Pretty little wild things

This post will focus on small scale beauty provided by native herbaceous perennials that grow in the forest surrounding our home and garden, the often overlooked pretty little wild things.

Asarum arifolium, commonly known as wild ginger because the odor of a crushed leaf reminds of culinary ginger, Zingiber officinalis, is common in our forest, even in the driest, shady places under mature oaks and beeches where not much else grows. It has very attractive, arrowhead-shaped, evergreen leaves, often marked with blotches of silver between the veins. During the winter, leaves on clumps in exposed positions may take on a purple cast.

Asarum arifolium with silver markings
Asarum arifolium with purple cast

Lycopodium digitatum (Running Cedar) is a clubmoss (fern relative) with fine-textured, evergreen foliage. It spreads underground, forming large patches over time.

Lycopodium digitatum

Heuchera americana (Alumroot) is also very common in our forest, but prefers brighter light and more moisture than Asarum arifolium and is mostly found on the lower slopes above the creek's floodplain. There is much variation in leaf color and the intensity of the markings between the veins.

Heuchera americana, green with silver
Heuchera americana, purple with silver

Trillium underwoodii is native to the Florida panhandle, not North Carolina, but Alani shared some with me and they've done beautifully here. They take our colder winters just fine, but often respond to our winter warm spells by sprouting prematurely. If temperatures are forecast to drop below 20°F after they sprout, I tuck them in at night by laying a blanket over the patch. This is an infrequent inconvenience, the fantastic mottled foliage makes it all worthwhile.

Patch of Trillium underwoodii

A winter hike along Upper Barton's Creek

The afternoon of January 15th was beautiful here in central North Carolina. We took advantage of the sunshine and 70°F warmth and decided to explore the beautiful creek that flows behind our house. I took many pictures during our hike and will share some of the highlights here. I will be displaying the pictures (click to enlarge) in roughly the order we encountered each scene, starting with a view of the creek while we were making our way down to it and ending with a view of a small waterfall about half a mile upstream.

Upper Barton's Creek looking west (upstream)

The next view is looking east (downstream) and was taken while I was standing in the creek. Amazing that I remembered to bring the camera and wear my boots! This is almost directly behind the house, which isn't visible because it's at the top of the bluff on the right. The dark, reflective surface of the creek in combination with lichen and moss encrusted boulders and rugged terrain clothed in mature hardwood trees make this one of my favorite views on our property.

Bluff and boulders along Upper Barton's Creek

The scale changes dramatically in the next view. About 50 feet upstream the creek flows around a cluster of large rocks. When not flooded the tops of these rocks are exposed and the lee sides are covered with a luxurious growth of liverworts. I have no idea what species these are, but I really like their blue-green color and snake-skin texture.

Liverworts

The next view is of an unusually shaped, multi-trunked sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) growing on the banks of the creek. The kids thought it looked like a giant squid, maybe you agree?

Multi-trunked sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

The next three views are of trees with exposed roots clinging to the creek banks. In the first view it's hard to tell which way is up because the tree emerges and continues sideways before turning. I am not sure what species are in the first two views, but the last is an American beech (Fagus grandifolia), which was featured in a recent post.

Creekside tree, which way is up?
Creekside tree with exposed roots and moss
American beech (Fagus grandifolia) hugging the bank

Here's a view of the small waterfall that was our intended destination. We continued hiking further upstream and found more pretty scenery and some exceptionally large boulders. I would have liked to have taken more pictures, but the camera's battery was running low.

Small waterfall on Upper Barton's Creek

I hope you enjoyed your virtual hike!

Beeches in Winter

American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) is one of my favorite trees throughout the year, but I find them particularly attractive during the winter. Here are a few pictures I took to demonstrate, please click on each picture to see a larger version with more detail.

This large, native tree has many winter assets, one of the most obvious is smooth, silvery bark, often covered with colorful lichens. Mature trees usually have massive trunks and dramatic root flares.

Here's a closeup of the bark with an interesting patchwork of lichens.

Additional winter assets include graceful branching, a fine tracery of twigs and buds, and persistent winter foliage. After turning a gorgeous, golden bronze in the autumn, the foliage often remains throughout the winter, especially on young trees and the lower portions of older trees. By late winter, the sun has bleached the leaves, changing their color to a transluscent buff. While not as showy as flowers, it adds a subtle beauty to the winter scenery.

A Boundless Moment

He halted in the wind, and - what was that
Far in the maples, pale, but not a ghost?
He stood there bringing March against his thought,
And yet too ready to believe the most.

"Oh, that's the Paradise-in-bloom," I said;
And truly it was fair enough for flowers
Had we but in us to assume in March
Such white luxuriance of May for ours.

We stood a moment so in a strange world,
Myself as one his own pretense deceives;
And then I said the truth (and we moved on).
A young beech clinging to its last year's leaves.

- Robert Frost

Even though they're deciduous, beeches can make great screening plants for woodland lots and gardens. That's because young trees remain healthy and maintain dense foliage despite heavy shade, and larger trees usually retain lower branches, along with their persistent winter foliage. Really mature trees often lose their lowest branches, but some are able to retain a fair number. Either way, you have to admit that by the time they get that mature the massive trunks provide decent screening!

Narcissus 'February Gold'

The weather forecasts calling for colder temperatures across central North Carolina were accurate. Highs today will only be in the 40's, with low 20's tonight. Before the colder weather arrived, Narcissus 'February Gold' was preparing to bloom and it continues to make progress, although more slowly, despite the chill. Here's a picture I took in the garden yesterday:

Early in the morning of January 11th we bottomed out at 24°F. When I left for work around 8:00 all of the Narcissus flowers were heavily frosted and bent over. When I returned home after work all were standing up straight and looking great. With highs in the upper 60's forecast for this weekend, I expect that many more flowers will open soon. If I get a good picture of the whole patch I'll post it here.

Update on January 15th: As expected, the warmth over the weekend brought out many more flowers, so here's a picture of a group of them blooming.

Winter Foliage

In Winter's Thrill, Bodhisagan observed that the flowers of the winter garden are celebrated all the more for their rarity. I agree, and my previous post focused on winter flowers. Before I change the topic, I would like to share a few more pictures of winter flowers that I took in the garden today.

Camellia japonica 'April Blush'

Helleborus × sternii

In addition to early flowers, variegated foliage is a great source of winter beauty. Here are a few pictures I took in the garden today to demonstrate.

Trillium underwoodii

Arum italicum

Cyclamen hederifolium

That's all for now, in my next post perhaps I can show some examples of showy bark, buds, and deciduous plants with leaves that persist into winter.

Warm...

Recent mild weather across central North Carolina has brought some early blooms to my garden. The first big show is provided by a patch of Narcissus 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation', always the first Narcissus to bloom here.

Another plant in full bloom in the garden now is Prunus mume 'Peggy Clarke', a nice small tree that covers itself with fragrant, pink flowers every winter.

Next to bloom are Galanthus elwesii, Narcissus 'February Gold', and Iris reticulata 'Harmony'. I also saw a Leucojum blooming, but it is too early to tell whether this is a stray flower or will be joined by others in the patch. I'll post more photos when all of these are in full bloom, hopefully soon.