Sunday, May 30, 2010

The Ever Beautiful Flowers of the Highbush Cranberry

As with all other plants the highbush cranberry (Viburnum trilobum) bloomed very early this year. These can be found throughout the woodlot and seem to have propagated quite naturally since they are randomly located. This is yet another white spring flower. An interesting note is that the ring of white petals are infertile flowers designed to attract insects onto less attractive fertile flowers in the centre.

Virgina Waterleaf under the Butternut Tree

The butternut tree nearest our house has a very interesting ground cover plant growing in its shade. After much searching I have been able to identify it as Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginianum). Like the Canada anemone it propagates by rhizomes and well as seed and is just as easily transplanted. It looks like another candidate for our natural landscaping plans. This is a picture of the ground-cover with an inset of the flower as seen under the butternut tree. This is a another white flower with a very slight purplish tinge.

Canada Anemone

It seems like it is time for the white flowers to all come out at the same time. Pictured here is the Canada Anemone (Anemone canadensis) a wild flower which grows on the road allowance adjacent and south east of Heartwood. It creates a nice ground cover and is apparently easy to transplant by moving a part of the rhizomatous root system. I might seriously consider making it part of the future landscaping plan around our house. The internet does warn however that it can be invasive  once allowed to flourish.