The Sacred Hearth

Mayapple spreads from underground rhizomes to quickly form a colony that shades out smaller plants. It makes an excellent groundcover for unused areas and grows well in dappled shade. It likes light, loamy soil, shade, but not deep shade and plenty of space to spread out. You can gather seeds or rhizomes to plant or you might find a transplant in a native plant nursery. (I got mine from the local plant conservancy- they gather wild plants from construction sites and then sell them to the public.)

It's good to keep them moist, not wet, and free of weeds until established. Once they are established, they will spread like crazy and crowd out weaker plants. Remember that it will take a few years before they starti producing fruits.

Hawthorn is a deciduous tree that can grow in most temperate climates. It is tolerant of most soils, but prefers moist, alkaline soils.

These geraniums transplant well and also grow well from seed. They will grow well in sun if kept moist but prefer shady areas. If you do plant yours in the sun, be aware that they will go dormant during very hot, dry periods, but will often come back when conditions improve. The soil should be rich and humusy, like the woodland floor. If you choose the right spot, your geraniums will grow and spread with little attention from you.

For use as a ground cover, space the plants about 20 inches apart. They will spread.

Flowers bloom for a very long period, but this plant does not rebloom. Therefore, deadheading is not necessary to encourage more blooming, but you may want to do it if you want to discourage spread.

Pelargoniums are subtropical plants and are not frost hardy. Thus, they are usually treated as annuals in the garden or grown as house plants. Outdoor plants may be brought indoors in the fall and replanted again in the spring. They transplant well. There are many extremely fragrant varieties, (try Pelargonium graveolens) as well as some lovely trailing varieties that make attractive additions to the indoor garden.

Soil should be quick draining and high in organic matter and these plants should be fertilized monthly from early spring to early autumn, but do not need to be fertilized in the dark half of the year. Allow the soil to dry between waterings.

Pelagorniums can be propagated by cuttings. Simply clip off a bit of an existing plant, preferably a young shoot up 3 to 5 inches long, and put the end in moist sand or vermaculite. Keep the cutting in a warm, bright location and keep the vermaculite moist, but not wet. When a good root has formed you will not be able to easily pull the shoot straight up. It is now time to pot your new baby plant. Once it starts showing new growth, you can starti your fertilizing regimine.

If you prefer to start your plants by seed, you'll want to begin about February. Scrape the seeds with a nail file to stratify them and plant in flats about 1/8 inch deep. Keep it moist, but not wet and keep the temperature around 70 to 75 degrees farenheight. You should have baby pelagorniums in about two weeks. Make sure the babies get plenty of sunlight. You can transplant them when they are about an inch tall. Do not plant them outside until you have reliable daytime temperatures of at least 60 degrees. Cooler nights are okay.

Pelagorniums are hassled by various insects including aphids, tobacco worms, spider mites, slugs and caterpillars (but we like caterpillars). They are also susceptable to various funguses. Make sure that you've got good soil drainage and that your plants aren't overcrowded so there's good air circulation between them to minimize these problems.

Bistort prefers a moist, shady area and is great for a woodland or bog garden or it looks nice planted around an ornamental pond. Divide the root stock in early autumn or spring.