Linnaea borealis

[Hoy]

Lori,

That's the finest twinflower I've ever seen! And I do see a lot of them

[Gabriel B]

I just noticed this thread! I took a few photos of twinflower leaves yesterday. They're growing in a large carpet at Gardens of Rice Creek. I know that another clump is a clone from northern Minnesota, but I don't remember where this one came from. They were blooming in June, but I didn't get any pictures. Now they're sending out long summer shoots. The purple stems and little round shiny leaves are very pretty.

[Hoy]

Gabriel, is this the American variety? The leaves look different from the ones here.

[Gabriel B]

Trond, I asked Betty Ann Addison, whose garden the twinflowers are in, and she said they come from up north near Duluth. For people not from Minnesota, that's just above the western tip of Lake Superior. Because of the moderating effect of the lake, the winter temperatures are similar to Minneapolis, but the summers are shorter and cooler. There's also a bit more snow, I think. So yeah, it's an American form, more specifically northern Minnesotan. It's really taken off this year, while another form collected from closer by, just north of the Twin Cities, almost completely died off, though that might just be because it was exposed to winter winds.

[Hoy]

Some of the plants here grow on fairly exposed sites where thy certainly experience hard frost and wind but most grow in the birchwood where they are protected from the worst of elements.

[ian mcdonald]

I have Linnaea in the garden. They have not yet flowered here in Yorks.

[Dave Hardy]

I have been trying to establish Linnaea borealis in my garden for the last two years. My daughter is named after the flower as it's common name is the twin flower. She is a twin.
I have been trying it in a number of places but still to find an ideal spot that it grows away. I have found that the foliage often goes a bronze colour. Possibly to wet???
Dave

[Hoy]

Twinflower never grows wet or in stagnant water although they like a humid habitat. It often grows on moss covered fallen logs and tree stumps. The main roots are in the soil of the forest floor. The soil can be sandy but it is always covered by at least a thin layer of humus and moss.

[Maggi Young]

Interesting post  by Gabriela copied here from elsewhere in the forum :
I remember seeing a thread showing wonderful images of Linnaea but I don't know where it is and maybe this is a good place to discuss the seeds aspect.
I wonder how many are aware of its self-incompatibility problem and as a result the low seed setting? I just patiently sorted out about 400 fruits - resulting in +/- 75 seeds 



I think many people are sowing the dry fruits as 'seeds' and hence report very low germination rates. In Canada and US it is not of conservation concern but the low seed rate and loss of habitat may well in the future change the situation.
Here's a link of interest (from many others): http://www.kew.org/press/wp_twinflower.html

[Lesley Cox]

My own Linnaea (and I think it is the var americana) is coming into full flower now. I'll try for a photo tomorrow though not sure how my camera will handle the tiny flowers. It flowers each year but this year's is best I've seen. It has grown to about a metre across in less than two years and threatens to overtake Asteranthera while engulfing a flat Cotoneaster, itself very vigorous. Mine is in mostly sun but some afternoon shade (about 3 hours in summer) from a smallish Magnolia.

[Gabriela]

My own Linnaea (and I think it is the var americana) is coming into full flower now. I'll try for a photo tomorrow though not sure how my camera will handle the tiny flowers. It flowers each year but this year's is best I've seen. It has grown to about a metre across in less than two years and threatens to overtake Asteranthera while engulfing a flat Cotoneaster, itself very vigorous. Mine is in mostly sun but some afternoon shade (about 3 hours in summer) from a smallish Magnolia.

The fruits/seeds in my image were coll. somewhere in the Karelian Isthmus (close to St. Petersburg), so ssp. borealis (or var. borealis). What we have here in Ontario most probably is var./ssp. americana. It takes me about 4 hours to reach a place where it naturally grows; hard to estimate when to go for the seeds.


It would be interesting if you can monitor and try to collect seeds from your plant (if any). The dry fruits are very tricky, you cannot tell which ones contain seeds
(1/fruit). I placed them in water for a few hours and then slowly pried them open.