Erythronium species

Avalanche lilies, dogtooth violets, fawn lilies, glacier lilies, star-strikers, trout lilies, yellow snowdrop, adder's tongue. If the number and variety of common names is any indication of how much we value a set of plants, then erythroniums must rank high. The above sampling leaves out more than two-thirds of the remaining common names found in a variety of books. Oddly enough, given the excitement they cause when seen in the wild, they're rarely asked about in the nursery, unless someone has just returned from a walk on our nature trail during the weeks that our woods are dotted by the (mostly) pink and white blooms. Then we sell out immediately!

The beautiful foliage, very welcome when it appears in late winter, is often strikingly marked and colored. It alone would justify giving the plant a space in the shady garden. Then add drifts of starry bell flowers in white, pink, lavender-blue, lavender-purple, cream, and yellow. Who could resist?

Well-drained soil, with lots of leaf mold or compost is best, although we've had fine results in our basically lean sand. (Maybe the omni-present alders with their nitrogen-fixing roots help us here....) The bulbs do definitely bury themselves more and more deeply each year, one more reason to not try digging them in the wild, not that anyone would do such a thing anyway. The plants tend to only grow leaves, not flowers, once the bulbs get really deeply buried. Some growers suggest digging a deep hole, putting a big rock in the bottom, and backfilling with nice soil. Then plant thebulbs nearer the surface. That way the rock keeps the bulbs from going too deep.

Some of our local pests like erythroniums as much as people do. Deer will occasionally visit them as part of the great garden salad bar. We've had good results just by planting them in large drifts---we get more flowers than not, almost every year. A loose covering of very light-weight chicken wire (almost invisible and easy to remove before company comes) in the weeks just before and during bloom keeps them quite safe. You can also grow them in a protected spot, as they're small enough to fit in plantings right by the house. We've seen some slug damage, and controlling them will certainly make the grouping look better. Again, larger drifts withstand these pests better than one or two lonely individuals.

Erythroniums can be started from seed, but it takes several years to get blooming-sized plants this way. Nursery-propagated plants will give you more immediate gratification. As is the case with trilliums, there are a few people who are now supplying these, so that we need not commit the sin of buying ones that were collected from the wild. Our own population in the woods behind our nursery supplies us with a limited number annually now that they have been re-seeding themselves for a number of years.

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