My Bit of Heaven - by Kristl Walek

[Kristl Walek]

Maggi,

Ontario's claim to fame in the Cypripedium world is the C. reginae population at Purdon Conservation area that I mentioned earlier (the NARGS annual general meeting next weekend will visit it). It is about an hours drive away from where I live.

That body count presently stands at 8,000-10,000 plants in a single area (although it has been decreasing), and is thought to be the largest in Canada (or North America). Unfortunately, I think the timing will not coincide with peak bloom season (but this weekends steaming hot temperatures might just push the plants along before next weekend).

I promise to do another post on that population later.

[Maggi Young]

You know, Kristl, I read about this Purdon area and the NARGS meeting and I don't think my poor brain could take in the numbers! Quite extraordinary. worrying if the population is decreasing of the C. reginae, even in a conservation area.
 Actually, I  do have two C. reginae, myself........one painted on a tiny pin /brooch and one a pin/ brooch made of leather !

[Kristl Walek]

worrying if the population is decreasing of the C. reginae, even in a conservation area.

Maggi,
At last years orchid festival at Purdon I talked to the botanist closely involved with working with the populations at Purdon. He noted that the decrease in numbers is primarily due to badly needed thinning of the bush in some areas of the bog, which is significantly reducing light levels and causing too much competition for the Cyps.

Of course, the money machine that pumps dollars into everything of perceived economic value, does not see botanic causes as high on the list of priorities.

[ChrisB]

You must let us know when it is published, Kristl!  Ah, the Ottawa river, that sandy beach looked just like a lake.  Your posts read like a book, that was why I said that.  You write so well.....

[Kristl Walek]

too hot for any serious walk-arounds today

Sarracenia purpurea is the only native Pitcher Plant this far north. It lives very happily in my pseudo-bog.

Most native Lysimachias are moisture lovers; L. thyrsiflora is a true aquatic--willow-like foliage and yellow bottlebrushes.

And the widespread Corydalis sempervirens (annual/biennial) returns like clockwork each year, and is very floriferous over a longish period of time.

[Kristl Walek]

I custom collect native seed for many seedhouses, nurseries and botanic gardens...and the beginning of the intense harvesting time has begun with the early woodland ephemerals. My days are long: in the wild collecting, then cleaning, storage, and shipping.

My Ulmus thomasii seed collecting site was also the spot to see a few new species in bloom.

The glorious wood lily, Lilium philadelphicum.

Romping around at it's feet was the pretty Calystegia spithamaea (ex Convolvulus says it all!!!)

And of course the widespread native Campanula rotundifolia is everywhere. Common as it may be, I welcome it in the garden as well, letting it go where it will. There are few bellflowers that bloom for such a long time and are so pretty.

[Kristl Walek]

And while collecting spore of Cystopteris fragilis, I had a chance to revisit a few of my favorite tiny, cliff-dwelling ferns in the wild.

Asplenium trichomanes.

The fantastic walking fern, Asplenium rhizophyllum was just beginning growth, and virtually covered the surfaces of mossy limestone cliffs. It is called "walking fern" because it's long tapering leaves root at the tips and produce new plants. It walks along...and is quite happy in garden conditions.

Cystopteris fragilis is the earliest, non-ephemeral fern to ripes its spore in my area.

Carex rosea and pensylvanica are two of the best tiny woodland groundcover species. The C. rosea seed was almost ready. C. pensylvanica is very adaptive (sun or shade, dry or moist). It can form beautiful soft, wavy hummocks such as those pictured. Plants are only about 15cm tall.

[Kristl Walek]

There are early ephemerals even among woody species. Seed of most of these must be sown absolutely fresh---and germinates instantly in most cases. Ulmus can be frozen to preserve viability.

Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) and Red Maple (Acer rubrum) seed have already come and gone.

A. rubrum, best known for its brilliant deep scarlet foliage in autumn, is aptly named as its flowers, petioles, twigs and seeds are all red to varying degrees.

Ulmus (Elms) are likely well known by all, particularly our native Ulmus americana, which has been virtually wiped out by Dutch Elm Disease. However, specimens still exist in the wild here, and have likely developed a certain amount of immunity by mere fact of their presence. Ulmus rubra (Slippery Elm) is less well known and more immune to the disease.

Ulmus thomasii (The Rock Elm) is the most unique of the three native species. It is difficult to come by and fairly rare across its range. Often called cork elm because of the picturesque, irregular corky wings which develop on older branches.

Another rarely seen species is Dirca palustris (Eastern Leatherwood). This is a understory shrub of rich woodlands with a subtle presence, not showy in flower or seed, but has beautiful bark and a nice architectural presence. Seed needs to be moist-packed after collection to preserve viability.

[Kristl Walek]

It's a white day...

Viburnum rafinesquianum (Downy Arrow-Wood) grows in inhospitable, hot and dry alvars on shallow soil in our area. It has outstanting fall colour.

The small Arenaria stricta grows in the same kind of hot spots in the wild.

The well-known Physocarpus opulifolius is quite widespread here-this is the aurea foliage form.

And Viburnum acerifolium is a small shrub (1-2m), with maple-like foliage and beautiful reddish-purple fall colour. This is still a small seedling just coming into it's own.

[Lesley Cox]

My form of the Physocarpus is called 'Dart's Gold' but there are several lovely forms now in brownish shades, or darkish choclate. I have a local selection called 'Shady Lady' and I know there is at least one other, in Australia. I like them very much.

[Kristl Walek]

Lesley,
The aurea form has extremely high percentages (80-90%) that come true from seed)---never even had one self-sown baby here that was not golden foliaged.

The dark-maroon form has lower percentages coming true (about 40-50%---

These are, in my experience, generally the odds with aureas and atropurpureas of most plants.

[Kristl Walek]

The NARGS annual meeting in the Ottawa Valley "One Valley: Five Habitats" ended this morning. Yesterday I was able to join the group on two of their habitat field trips.

The first was the Burnt Lands, the only extensive alvar ecosystem in this area.

An alvar is an open landscape on shallow soils over flat-lying limestone bedrock. Some areas look like old pavement where clumps of plants fill low spots or punch through cracks in the rock.

Where more soil has developed there are both wet and dry habitats suitable for plants but the conditions are too severe for many trees. Surrounding and interspersed among the open habitats, are areas of cedar, white spruce, balsam fir and poplar forest which support a distinct array of plants in the undergrowth, including Cypripedium parviflorum,  Cypripedium reginae and C. arietinum.

I only spent time in the open part of the alvar.

I have already posted pictures of the wood lily, Lilium philadelphicum, but here it is on the Burnt Lands Alvar. It is a challenging species to maintain in the garden.

[Kristl Walek]

The drifts of yellow seen in the general alvar pictures are those of Packera paupercula (Senecio).

Rosa blanda only grows a few inches tall here on the alvar. Adaptive even to wet soils, it can grow up to 1m elsewhere.

There were still a few Cornus stolonifera to be found flowering in deeper soil pockets on the fringes.

Penstemon hirstutus is widespread here, as in Campanula rotundifolia.

[Paddy Tobin]

Kristi,

I was delighted to see your posting of Dirca palustris which I grew from seed about 5 years ago. I put four plants out in the garden, two have died and I have failed to establish why this has happened. Two are still going though one, planted with the two which died is also looking weak.

Another, planted in a different part of the garden seems fine and a back-up still in its pot is also good.

Any comment of what growing conditions are best for it or which should be avoided would be welcome. You didn't mention the unusual feature of Dirca palustris which other readers  might not be familiar - the extreme flexibility of the branches.

Paddy

[Lesley Cox]

Kristl, you Packera looks frighteningly like what we have as ragwort, which has become a really bad pasture weed in New Zealand over recent years. From your pictures it even seems to colonise exactly the same way, so maybe it IS our ragwort. Animals won't graze it and I believe every seed germinates and grows. It's now infesting what we laughingly call our lawn. Very hard to get rid of.