garden mysteries

19 years ago

Hello--

I am encountering the mysteries of a formerly well established, but new to me, small urban garden (Baltimore). (Between the previous gardening owner & me the garden was completely neglected for 2 years.) I am also pretty new to gardening in this region so don't know plants or predators very well.

Mystery #1: a small (5-6" high) plant came up in one of the beds and is currently flowering. The leaves are a roundish almond shape (slightly pointed at the ends), and there is a cluster of small deep pink bell-shaped flowers at the end of each stalk. I saw these plants blooming in the wild in a wooded park north of town ... anyone know what this is? Is it a "weed" or something I want to encourage? If the latter, I'd like to move it to a better place. Should I do it now? once it stops blooming? or wait until fall? It's very pretty now, but since the garden is so small I want to nip anything invasive in the bud, so to speak.

Mystery #2: I ordered some toad lilies by mail and put them out about 3 weeks ago. One by one, each of them has been mowed down to the ground. Nothing else in the garden shows any sign of damage--including pre-existing asiatic lilies that are coming up right next to where I planted the toad lilies. What is eating (or I should say, ate) them? Is there any hope that the lilies will come back, or should I write them off?

Any thoughts/clues/answers would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Jean in Balto

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Comments (8)

vladpup
19 years ago
G'Day!
- Is Mystery #1 a broadleafed evergreen or did it lose all its leaves laqst fall and is growing new? Are the newly opened blooms a bit sticky? If the former, it's a member of the laurel family, practically all of which are quite desirable. Some, such as very pretty white-and-pink "lamb-kill," are poisenous, but not attractive to nibbling (ie, "deer-proof" but not to worry about having them about.)

Happy gardening,
-vlad
cynthia_gw
19 years ago
I need more clues on the #1. Thinking bluebell buds are striking deep pink, but bell shaped blooms are lt pink and blue. 5" or 6" is short for a bluebell too (not to mention laurel Vlad :-) I don't know, dodecatheon? The leaves and color fit, but not the shape.

#2 You have a rabbit, or 30.
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laine713
19 years ago
Could #1 be bleed heart (dicentra)?
jeanleecole
Original Author
19 years ago
Re: #1. The plant is not evergreen--just pushed up out of the ground about 3 weeks ago and is now blooming. (It actually came up in almost the exact spot where I just planted a dormant ostrich fern. :-() I looked at bluebells & dodecatheon, & it's neither of those, and it's definitely not dicentra. The flowers are in a cluster, and now that I think of it, are more trumpet shaped than bell shaped. But--I will post a photo tomorrow (camera is charging now and it's dark at the moment anyway).

Re: #2. Definitely not rabbits. By "small urban yard" I mean very small and very urban. It's in the back of a rowhouse, surrounded by 6-8' high brick walls, solid gate, etc. etc. I don't think a rabbit could get in here, and have certainly never seen any around. I thought it might by snails or slugs, but see no other signs of plant damage except these plants. Could it be ... (shudder) ... RATS? We got those down here aplenty! And they seem to be able to get through the eye of a needle ... But why would they only eat the leaves of the toad lilies, and nothing else? Like the yummy daffodil bulbs, for example, which the squirrels seem to like (though they have left mine untouched).
gardener_sandy
19 years ago
Squirrels don't eat daffodil bulbs. Neither do voles or chipmunks. They're pretty much bullet proof when it comes to being eaten. But squirrels do eat tulips and other flowers. I've had tulip bulbs dug up and taken up to the deck to be devoured and went out the other day to find the blooms cut off and leaves scattered about like crumbs from a table! That's the only thing in my yard they've bothered so far but I don't grow toad lilies. Even urban yards seem to have lots of squirrels so I'd look to these tree rat pests to be your thief.
alfie_md6
19 years ago
My guess about the toad lily culprit is slugs.
lettssee
19 years ago
Is it
Astragalus distortus (Fabaceae)Ozark milkvetch
or
Lamium purpureum (Lamiaceae)purple dead-nettle?
I really like this site for finding things that are growing in my yard.
http://persoon.si.edu/dcflora/flowergallery/allimages.htm
it only has stuff that has been found growing in the dc area.
Good luck with your search
Oh yeah and I have had bunnies eating my lillies i would have never guessed slugs but they are too slow to see them in action!
jeanleecole
Original Author
19 years ago
Lettssee, thanks for the link to the DC Flora site--I looked through it ... I think the plant may be Virginia bluebells. This is the best match, but the leaves don't look quite the same (they are less pointy). Unfortunately, I the photo I took won't paste into this message for some reason. In any case, I'm pretty sure it's either this or a close relation. I guess I should keep it in the garden? (Sorry to the earlier poster about dismissing the initial bluebells suggestion--it really doesn't look at all like the traditional bluebells.)

Re: mystery #2. Squirrels or slugs, either would make sense. Oh well. It was just an experiment to plant the toad lilies, anyway. I guess I'll chalk up one to mother nature & try something else.

Thanks for all the replies! If anyone has any further ideas on the bluebells or whatever it is, please let me know!

Jean