What is this ground cover?
During the summer and fall, this area of the woods has wild ginger, vinca minor, and virginia creeper as ground cover. Now I'm seeing this everywhere and I don't know what it is.
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!potatoes!
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!potatoes!
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rainbowgardener
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Yes indeed, dutchman's breeches, lovely little native woodland wildflower- spring ephemeral that will go dormant once it gets hot.
Sounds like a very nice woods, is it yours? If it is, or if it isn't but you can talk to the owner, I would see about getting rid of the vinca. The wild ginger, and virginia creeper are also native. The vinca is invasive exotic. It can rapidly take over and choke everything out, including the trees that are presumably there creating shade for all the woodland wildflowers.
Trust me, I have seen this. I used to live on a five acre wooded property, where the woods were infested with this stuff. I used to call it forest killer. It is almost as bad as English ivy, even though a little prettier.
Sounds like a very nice woods, is it yours? If it is, or if it isn't but you can talk to the owner, I would see about getting rid of the vinca. The wild ginger, and virginia creeper are also native. The vinca is invasive exotic. It can rapidly take over and choke everything out, including the trees that are presumably there creating shade for all the woodland wildflowers.
Trust me, I have seen this. I used to live on a five acre wooded property, where the woods were infested with this stuff. I used to call it forest killer. It is almost as bad as English ivy, even though a little prettier.
Yes, it's mine. However, it's a very small corner of a large forest and I am quite trapped inside my own area by a steep hill. There is a nature walk at the top of the hill owned by a nearby school and students from a local college botany class take field trips on it. The problem is, the path to the nature walk also goes up the hill, and though it's not as steep, I fear it's too much for me to climb carrying camera equipment.
This little area, minus the hill itself, is where I find most of these plants.There is also a small meadow across the street that I prowl through even though it's not mine.
This little area, minus the hill itself, is where I find most of these plants.There is also a small meadow across the street that I prowl through even though it's not mine.
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!potatoes!
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I'm very confused (not unusual). With help from the forum, my Dutchman's Breeches was identified (Dicentra cucullaria) but now I learn there is a related plant called Squirrel-Corn (Dicentra canadensis). I can't tell the difference unless it has something to do with the root. I just discovered this one solitary plant with these red bulbs at the base. From what I read, the bulbs that belong to squirrel-corn are yellowish, like corn kernels. What is this?
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rainbowgardener
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The easiest way to tell them apart is when they are flowering. The dutchman's breeches are like little pantaloons, if you hung the pants from a clothesline by their ankles, definitely have two "legs":
https://sites.naturalsciences.org/educat ... eeches.jpg
the squirrel corn blossoms look more like their relative bleeding hearts, a more rounded, valentine shape:
https://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/ ... 050412.jpg
what you are seeing is the dutchman's breeches bulb. Usually it would be underground, but maybe the soil got washed away from it. Scroll down in this article:
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... CDQQ9QEwBw
https://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/ ... 050412.jpg
https://sites.naturalsciences.org/educat ... eeches.jpg
the squirrel corn blossoms look more like their relative bleeding hearts, a more rounded, valentine shape:
https://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/ ... 050412.jpg
what you are seeing is the dutchman's breeches bulb. Usually it would be underground, but maybe the soil got washed away from it. Scroll down in this article:
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... CDQQ9QEwBw
https://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/ ... 050412.jpg