Once upon a time pretty much all of the Northern Hemisphere was covered by forest. Most of this was deciduous forest, which meant that in early spring the forest floor was bright and light beneath the still leaf-less canopy above. And so it was that over vast stretches of time, and all around the globe, a truly enormous diversity of small plants evolved to exploit this window of flowering opportunity.

These, then, are the hidden spring gems. Plants that will reproduce later in the year, safe beneath their giant leafy over-head protectors, but which burst into sudden and often simultaneous flower in spring time.

The number of forms and varieties of these spring gems is pretty mind boggling, and more or less all of them are garden worthy when sited correctly.

I’m going to blog in more detail about a couple of specific genera next month, but, to wet your appetite, here are a ten of my favourites that you just might not have come across before.

Scoliopus

I really can’t resist starting with these little guys as S. bigelowii is a plant that I’ve previously cited as my very favourite – always an impossible choice though.

Native to the forest floors of the Western American seaboard, with particular strongholds in Oregon, the two species of Scoliopus were long considered to be closely related to Trilliums, but new genetic studies have relocated them into the huge Lily family.

Scolipus emerge very early in the year, often in January, and always by Feb., and start by producing a pair of leopard-spotted, glossy leaves (closely resembling many British orchids) between which comes the little flowering stem. It’s these flowers that have always fascinated and intrigued me. They consist of 3 tri-partite elements – 3 filamenous petals, 3 much larger sepals, 3 stamens and a 3-chambered ovary.

They are miniature architectural wonders that demand close inspection so early in the year. Scoliopus are absolutely bone hardy and enjoy moist, shady conditions – watch out for slugs though!

Uvularia

Another small genus of North American natives, the uvularias are airy beauties, with hanging, bell-shaped flowers in a variety of shades of yellow.

Easily grown in any woodland-ish spot, they will slowly clump-up to form a very pleasing feature.

U. grandiflora is the most frequently seen and (as the name suggests) also has the largest flowers, with lovely twisting petals of pale yellow.

The pretty, but much less robust U. sessilifolia is smaller in all respects with solid, elongated bell shaped flowers of primrose.

Glaucidium

G. palmatum (the only species in the genus) is a Japanese woodlander that has become known to western gardeners as both a bit of a legend as well as a mystery.

The legend part is due to the plants’ ethereal beauty, with robust clumps of maple-shaped foliage giving rise to large flowers of lavender blue with silken textured petals.

The mystery is to do with the plants’ true identity. Is it a form of Peony, a member of the Buttercup family or maybe a poppy?

Botanists are still unsure but gardeners, at least, don’t have to be too concerned and can simply enjoy it’s beauty.

Jeffersonia

Named after US president Thomas Jefferson, the two species of Jeffersonia are amongst the most delicate, ephemeral and aristocratic of all spring flowering woodland plants. The elegant leaves of North American J. diphylla emerge paired, and clasped together like hands in prayer, before unfolding like the wings of some exotic jade green butterfly. The exquisite, pure white cup-shaped flowers rise above the foliage and always charm everyone who sees them. J. dubia represents the genus in China, and has equally attractive, near-circular  foliage and flowers of the palest blue.

Kirengeshoma

K. palmata is without doubt one of the finest as well as one the most easily grown of all the woodland herbaceous plants, and really should be in every garden that has any shady area (that would be pretty much every single garden surely?!)

The Japanese native has stems that can rise to 6 feet (although mine stubbornly peak at around half that) clothed with deep green, jagged-toothed Maple-shaped leaves and topped with cascading clusters of creamy-yellow flowers.

It really is a head-turner at all stages of growth in the garden.

Deinanthe

Kirengeshomas are rather improbable herbaceous members of the Hydrangea family, and that’s also the home to the two species of Deinanthe.The plants have handsome foliage but their principle appeal comes from the clusters of cup-shaped flowers of the very palest lavender. Not widely seen in cultivation – mostly because they are very slow to reproduce by division – deinanthes are actually pretty tough little customers, and easily accommodated in a shady garden spot.

Dodecatheon

Commonly known (along with maybe a dozen or more other plants…) as “shooting stars”, Dodecatheon meadia is a really superb little primrose relative native to a wide swathe of the southern states of the US.

At first forward-facing, the pure white petals perform a 180 degree rotation as they open, to create a wonderful contrasting display alongside the gold and blood-red centres of the flowers.

I grow the plants alongside hellebores and other woodland marginals, where clumps happily increase year on year without any special treatment.

Anemonopsis

There are a really large number of Anemone relatives that excel as garden plants but if I had to plump for just one it would have be the Japanese A. macrophylla.

Plants produce large mounds of large (as the name suggests) heavily divided, ferny foliage which are pretty enough in themselves, but bursting from the midst of these leaves come jet black flowering stems.

These are stiffy upright and rise way above the foliage to display a galaxy of airy little flowers, each a miniature marvel in white with different degrees of purple staining.

Saruma

A fairly recent introduction into Western cultivation, the Chinese Saruma henryi – the only species in the genus – is a close relative of the highly desirable Asarums (aka wild gingers).

I’d have to say it’s a pretty unique garden plant – I’ve certainly never come across anything quite like it.

The foliage is perfectly heart-shaped and densely furry and emerges a deep purple – all highly appealing – whilst the crinkly, mid-yellow flowers that tip on top superficially resemble small wild roses. Sarumas are, like most of these plants, very hardy and pretty straightforward to grow in a woodland or pseudo-woodland garden spot.

Scopolia

Black or near black flowered garden plants are always highly sought after, and Scopolia carniolica is certainly no exception.

An ornamental member of the Nightshade family (from whence come potatoes and tomatoes as well as our hedgerow native Deadly Nightshade) this little beauty hails from eastern Europe.

Emerging in early spring the leafy shoots soon give bear pendulous, bell-shaped flowers of intense, metallic deep violet-black.

There is also an extremely rare yellow-flowering form, but, to my mind at least, this can’t match the sinister charms of it’s dark-flowered sister.

Tags: EcoCharlie Garden, Flowers, Garden, Garden Supplies, Gardening, Spring, Spring Flowers

This entry was posted on Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under Tim's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.