Adoxa moschatellina, moschatel, is a small unassuming denizen of the floor of deciduous forests.  The plant is rare in Minnesota and throughout much of its range.  I have seen it but once in the wild at Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth, and I only saw it there because it was pointed out by a naturalist.  My friend Jeff in Michigan sent me some plants, and they seem to be doing well here.  The photo at left is an overview of the plant, and that at right shows the flower.  Though not obvious in the photo, there are four flowers at right angles to each other giving the plant the alternative common name of "town clock."

By late May some really colorful flowers have opened: Virginia bluebells, left, and amethyst shooting stars right.  Both species are native to Minnesota, but neither gets this far north.  Nevertheless they seem to have no problem with the climate this far north here in Itasca County.

Clematis occidentalis is a vine that produces beautiful flowers but is a weak climber.  Here it is blooming about 10 feet up in a birch tree in the yard.  Unlike Virginia creeper this clematis lacks tendrils that are so useful for climbing, and so must rely on draping itself over convenient lower twigs and branches to gain height. This plant came from Nordic Natives, where it was propagated through cuttings.  I've germinated seeds from my plants, and there are now a couple dozen 4-inch seedlings struggling to find support where I've planted them in our woods.

Jack-in-the-pulpit (left) and Woodland Phlox (right) are both in full bloom at the end of May.

Lysimachia borealis, our indigenous starflower, is in full bloom at the end of May, but Trillium grandiflorum blooms are starting to senesce.

Personally I think T. grandiflorum looks its best as the aging petals turn pink.

At the beginning of June our native Canada violet (left) and Polemonium reptans (right) are in full bloom.  Many violets spread abundantly either by rhizomes or seed or both but are small enough that they are no threat to other plants, but Canada violet is big enough to overwhelm smaller plants like small trilliums and lady's-slippers, so I exercise population control on the violets.  I also am careful not to plant any where their invasiveness might cause problems. Note on this Canada violet.  I learned the species as Viola canadensis var. rugulosa, but more recently it has been upgraded to a separate species, Viola rugulosa, the western Canada violet.

Collinsia verna, spring blue-eyed Mary, is a winter annual that comes mostly blue with the occasional pink flowers.  It is one of my favorite wildflowers in part because the seeds germinate in fall when everything else is going dormant.  Note that here, at the beginning of June, the yellow lady's-slipper at the right edge of the lefthand photo has not yet opened its flower.  Collinsia self seeds to form large drifts in suitable habitat, here under bur oaks.  Note Jack-in-the-pulpit and the yellowing foliage of Dutchman's breeches.

The beautiful Polygala paucifolia or gaywings exhibits flowers somewhat resembling those of an orchid.  The gaywings at right grew from seeds planted in a sandy artificial bed in which twinflower was already established.  Gaywings does rarely seed around on its own in the yard, but only ever in  spots with sandy soil.  Sandy soil is not natural in our yard and only ever occurs where there is residual sand from construction of house or garage foundations or from my artificial plantings.

Although some orchid species start blooming in May, June is the main month for orchid displays.  At left, Cypripedium  × andrewsii is the natural hybrid between C. candidum and C. parviflorum var. makasin. Right. C. parviflorum var. pubescens often has two flowers on a stem.

I usually try to take photos on overcast days in order to avoid excessive contrast and harsh shadows, and that's what I was doing here with Cyp. parviflorum var. makasin. Then unexpectedly the sun came out, and to my surprise backlighting of the lateral petals and dorsal sepals of these blooms was quite pleasing. The plant in the photo was raised from seed of Vermont provenance.  The red blotches on the labellum or lip of the flowers is unusual, but I have seen these markings on plants from western Minnesota.  These Vermont plants didn't always have the red blotches;  then a year ago the plants opened with the novel coloration.  I've heard many guesses as to the origin of the red blotches, but so far as I know, there is no experimental evidence for any of these hypotheses.

While Cypripedium guttatum is not native to Minnesota or the eastern U.S., it is native to Alaska as well as Siberia.  Probably because northern Minnesota has a similarly cold climate, the species thrives here and multiplies both by rhizome and self seeding.  The bed at left contains a 1:1 mix of humus to sand and is located on the northside of our garage for shade from hot midday sun.  Closeup of flower at right.

At left Cypripedium candidum, the small white lady's-slipper, is native to southern and western Minnesota, but as a prairie plant, it's not native to my heavily forested county in the north central part of the state.  The white lady's-slipper blooms in late spring. At right Cypripedium reginae, the showy lady's-slipper, usually begins to bloom about the time of the solstice, but this plant is a bit early.

Lonicera dioica, wild honeysuckle, at left, is indigenous to my land.  Fortunately the previous owners of the property allowed one plant to remain at the base of a large white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) tree near our garage.  I found one other wild plant in the woods in the southwestern corner of our property.  Despite sowing seed from the yard plant at numerous locations, efforts at seed propagation to date have resulted in only one additional plant. At right Twinflower, Linnaea borealis, also blooms in early to mid-June.  I am growing it on an artificial bed of sandy planting mix from seedlings I bought from Nordic Natives near Duluth.  Yes, seedlings, the nurseryman assured me.  This plant is easily grown from cuttings and much harder from seed, but I was glad to get plants less homogeneous genetically than clones from cuttings.

Two views of Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis, flowers.  This is another plant that's native to my land and is so common, that I've previously neglected to photograph it.  Columbine self-seeds readily here, but I also sometimes collect the black seeds and scatter them where I would like more plants.

Geranium maculatum, wild geranium, also blooms in early June and is a magnet for butterflies and other pollinators. I'm no entomologist, but I think the insect at left is an Arctic skipper, Carterocephalus palaemon, and that at right is a mulberry wing, Poanes massasoit.

Left: Meehania cordata, Meehan's mint, is a native of the central Appalachians but does quite well here and is forming a groundcover under a balsam fir tree. Right: Seedlings of our native Clematis occidentalis ready for planting out in our woods.

Iris versicolor, northern blue flag iris, is indigenous to the intermittent stream bed behind our house and blooms in mid- to late June:




And of course I always have to include a showy ladyslipper pic;  I just can't help myself.

Great St. John's wort, Hypericum ascyron, at left, blooms in mid-July, about the same time that showy lady's-slipper flowering is winding down.  This species grows in the same habitat as these orchids;  I've seen it with them in moist roadside ditches in Koochiching County, the next county north of me.  I started my plants from seeds sent me as a bonus included in a plant order from Morning Sky Greenery. At right, blue vervain, Verbena hastata, also likes damp ground and blooms in mid-July.  The individual flowers bloom sequentially making the plant attractive to our eyes and to pollinators for a couple weeks or more.

The showy berries of Sambucus racemosa or red elder ripen from early to mid-July.  I've had visitors remark that "Surely that shrub isn't native."  Indeed it is.  It springs up quite often under taller trees.  Birds including robins and waxwings love the fruit, and I suspect their pooping out viable seeds is the reason the shrubs appear under trees.  Prairie onion, Allium stellatum, is also native to my county, but is more common in the prairies of western Minnesota.  The species blooms in August here.

By mid-August, the meadow is really beginning to color up.  Steeplebush, Spirea tomentosa, left, is in full bloom, and so is Lobelia siphlitica, the great blue lobelia.  I live at the very northen edge of the steeplebush natural range in Minnesota, and the plants seem unduly set back during winter.  The blue lobelia, also native here, fluorishes and self seeds abundantly in my meadow.

Physostegia virginiana, false dragonhead, left, also enjoys the damp meadow soil and grows well in the company of lobelias and showy lady's-slippers. Scutellaria incana, hoary skullcap, at right, is less fussy about soil moisture, but does like several hours of bright sun daily.  The plant grows over a meter tall and is a pollinator favorite at the end of August.

At the end of August, not all the color is from flowers.  At this time the fruit, left, of Jack in the pulpit, is fully ripe but the berries are soon harvested by hungry critters. Our native bottle gentian, Gentiana andrewsii, is in full bloom at the end of August.  The flowers never do properly open, but  large bumblebees are strong enough to force the petals apart to gain access;  watching the bees do this work is very entertaining.

More bottle gentian.




Finally, in mid-September, just in time for the fall equinox, red turtleheads, Chelone obliqua, bloom.   According to the Minnesota DNR, the species is native to Minnesota, but this claim is debatable.  In any case the species is indeed native to our neighboring Iowa.  As for bottle gentian, red turtle head is pollinated by bumblebees.  While red turtlehead is fully winter hardy here in northern Minnesota, it blooms too late for its seed to ripen before the plants are killed by fall frosts, so the species can't naturalize here.  It does, however, spread well by rhizomes to form large patches.




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