Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Better Flower



One is on thin garden ice anytime one touts a foreign flower over one of our beloved natives, but I'm here to say (again) that the Asian version of our native U.S. twinleaf (Jeffersonia dubia vs. Jeffersonia diphylla) is no contest: dubia wins hands down. As shown above, dubia rapidly passes from something looking like a pink pincushion, to myriads of white-backed flower buds, to a solid mass of exquisite light lilac flowers. A bonus is the very interesting seed pod that will take the place of the flowers, looking somewhat like little starfruits. Let's see, what else... carefree, hardy, slowly spreading, better every year... that about does it.
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// posted by IBOY @ 7:34 AM
Comments:
Lovely photos! I did not know the twinleaf had such beautiful flowers. My scrawny plant had only a leaf last year so hopefully it survived and we'll see two leaves this year. At this rate, I'd be lucky to see a flower in 10 years?!
# posted by Blogger Ki : April 22, 2008
 
Nice pix and interesting blog. I write for www.teleflora.com/flowerblog where you’ll find flower news, trends, events, tips, horoscopes, and a chance to win free flowers.
Would you be interested in doing a guest post on gardening for me? Let me know and we can discuss details.
Jacqueline
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : April 22, 2008
 
Do it Don! You deserve to be famous! Or at least a bit more famous.

A problem I have with these more epmeral woodlanders is they overwelmed by larger plants later in the season (and over the years). How do you manage competition in your garden?

Ted
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : April 22, 2008
 
Very very pretty. You do find the most interesting plants and beautiful flowers. :-)
# posted by Blogger Shady Gardener : April 23, 2008
 
Ki... is yours dubia or diphylla? The latter grows really fast and seeds all over heck.

jacqueline... nice site. I'll have to admit, I'm stretched WAY too thin as it is; I spend many hours over at the nature preserve I'm working on, so I have thoughts about rolling up my own blog. Maybe next winter i'd change my mind.

Tedb... famous or notorious. I have a system for competition. I stand back and say "good luck"!

shady... I've got some more coming up!
Don
# posted by Blogger IBOY : April 24, 2008
 
I've tried these for years from seed exchanges, with no luck, probably because the seed needs to be sown fresh. Can I trade some seed with you? Do you have a list of seeds you are looking for?
# posted by Anonymous Gene Mirro : April 23, 2009
 
Gene... too bad you don't live next door; you could dig up a bunch of little volunteer seedlings. If you want, e-mail me a mailing address, and I'll send you fresh seed right out of the pod this summer.Off hand, I don't know of anything I need in return; I've really got my hands full just digging up volunteers to pot up for people, and I'm going to be sowing a ton of seed this year from stuff like snowdrops, fritillaries, etc.
lizndon@mchsi.com

don
# posted by Blogger IBOY : April 23, 2009
 
I've sent you an email. I hope your spam filter didn't get it.
# posted by Anonymous Gene Mirro : April 29, 2009
 
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