Sunday, April 26, 2015

Ephemeral Beauty

We grow Sanguinaria canadensis f. multiplex 'Plena' for it's relatively large and uniquely shaped foliage. But for a moment in the spring you get treated to the sight of their pretty white blooms too.


Sanguinaria canadensis f. multiplex 'Plena'
And if you are lucky enough to see those blooms, relish them. Or even better take photos as those blooms do not last at all. They are so delicate that a strong gust of wind or heavy rainfall (or watering) can damage them so easily. And even without disturbance they only seem to last for a day or two.

So many times before I've only noticed they have flowered by seeing their petals scattered all over already. It's not always easy to time it while their blooms are still intact and looking pretty. So when I spotted in the two areas we have them still having intact blooms I had to grab the camera and immediately snap them. It was then or never...


Their blooms are ephemeral beauties. And perhaps the shortest lasting flowers that I know of in our garden.

What about you, any ephemeral blooms and beauties in your garden?

Mark :-)

21 comments :

  1. I don't have the double version of Bloodroot, but I have grown the single in the past. You're right, the flowers are frustratingly fleeting.

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  2. I planted the single flowering Sanguinaria about four years ago. I thought it had died. Then last year it produced a couple of the white blooms, followed by a couple of the lovely leaves. This year there were more blooms, and the foliage is becoming a thing of beauty. I am hoping it will spread to make a real statement in that part of the woodland garden, which has several ephemerals, including Anemone nemorosa (wood anemone) and primula.

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    1. Hope it spreads well for you Christina :) thankfully the leaves last a lot longer!

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  3. So pretty! Sadly, I can't grow any of the beautiful ephemeral spring flowers her in SoCal.

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    1. But look at all of the other things you can grow Kris :)

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  4. I'm glad you took pictures. I had never seen that flower and it is pretty. And ¡very interesting foliage!!

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  5. Very pretty. The regular single kind is quite common in the woods around my parents' place in Michigan, but one rarely sees the double kind.

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    1. Both single and double looks good, and doesn't really matter if you're mainly after the foliage :)

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  6. Looks like you had to get right down to soil level to catch that beauty on camera! The most fleeting beauty in my garden has, sadly, been my plum tree blossom. Here one day, blown off the next. It's been even more fleeting than my hemerocallis flowers!

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    1. It wasn't the easiest of blooms to take pics of Caro, as lots of other foliage were in the way. At least daylilies bloom all day, sometimes with this one it's gone by the next hour :)

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  7. I didn't realize the foliage on this plant was reason enough to buy it, figuring it too must be fleeting. Now I know!

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    1. So well worth it for the fab foliage Loree :) and they do last for awhile, even months

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  8. I love the leaves but what a charming delicate flower. So happy you captured it : ) My Rohdea japonica (Japanese Sacred Lily) made it through the winter and is blooming, and they are very strange it is the pretty red seeds that come next that are worth the wait. Happy spring!

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    1. And you too Laurin! Rohdeas are lovely, only thing are weevils seeming to adore munching it's leaves in our garden, oops! :)

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  9. Dear Mark, white ephemeral beauties indeed! So precious and lovely! It always fascinates me with what ideas nature comes up with. I can see why you are growing this plant for its foliage, very interesting and beautiful as well.
    In my garden it is a rose (how could it be any different?) that I consider ephemeral. Her name is 'Heritage' and it is a shell pink beauty, but her blooms last only a day or two in the heat of summer. Still worth growing in my opinion!
    Wishing you a good week, guys!
    Christina

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    1. Thanks Christina and you too! Surprised to hear about the rose whose blooms only last a day or two, but I suppose the heat is indeed a major factor :)

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  10. I eyed one of these up at a plant fair yesterday morning, decided to do another round of the stalls to ponder, returned and it had gone! It's a beauty but I did not realise it made such a fleeting appearance!

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  11. What delightful flowers, glad you managed to capture them before they turned into confetti! I don't think I have anything quite that ephemeral in my garden at the moment, but like poppies, that always seem to be here one moment and gone the next, I think the fleeting lovelies deserved a place in our gardens, they add magic and dynamism where otherwise it might all become too predictable.

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  12. Just like cactus flowers. So much beauty for such a short period of time.

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