Hallson Gardens

Nice to see them blooming! There's a pretty wide variety of colors around here. These were collected locally. Our woods have thousands upon thousands of them!

Wonderful pictures, HD! I also have a collection from nearby woods, but they won't be blooming for another week or two at least.

Beautiful! How does one hunt in the woods for them?

eastwood2007 wrote:Beautiful! How does one hunt in the woods for them?

Look for the blooms!

I don't think it's quite that easy, Charla. First you have to done your hepatcia-hunting gear...camo shirt, pants, hat, and face mask, so you can sneak up on them without being detected. Then you need a certain kind of walking stick, a nice gnarly bark-covered one works best. Pack a campers spade, an axe to chop away at the underbrush..

Okay, all kidding aside..those are wonderful pics, HD.
I have one small patch of them in my garden, and don't know of anywhere around here where they grow wild any longer. Most of the nice wooded areas have been logged out, bulldozed, and turned into farm ground, or are now housing develpments.
Linda P

Linda P wrote:bulldozed, and turned into farm ground, or are now housing develpments.
Linda P

"Phase II" of our neighborhood is still in the works which would bury a lot of native plants. I have no reservations about filling bag after bag of ferns, trilliums, hepaticas, etc. I hope it's never developed. I've moved over 500-600 trilliums, 2-4 dozen hepaticas, doll's eye, wood poppy, thalictrum, jack-in-the-pulpit, and several ferns. I feel like I'm rescuing something from certain doom.

Good for you! I have probably told this story on the forum before, but there was an absolutely magical small native woodland on our neighbor's property when I was a child. Every year we made numerous trips across the fields to "Flynn's Woods". The variety of wildflowers there was astonishing. We always picked one bouquet of Dutchman's Breeches for my mom, but everything else was left in place. One year, when I was too young to know any better, I picked one Lady's Slipper. I just had to bring it home for my mom to see. She was busy with caring for a household full of children with few modern conveniences, and she never did make the trip with us. When I brought the orchid home to her, she thanked me for thinking of her and giving her a chance to see it, and then told me if I ever picked one again, I wouldn't get to go back to the woods.
That was the ultimate punishment for me, just the threat of not being able to return to that wonderful place.
Needless to say, I didn't pick anymore.
Now the entire woods is gone, logged out, bulldozed and turned into farm ground. So sad. If I had known it was being destroyed, I'd have been out there digging up everything I could get my shovel under.
Linda P

So pretty! I have several different kinds, I sure wish the doubles weren't so blasted expensive LOL!.

Andi

How pretty!!! Thanks for sharing!

Beautiful pics Mike! It's amazing the range of colors the blooms have. And good for you to rescue those native plants, it's such a shame to lose those special plants whatever the reason.

Most all of my woodland plants were rescued when my buddy built his house. He opened up two of his own 100 acres so most went back in the woods away from the house. I even started a few colonies where there were none in his woods. Put them around a garden glider on a hill over looking a creek. that was 15+ yrs ago and the spot is a beauty now.

So is now the time of year to go hunting for Hepaticas in the woods? Would I find them in the shade? In the meadows?

I will definitely be eager to hear what you may suggest, as I am pretty sure my friend, Linda, here, is not really giving me good direction!

Linda, I was going back through this post yesterday and just laughed out loud when I read your advice! And I thought you were my friend!

These really are lovely and I would like to try to find some, if I could.

Thanks in advance!