shows Blue False Indigo in bloom at the Alcove Garden

Singing the Blues

The Alcove Garden

Author: Amanda C.

The False, or Wild, Blue Indigo, Baptisia australis, is in bloom at the Alcove for the first time. Baptisias are a lovely perennial, and they grow big enough to appear more like a shrub in the summer garden. At full size, they can be over 1.5 meters tall and wide. They grow significant taproots, meaning they’re drought-tolerant, but difficult to move. (Hmm, and this one is very close to the snowberry bushes already. Something will have to be done about that. Even experienced gardeners can make mistakes in placement.) Being legumes, they fix nitrogen in the soil. And baptisias are the only known larval food of the Indigo Duskywing butterfly.

Baptisias are an exclusively American genus, ranging across the continent. B. australis is the one which grows the furthest north. Many of the others have white or yellow flowers rather than blue-purple, and cross-breeding has produced hybrids flowering in various purple, bronze and bi-coloured combinations also. The seed pods can be an attractive feature after flowering.

Why ‘Indigo’ in the name, when most species aren’t blue-flowering? It was reported as being used as a substitute for real indigo (also a legume family member), to produce a blue dye. At least one species of Baptisia, B. tinctoria, does produce some blue pigment, but it seems to be a very small amount – one modern dyer who tried it found that a pickup truck bed full of plant material was only able to dye about 30 grams of wool light blue. So it seems that False Indigo, rather than Wild Indigo, is the more accurate common name for the genus.

shows Blue False Indigo in bloom at the Alcove Garden

False Blue Indigo in bloom at the Alcove Garden

Photo: Amanda C.

Shows a small native bee on potentilla flowers

Bees in Season

The Alcove Garden

Author: Amanda C.

A work colleague mentioned this week that she had seen a small black bee crawling into some bamboo cane she had on her balcony, presumably nesting in it, and wanted to get some flowers for the bee and any friends that came. She didn’t have a picture, though, so the question was, what bee was it and what would it eat? Some research found the information that there are possibly several small, black, cavity-nesting bee species active here at this season, and that some are generalists (i.e. they aren’t picky eaters), but the specialist (picky) ones mostly like plants in the rose family – which includes roses, obviously, but also things like potentillas and strawberries.

The next day at the Alcove Garden, the potentillas (Dasiphora fruticosa) were in full bloom. And lo and behold, they were hosting at least two different types of small black bees! If you’re not really looking, you may not notice them, or you may wonder if they’re flying ants; they’re about ant-sized, and they don’t sit down for long or make noise compared to what we expect from the larger bumblebees and honeybees. But they are out there zipping about and doing their job of pollinating. Crouch or sit close to a potentilla shrub and watch for a few minutes this week, and you may see them in action.

Shows a small native bee on potentilla flowers

A small dark native bee gathers pollen from a flower in a blooming potentilla shrub.

Photo: Amanda C.

Shows a bloodroot seedling near the parent plant

Ants Ahoy

The Alcove Garden

Author: Amanda C.

Well, we know we’ve got ants in the garden at the Alcove! Which is not the bad thing some people think it is. All right, no-one likes having an ant-hill pop up under their moss phlox. But ants are important seed dispersers for a number of native plant species with relatively large heavy seeds, including bloodroot, wild ginger, and trillium. The seeds of these plants include a fatty growth, called an elaiosome, on the surface, which the ants want to take and store for food. So they pick up the seeds and bring them home, and when the elaiosome has been eaten, the seed gets put on their midden/compost heap. So the seed gets essentially planted in compost by the ants, and has a chance to sprout at a distance from the mother plant. The baby bloodroot shown here is close to the parent, but other seedlings of this, and the wild ginger, are showing up over a foot from the parent plants, so someone’s moving them!

Shows a bloodroot seedling near the parent plant

A bloodroot seedling near the parent plant. Seedlings of bloodroot and ginger farther from the plant are probably moved by ants using the seed elaiosome for food.

Photo: Amanda C.

Shows new shoots of Virginia bluebells emerging purple in the spring

Signs of Spring

The Alcove Garden

Author: Amanda C.

The weather’s been warm enough this past week that things have started growing quite nicely. A quick rooting around at the Alcove to see how things had wintered showed the Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginiana) I put in late last season had survived and were coming up, with leaves and flower buds showing in shades of violet. Very exciting, because they were dormant when I planted them (they go dormant early), so there was no real way to tell if they had survived until now! Some of the violet colour is probably from the cooler weather – there were other purple-tinged shoots of things in the garden – but soon enough it will turn to green leaves and pink and blue flowers.

 Some of the other garden inhabitants were enjoying the warm weather as well. While I was checking under the leaf mulch for new shoots of things, I came across several seven-spotted ladybugs, awake, and clearly ready for another season of their aphid-fighting duties after their winter’s rest.

Shows new shoots of Virginia bluebells emerging purple in the spring

The purple shoots of Virginia bluebell leaves and flower buds emerging from the soil at the Alcove Garden in April

Photo: Amanda C.

Shows the Alcove garden ready for winter.

Ready for Winter

The Alcove Garden

Amanda Carrigan

Winterizing a garden for most people means cutting down all the perennials, and raking the leaves up, maybe wrapping or covering a few tender plants. But from the point of view of the ecosystem, this leaves the garden a wasteland, with little or no food and shelter to be found for wildlife, and no organic matter left to break down and add nutrients and humus to the soil.

Winterizing the Alcove Garden is pretty much the opposite. Nothing gets cut down, and the whole space is mulched with leaves, mostly from the maple in the shade bed, plus some brought in from elsewhere. The leaves and standing plants make a good place for many invertebrates, and their eggs or larvae, to winter, and provide shelter for small animals. The eggs and larvae, as well as seeds and fruit on the plants will provide food for birds and mammals active during the winter. And come spring, the leaves and plant debris will be breaking down and improving the soil. So much less work this way, with so many benefits to the garden and wildlife!

Shows the Alcove garden ready for winter.

The Alcove Garden, prepared for winter by adding a layer of leaves but with plants left standing to provide food and shelter for wildlife.

Photo: Amanda Carrigan

eudbeckia in the Alcove garden, October '22

Late Bloomers

The Alcove Garden

Author: Amanda Carrigan

October is well advanced, but there are still flowers in the garden, and a few late bees fueling up for winter hibernation. Among the late bloomers: pink turtlehead, rudbeckia, multiple aster species, sneezeweed (Helenium), wild clematis, and zigzag goldenrod. 

eudbeckia in the Alcove garden, October '22

Rudbeckia hirta blooming in the Alcove Garden mid-October.

Photo: Amanda Carrigan

shows the bloom of a swamp milkweed plant

Milkweed Season

The Alcove Garden

Author: Amanda Carrigan

All the milkweeds are blooming in the garden! Milkweed (Asclepias species) is widespread in North America, and is best known as being necessary for monarch butterflies to raise their caterpillars. Three species of milkweed are present in the Alcove garden; A. tuberosa or butterfly weed, with bright orange flowers, A. incarnata or swamp milkweed, tall and dark pink flowered, and common milkweed or A. syriaca with sweet scented balls of light pink blooms. 

Milkweeds defend themselves from getting eaten by producing toxins in the latex/sap. Species like monarchs who eat milkweed can metabolize the toxins and use them to make themselves bad tasting, so less attractive to predators. Besides monarch caterpillars, several other insect species manage to eat milkweeds. Usually they indicate their lack of palatability by bright colouring.

shows the bloom of a swamp milkweed plant

Swamp milkweed blooming in the Alcove garden

Photo: Amanda Carrigan

shows a Toxomerus sp. of syrphid fly on a yarrow blossom

The Little Things

The Alcove Garden

Author: Amanda Carrigan

It’s easy to see the larger insects in the garden, like the bumblebees. But don’t forget to look for the smaller ones. Some of them pack a surprising amount of punch for their size. 

Right now two of the common tiny flying beneficial insects you are likely to see are flies: Toxomerus species of syrphid/flower flies, and Condylostylus species of long-legged flies. The little flower flies (pictured here on a yarrow blossom) look like tiny bees, but have very distinctive markings when examined more closely. They can hover and dart in the air, and have an endearing way of wagging their tails (abdomen tips) up and down when they sit on a flower. The long-legged flies are even tinier, and a shiny metallic green, gold, or bronze all over. Although the flower flies may be seen visiting flowers for nectar and pollen, the larvae of both kinds of flies are predators of small, soft-bodied critters, including garden pests like aphids, whiteflies, and thrips.

shows a Toxomerus sp. of syrphid fly on a yarrow blossom

A syrphid fly sits on the lower part of a yarrow flowerhead.

Photo: Amanda Carrigan

shows daisy fleabane blooming in the Alcove garden

What’s a Weed?

The Alcove Garden

Author: Amanda Carrigan

One of the things about growing a native plant garden is that native species that would be ‘weeds’ in a traditional space can be recognized as flowering plants with a role to play. Some examples would be the biennial evening primrose mentioned in the previous post, and the annual daisy fleabane, which has also volunteered at the Alcove garden. The latter, (Erigeron annuus), is native to the eastern half of the continent, and does reseed prolifically, but it is easy to remove unwanted seedlings, and the tall sprays of delicate white and yellow daisy flowers are a nice accent in a wildflower/native garden. A member of the Asteraceae family, its flowers are visited by a number of native bees, flies, and wasps. So it is worth keeping a handful of the plants in the Alcove, although some will be pulled before the seed matures to prevent excessive numbers of seedlings next year.

shows daisy fleabane blooming in the Alcove garden

Annual daisy fleabane blooming in the Alcove garden.

Photo: Amanda Carrigan

shows sundrops blooming at the Alcove garden mid June

A drop of sun

The Alcove Garden

Author: Amanda Carrigan

It was a chill grey day for our Meet the Monarch pollinator education/fun day at KUC and the Alcove Garden yesterday, but the sundrops were out in full force, adding cheerful colour. A member of the evening primrose family, sundrops do best in sun and well-drained but not dry soil. They spread quickly but are easy to control, with shallow roots. Members of the family support a couple species of specialist bees. There are both northern and southern species of sundrops, Oenethera tetragona and O. fruticosa, respectively. They are quite similar, and both hardy here, so we’re not sure which one is at the Alcove garden. As well, a cousin species, Oenethera biennis, a tall biennial species of evening primrose with smaller flowers than the sundrops, has volunteered at the garden, so we hope it will stay. 

shows sundrops blooming at the Alcove garden mid June

Lemon-yellow sundrops in bloom at the Alcove garden mid-June, mixed with blue-purple flowers of catmint.

Photo: Amanda Carrigan