| Where the garden meets the wild | ||
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ERYTHRONIUM FAWN LILY, TROUT LILY, DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLET Liliaceae (Lily family) |
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Erythronium oregonum. Photograph © Paige Woodward |
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| Erythroniums are the soul of spring. No flower is lovelier. The species we offer are adapted to rich, grassy meadows and dappled woods that are damp in spring and fairly dry in summer. They thrive in our display garden. In the wild, a typical swarm of pink E. revolutum and white E. oregonum grows in spring-flooded silt along a Vancouver Island riverbank. The plants are shaded by Thalictrum occidentale (Western meadowrue), Polystichum munitum (Western sword fern) and Petasites palmatum (Coltsfoot), and rise amid a groundcover of Asarum caudatum (Western wild ginger), Maianthemum dilatatum (False Lily-of-the-valley) and Tiarella trifoliata (Foamflower). | ||
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Photograph © Gordon Flowage website |
Erythronium
albidum Nuttall var. albidum. White trout lily. White
flowers with yellow hearts and brown-dappled strap leaves bloom in April-May.
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $12.00 |
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Photograph © Susan Farmer |
Erythronium americanum
Ker-Gawler. Yellow adder's-tongue, Trout lily. Single,
cadmium-yellow flowers with brown markings bloom in March-May
above strap
leaves spotted with brown and green. This small woodland lily produces new
bulbs on stolons and can colonize large areas, but first it needs to settle
in; it might be a year or two before it blooms. Native to moist, dappled
woods in eastern North America, from southern Quebec and Ontario to Texas
and Kentucky. Our plants are of garden origin. Height
10-15 cm (4-6"). Zone Bulb (Fall shipping only). $6.00 |
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Photograph © Paige Woodward
Photograph by Brother Alfred Brousseau, © St. Mary's College of California |
Erythronium californicum Purdy. California fawn lily.
Up to 3 creamy-white flowers per stem bloom in April-May.
They have white anthers and a yellow centre with a ring of orange-rust.
The thick strap leaves are mottled brown and green. Native to damp woods
in the coast mountains of northern California. Our vigorous clone (upper
photo at left),
originally from Uppsala Botanic Garden in Sweden, resembles ‘White
Beauty,’ the selection made by Carl Purdy, the California nurseryman and
bulb collector who named this species. Height 15-20 cm (6-8").
Zone 5.
Not available this season. |
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| Erythronium
californicum Purdy 'White Beauty'. This is a
selection made by the California bulb collector
Carl Purdy, who offered it for the first time in his 1905 catalogue. The
flowers have the traits of the species: they are white with a yellow
heart, each petal flashed with brown at the base; they bloom in April-May
and the leaves are handsomely marbled; the top photo in the preceding item
is a fair
portrait. What
distinguishes this clone is its vigor. It is a very good garden plant. Height 15-20 cm
(6-8"). Zone 5. Award of Garden Merit (Royal
Horticultural Society).
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $6.00 |
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Photograph © |
Erythronium
dens-canis Linnaeus subsp. niveum. This is a
white form of the widespread E. dens-canis. The leaves are spotted;
the white tepals turn back to reveal white stamens with anthers clad in
purple-black pollen and a gold centre ringed with rust. Our plants descend
as clones from a plant found in the Bibor Mountains of Romania.
Flowering time is March-April. Height to 10
cm (4"). Zone 4 at least, perhaps colder.
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $10.00 |
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Photograph © Leonid Bondarenko |
Erythronium
dens-canis Linnaeus 'Snowflake'. This selection from
E. dens-canis subsp. niveum has heavily spotted leaves and
is more compact than the previous item. Plants offered under this name are
sometimes mislabeled. We think we have the true clone. But that's what
they all say!
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $8.00 |
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Photographs © Paige Woodward |
Erythronium
japonicum Decaisne. 猪牙花,
Zhu ya hua (Chinese). カタクリ,
Katakuri (Japanese). Despite its
botanical name, this beauty is native to NE China and the Korean Peninsula
as well as Japan. The dusty-mauve to rose flowers have dark, zigzag
markings around a dark heart. The pollen is navy-blue. The stem continues
to grow after the flowers open. Height 16-20 cm (6-8"). Zone 5,
perhaps colder.
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $6.50 |
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Photographs © Paige Woodward |
Erythronium
oregonum Applegate. White fawn lily. Slightly recurved white
flowers with golden central markings and anthers nod above mottled green
strap leaves. Native from SW British Columbia to Oregon. The bulbs we
offer descend
from seeds collected wild on Vancouver Island. In our display garden we
also have plants representing populations on Sumas and Vedder mountains,
near where we live. Height 20 cm
(8"). Zone 6.
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $6.00 |
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Photograph © Paige Woodward
Photograph © Pat Woodward |
Erythronium revolutum Smith. Pink fawn lily. Slightly recurved flowers, pale pink to deep rose with golden anthers, nod above mottled strap leaves. Native range: Vancouver Island to Oregon. Our bulbs descend from seeds collected wild on Vancouver Island. Height 20 cm (8"). Zone 6. Award of Garden Merit (Royal Horticultural Society). Bulb (Fall shipping only). $6.00 |
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Photograph © Oleg Kosterin |
Erythronium sibiricum
(Fischer & C.A. Meyer) Krylov. Siberian fawn lily. Part
of the widespread Erythronium dens-canis complex, this nonetheless
distinctive plant produces substantial,
waxy, rose-lilac flowers with a deep, white centre in April-May above
faintly spotted strap leaves. It is native to the Altai Mountains and adjacent
forested, mountainous regions. Red-listed in Russia. Our photograph was taken by the Russian
plant geneticist Oleg Kosterin in an open birch forest on the Berd' River
in western Siberia. Height 7-12 cm (3-5").
Zone 3. Bulb (Fall shipping only). $20.00 |
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Photographs © Paige Woodward |
Erythronium tuolumnense Applegate.
This vigorous, multi-headed, fast-multiplying fawn lily produces deep yellow
flowers with green-tinged exteriors in April-May.
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anthers are yellow, the leaves lustrous green with no marbling. Native
only to Tuolumne County in California, it has sent its genes far and wide
as the parent of many hybrids, including the ubiquitous 'Pagoda'. It
prefers more light than shade, and some drying out in summer. Height 25-40 cm (10-16"). Award of Garden Merit (Royal
Horticultural Society). Zone 6, possibly colder.
Bulb (Fall shipping only). $5.00 |
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| This page was updated April 19, 2008. | ||
