Trilliums we thought were long dead have appeared!
We bought several small packets of wildflowers two springs ago but nothing came up. Trilliums, trout lillies Erythronium, bloodroots Sanguinaria, jack-in-the-pulpits Arisaema and a few others that I can't remember were all planted but only one bloodroot and a puny jack came up in the first year. This year, the blooroot and now the Trillium (probably T. grandiflora, small form) appeared after being in ground for 2 years. The jacks have yet to appear.
It amazes me that the Trillium rhizomes didn't send up a plant in the first year to make and store more food.
Perhaps in the third year we'll see the trout lillies?
Here are a couple of websites, actually different pages of a website that shows many different kinds of Trilliums. I never knew there were so many different varieties.
http://www.trilliumresearch.org/species1.html
http://www.trilliumresearch.org/species2.html
Why is it that we call some plants by the common names and others their scientific, Latin name? We say Trillium for Trilliums but we use trout lillies not Erythronium.
posted by Ki at
6:04 PM
16 Comments:
What a lovely surprise the trilliums were giving you. Wonderful pics of them too!
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I'm going to link with you too.
Hi Yolanda Elizabet, It took me completely by surprise. I thought maybe birds had dropped some seeds there until I remembered that we planted some 2 years ago. A lovely surprise indeed.
Thanks for stopping by and I enjoyed looking at all your cats!
Too many syllables in Erythronium? I wonder if they're hard to transplant. I planted some a year or two ago - they promptly disappeared and haven't been back. I think the spot I put them in was too dry for them.
Your trillium is very pretty!
Trilliums are native to North America and the Himalayas and adjacent parts of Asia. As such, they came to the attention of English-speaking peoples in modern times, so their Latin name is as old as their "common" names (wakerobin, trinity flower, wood lily). In contrast, Erythroniums are native to Europe, and so have longstanding English names. Likely, in some place like Tibet they have a common name they use instead of "Trillium." I'm sure there are exceptions to this "rule" -- what catches on can be due to euphony, or to exposure in a particular popular source.
Hi entangled. Heh, heh, too many syllables. Reminds me of the movie Amadeus, as the king chided Mozart for writing a piece that was too long. He proclaimed that the human ear could only hear a certain amount of notes at one time. It is strange though that I usually remember the plant more easily by the scientific/Latin name than the common one.
My Botanica books says they are "Slow to propagate from seed in fall or by division in summer, they are long lived once established." So don't give up on yours as I did ours. They may surprise you too!
Hi dwpitelli, great exposition on why the different usage of common and scientific names. Trouble with common names is that there are plants with similar names or parts of names that lead to confusion...at least for the easily confused which describes me to a T.
Nice capture on the Trilliums. The white parts always blow out on my Trillium pictures. I have had a couple for over 20 years. I am thinking of rescuing them from under the shrubbery that has grown since they were planted. I wonder how they transplant?
Trilliums were a hit this year!! I accidentally ran over a clump of them just before they were getting ready to bloom. Yes, I was broken hearted, but I left them alone and to my surprise they bloomed anyway!!
I found my trout lilies only lasted one year due to squirrels loving the croms. once was enough for me.
I still haven't finished my iweb. Not enough time as usual. I did move on to wordpress for my blog site.
stop bye.
I miss your words.
http://thetalliris.wordpress.com/
Hi Chris, I was lucky that even though the photos of the Trillium were taken at close to noon, a big rhododendron was heavily shading the plant which prevented the white petals from blowing out. The problem was hand holding the camera with a Raynox 6x macro lens and trying to focus using the LCD while bent over and scrunched down on my knees, shading the LCD with my free hand so I could see the image. I'm strange as it is to my neighbors but if they saw me in this contorted posture it would only confirm that I was around the bend. I think I need a translucent umbrella, a LCD hood and some kind of fast way to steady the camera. Tripods are too slow and monopods are not stable enough in either front to back and side to side movements.
I don't know if Trilliums transplant successfully but be prepared for a long wait if our plants are any indication.
Hi Lynne, indeed, I do need to visit your blog more often. I would click on your old blogger site and I guess I didn't see the link to your new site which I just glimpsed. Wonderful great pictures! I'll have to look more carefully when I have time, to savor the photos more fully. I see you were able to capture your Trillium too. Is this the one you ran over? I guess they are tougher than they look. We have a lot of squirrels too so maybe that's what happened to our trout lillies. :(
Thanks for the warning! I'm planning on ordering trillium in the fall. Now I won't be disappointed if they don't show up next spring.
We've had a history of aberrance in our plantings so I would normally not go with how plants grow in our garden, Oldroses. However, since the Botanica book mentioned that it takes a while for them to get established I would definitely take their word for it. But, you never know, you may get lucky and have blooms in the spring. Good luck!
Maybe it's just that Trillium is a musical, pretty, easy to say name, and Erythronium just doesn't sound as nice with that potentially nasal, accented RONE in the middle? Given a choice, we humans usually gravitate to beauty, don't we? Your trilliums are beautiful.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
[Ki, my husband and I have always loved that too many notes line from Amadeus... and have quoted it to each other on many occasions, where the lowest common denominator or the sixth grade reading level was used as the standard of excellence.]
Hi Annie, Thanks. I am really enjoying the Trilliums which is strange because I never really thought they were very special before. It is a pretty silly movie when I think about it now. But we loved it so and watched it many times. The music was outstanding and I can plainly hear the "...too many notes Mozart, too many notes" quote. If that made such an impression on me, maybe I'm stuck in the sixth grade reading level?
I guess Trilliums have the trill as in musical instruments and birds so it's easy to see why it would be in popular usage but what about Rhododendron or Bougainvillea or Chionodoxa? ...not trying to be argumentative.
Congrats on your trilliums!! I think blooms after only a couple of years is/are very good! (better than me!) I discovered that I have a wake robin one...and will...one day post pictures...it changes color! I just think trilliums are so interesting...and have two more kinds to plant...just can't make up my mind exactly where!! Some here, some there...lol! Thanks for those links...I bookmarked them and will go back and pour over them...and dream!
Btw...I only had trout lily leaves this year...I'm hoping maybe, just maybe, next year they will grace me with a bloom...
Hi Gotta garden,
I wish I had I known Trilliums took so long to get established. I'm just glad I didn't plant something over them. I could have dug out the rhizome and mistakenly discarded it! I didn't realize there were so many different kinds of Trilliums until I came on the website. Even the botanical books don't list as many.
Well you're certainly doing better with the trout lily than I am. Nary a leaf. I can't even remember where I planted them anymore. It will be a nice surprise if they decide to pop up sometime.
I've had several wildflowers go dormant for a season then return...luckily I'm too lazy to move the tag or disturb the site! I even had a ladyslipper appear after 3 years. Now I give them 4-5 years before I give up, just in case!
Hi Lisa, I should enable comment approval or whatever they call it so I know that a comment was made. I missed your comment so will respond now.
Now that I know these wildflowers take their sweet time in appearing, I too will wait 4-5 years. ;) just in case. I have to get out of the yearly mindset and take a more leisurely approach. Ha, ha, we are the same way, some of our plants look like Minnie Pearl's hats/clothes, festooned with price tags or in our case plant ID tags. And as you mentioned sometimes it's a good thing - to help you remember the name of the plant!
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