Trouble with Trilliums - Another Woodland Experience
Growing Trilliums in my experience has not been an easy
task. In fact,
I’ve broken my golden
rule, which is try a plant three times in three different places and if
I can’t
get it to grow by then – find a different plant. But anyone who’s
seen trilliums (a native wildflower here in
Virginia) understands why I feel it’s a must have in a
woodland garden.
----Here is my first (and to date only) trillium in bud.----
This
beautiful and graceful native plant blooms around May
(sometimes late April or early June depending on the variety). It has three whorled
leaves and three petal
blooms.; The colors
of the bloom vary
from white to dark purples. This
plant
pairs very well with Solomon’s Seal, Dutchman’s
Breeches and Foamflower. It
loves full shade and acidic soil.
It does like to be well watered so I won’t
say it’s a maintenance free plant.
Trillium
erectum is commonly called
“Wake-Robin”.
The colors of its bloom
are from a purple brown to a greenish
purple.
It grows to about one foot tall.
----To
the right is my trillium in bloom! ----
T. grandiflorum is commonly known as “Large Flowering Trillium”. This is the one I keep trying to grow and finally successfully got to bloom. It is supposed to be the easiest of the Trilliums to grow and if that’s the case – it will be the only one I’ll be trying to grow. I was finally able to get it to grow with one of those “dump the whole package in a hole” kits from Lowe’s last year. However, that being said, it is supposed to grow from 12-15” tall and mine didn’t get much over six. But it did grow and I can’t begin to tell you how much that little six-inch plant meant to me!!! One of my most exciting moments in my garden is when the bud pictured above emerged. I had to cross my fingers and hope in fact that it was a trillium since I had never gotten one to grow before and wasn’t quite sure what it would look like. Of course, this may be a mismarked plant (not that unusual for companies to do) since T. grandiflorum should be white and mine is obviously pinkish. I believe the white trillium pictured below may be T. grandiflorum.
Other varieties are T. undulatu, which grows to 2 feet with white, veined purple blooms, T. sissile also known as toadshade or red trillium and T. cernaum commonly known as Nodding Trillium.
Trilliums are difficult to grow from seed and can take up to 9 years to bloom. They are very difficult to propagate and are very slow to establish themselves. Trilliums should never be taken from natural habitats because it is very unlikely they will survive. That being said, I really love this plant and would encourage everyone with a woodland garden to find a spot for at least one – just make sure you find a source you can trust to buy one from!
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| These pictures of trilliums I took while visiting Longwood Gardens. | |