My Bit of Heaven - by Kristl Walek

[Kristl Walek]

A few more pictures of Hudsonia tomentosa, this time in full flower.

Rubus odoratus is most certainly the showiest of our native rubus.

Diervilla lonicera has honeysuckle-like flowers on a medium-sized shrub.

Fraxinus pennsylvanica is already in fruit; as is Fraxinus americana--the seeds coloring a wonderful intense red before they turn beige-brown at maturity.

[Gerdk]

Thank you Kristl. Enjoyed your  North American specialities very much - as always!

Gerd

[ranunculus]

Wonderful to see so many beautiful plants, Kristl ... many thanks once again.

[Kristl Walek]

The very photogenic Sarracenia purpurea and the beautiful Kalmia angustifolia.

Vaccinium macrocarpon (the true wild cranberry) has pretty flowers resembling Dodecatheon.
Pickers of the berries keep their collecting sites close to their hearts.

[Kristl Walek]

Anemone cylindrica is the least interesting of our native Anemone---with small greenish-white flowers. A. virginiana is more worthwhile.

Penstemon digitalis growing at the edge of a woodland along with Sanicula marilandica.

Oryzopsis racemosa is a worthwhile shade-loving grass with elegant, saw-edged foliage and distinctive drooping flower heads with hard black seeds.

A couple garden-shots of Cypripedium reginae, the last of our Cyps to bloom.

[Eric Locke]

Lovely photos Kristal.

Sarracenia ones in particular are superb.

Eric

[Kristl Walek]

It was Asarum canadense and Sanguinaria canadensis seed collecting week---and I could not resist posting these Sanguinaria forest pictures.

Also, I mentioned last year that there was a particular population of Sanguinaria in the wild here with exceptionally huge leaves. I hope you are able to get a proper sense of how large these plants are!!!!

[Kristl Walek]

The flowers of some native climbers.

The tiny, but intricate flowers of Celastrus scandens---hard to imagine these turning into those wonderful berries!

Canada Moonseed, Menispermum canadensis.

The female flowers of Smilax herbacea which produces very colorful berries in fall.

And the river grape; Vitis riparia, whose grapes make my favorite jelly.

[Kristl Walek]

Lilium philadelphicum had a terrific season this year---so I am showing you this species again.

Astragalus neglectus grows in alvar conditions.

And here is a Polygala senega looking like a fairy ring...

[Kristl Walek]

Viburnum acerifolium with maple-like foliage that colors beautifully in fall. The flowers emerge pink from dark pink buds, turning white.

Cornus rugosa.

Symphoricarpos albus, the snowberry.

And the wonderful Wild Raisin: Viburnum cassinoides.

[Kristl Walek]

Today I did my bi-weekly run to the USA to mail my American seed orders. Because I live close to the border, a single phytosanitary certificate is issued by my Canadian phyto inspector for all orders in that batch, and I then drive them across to the post office on the other side, submitting my documentation and fees at the border. I have been lucky in this sense, as I have been able to keep my USA business intact (the small seed lots program is not working very efficiently yet, in my opinion). Once I am in Nova Scotia in 4 weeks time, I will have to reappraise my situation, as I will not be close to any borders (or any phyto inspectors).

But, I digress....

On driving up to the border crossing, I noticed a new red sign ---all I could make out from a distance was "Burn it where you buy it"---which of course caught my interest, as I had no idea what that meant. Once I was closer and could read the finer print, I understood.

Emerald Ash Borer (affecting Fraxinus species) has become a very real problem in eastern North America, and is now in my area of Ontario. People helping to move the insect around through firewood is one of the issues. In fact, one of the vehicles in front of me was transporting firewood and they were turned around at the border.

I started overcollecting Fraxinus seed in the past few years and sending it to the Plant Preservation Genetic Program for posterity. All the native species here (F. americana, nigra and pennsylvanica) are very susceptible. The rare native F. quadrangulata holds out some hope for having some level of immunity---and I have tried hard to find and collect seed of this in the past 2 years once the threat became known and am happy that sales of this species were brisk in my catalogue this past season.

[Paul T]

Kristl,

Fascinating plants as always, and so many I've never seen or heard of before.  Of Particular note are some of the Cornus, the Potentila and the Lilium, but so many other things in there as well.

Thanks so much for sharing your lovely natives.

[Kristl Walek]

It's Asclepias time in the wild.

The very show A. incarnata is common and invariably found in moist to wet places.

Very rare here, A. exaltata is an edge-of-woodland plant.

And of course the well-known and beautiful A. tuberosa; which no garden should be without.

[Kristl Walek]

The circumpolar Moneses uniflora is a beautiful, tiny member of the Pyrolacea, rare in my area, growing in mossy, moist woods along with other equally small gems such as Gaultheria hispidula and Mitella nuda.

The small cranberry, Vaccinium oxycoccos, is a tiny, creeping plant normally found in bogs here.

[Kristl Walek]

Pogonia ophioglossoides is a striking little orchid found growing in fens. It is the only member of the genus native to North America. It spreads by long, thin runners.

A slightly similar species flowering at the same time is Calopogon tuberosa.