Hellebore surprise in the Pennsylvania woods
Rampageous wisteria in the Pennslyvania woods

Virginia bluebells in blue - and pink

Mertensia virginica growing on a streamside in PA. Image ©GardenPhotos.com
Driving close to where I spotted those naturalized snowdrops I mentioned here a few weeks ago – on my way back from my first session of cardiac rehab – I stopped for another look and found that the snowdrops, of course, were being overwhelmed by other vegetation including a star of our spring flora here in Pennsylvania – Virginia bluebell, Mertensia virginica (above, click to enlarge).

I haven’t come across lovely perennial this too often in this area but here it was growing in damp soil near a seasonal stream (dry at the moment). There were mature clumps, small plants and young non-flowering plants so it seems to be doing well.

Then, when I got home and was looking round the garden, I found that one of our clumps of the same plant A pink flowered shoot on a plant of Mertensia virginica in the garden. Image ©GardenPhotos.comhad produced two shoots with pink flowers (left, click to enlarge). Even on the usual blue-flowered plants the buds are pink, but soon mature to blue as they open. On these two shoots the flowers remained pink, though they seemed a little smaller than the nearby blue flowers.

White flowered forms with pale green leaves are also known, as well as plants with very pale blue flowers, and years ago I also saw plants with smoky bluish-purple purple flowers. They were all lovely. As soon as the clump sporting both pink and flowered shoots dies down in summer, I’ll lift it and split it to isolate the pinks. Not I just need to get my hands on the white one and the smoky one and the pale blue one…

There’s a fascinating chapter on these plants in Carol Gracie’s superb book Spring Wildflowers Of The Northeast.

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