Spring has Sprung- finally

Pansy volunteers overwintered

Ray and Jerry inspired me to pull out the camera and document spring in my yard. Yes, spring has finally sprung at my house.



Spring bulbs include daffodils and tulips.







Spring blooms are creeping phlox, Lithodora diffusa 'Grace Ward', candytuft (Iberis), volunteer pansies that overwintered and violets.

Candytuft (Iberis) and Lithodora

New this year is Virginia cowslip (Mertensia virginica).

Virginia cowslip (Mertensia virginica)

New growth coming up is cimicifuga, Joe Pye weed*, Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum pictum), purple turtlehead (Chelone).

*The Joe-Pye Weeds have been assigned to the genus Eupatoriadelphus to separate them from the Bonesets (Eupatorium). Some sources still refer to this species as Eupatorium. Jot a note in your reference books. The genus Eupatoriadelphus differs from the genus Eupatorium by whorled leaves, while Eupatorium has opposite leaves.

Cimicifuga and Turtlehead

Way too many seedlings of - I'm fairly certain - spotted jewelweed (Impatiens capensis). As an impatiens, will it be susceptible to downy mildew? I think not.


Jewelweed seedlings - lots & lots!



Cherry blossoms

We have our own cherry blossom festival!








And Wolfie has emerged from winter hibernation next to our fireplace to the big rock out front.









Learn more about some of these plants

Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center: Turtlehead (Chelone)
Penn State Horticulture 101: Chelone
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center: Virginia
Cowslip
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center: Jewelweed
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center: Cimicifuga
(Black Snakeroot, Black Cohosh)
Penn State Horticulture 131: Cimicifuga
Penn State Hershey Medical Center: Black cohosh (Cimicifuga)
Penn State Horticulture 131: Japanese Painted Fern

Rattlesnake Fern

Rattlesnake Fern under the Tulip Poplar

This delicate little fella popped up (or we just noticed it) this week in several places, most noticably under the old, large tulip, or yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) in the front yard.  The leaf pattern and the spores on what looked to be a flower stem, suggested a fern of some kind.

I googled around a bit, using "yellow spores" and "fall" or "autumn" ferns in the searches without much luck.  I then tried the scientific key approach using this site.  Again, with no success.  Getting stubborn, I tried the brute force method, clicking on each of the links in the chart and just looking at the pictures.  Nothing.  However, in the process of looking at and rejecting the "Northern Adder's-tongue" fern during the brute force method, I noticed this phrase:

Northern adder's-tongue doesn't look much like a fern, as it has a single, oval sterile frond, and a single fertile frond that looks like a double row of beads on a stalk.

So, back to Google using "single fertile frond" as part of the criteria, and there it was: Botrychium virginianum, or Rattlesnake Fern, or Virginia Grape Fern. 

A Transplant to the Shade Garden




Apparently, most of the species in the genus Botrychium are rare or endangered, and this is the only one that is still quite common. Common or not, I love it, and moved one to the shade garden. I hope it takes.

Another Specimen Without a Fertile Frond