough, but when I think about it, I can't ever remember seeing Eranthis hyemalis in anybody else's garden, let alone taking over a vacant lot. Whether that's because nobody else plants it (you won't find it at Lowe's), or whether it doesn't persist around here, or whether it's just that it's so tiny and transient and early that I haven't seen it, I don't know... I'm usually not invited over for garden tours when there are still patches of snow on the ground, when winter aconite is blooming. In addition to Eranthis hyemalis, one occasionally sees a slightly larger species, Eranthis cilicica offered, and very rarely, at a dear price, one sees Eranthis cilicica X hyemalis (E. Guinea Gold) for sale.
The above picture of Eranthis stellata shows the whole thing: it just puts up a little cluster of reddish stems, each topped by a small collar of greyish-green leaves, with a single tiny white flower in the center. It probably is tougher than it looks, as it is native to S.E. Russia, North Korea, and northern China. It certainly is, however, a delicate looking little treasure... in fact, beyond delicate.