I've really never been a big fan of "Common Names" for plants,
but every once in a while, one really hits the nail on the head and
"Spring Beauty" is a resoundingly perfect tribute to
Claytonia virginica, the earliest of the early, ephemeral Spring
wildflowers. Claytonia virginica is native to over half of the US
and to several provinces in Canada -
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CLVI3 It's one of our
most beloved harbingers of Spring with its dark green, supple, almost
succulent foliage and five petaled white flowers with soft pink
veining.
Claytonia virginica grows from a small, round perennial tuber and
sets a good bit of seed so a colony will appear before you know it. I
find it useful as an early groundcover due to its diminutive height of
3" - 8". It's really very easy to grow in sun or shade
and looks lovely in the front of a perennial border or along a path in
the woods. I've even seen it naturalized in people's lawns and it's also
100% deerproof which is a great plus these days.
The genus name is in honor of John Clayton (1694–1773) who was a colonial
plant collector in Virginia. He was born in England and moved to Virginia
with his father in 1715, where he lived in Gloucester County, exploring
the region botanically. Clayton sent many specimens, as well as
manuscript descriptions, to Dutch botanist Jan Frederik Gronovius in the
1730's. Without Clayton's knowledge, Gronovius used the material in his
Flora Virginica (1739–1743, 2nd ed. 1762). Many of Clayton’s specimens
were also studied by the European botanists Carl Linnaeus and George
Clifford and it was Linnaeus that gave the genus the name
Claytonia.
A very similar native species is
Claytonia
caroliniana The two species are similar in habit and
flower, the only difference being the foliage.
Claytonia
sibirica is another species of "Spring Beauty" that is
less ephemeral, but not as
perennial.
The genus Claytonia is a member of the Portulacaceae family which is also
home to the very popular annual
Portulaca
grandiflora
I've been building a good stock of Claytonia virginica to share
with you and if your ground is frozen, not to worry, as you can specify
the shipdate for your particular area in a provided space on our online
PDF orderform.
What you'll receive are large, 5 year old bareroot blooming size tubers.
They'll arrive wrapped in long fibered, unmilled sphagnum moss. This
material is antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and a very useful
material.
The prices shown below include FREE SHIPPING on bareroot plants out of their 2" pots. If you would like to receive the plants undisturbed, in their pots, please add .95¢ per plant to cover the extra cost of shipping soil and pots.
7 for $ 35.00 delivered ($5.00 ea)
10 for $ 45.00 delivered ($4.50 ea)
15 for $ 60.00 delivered ($4.00 ea)
20 for $ 70.00 delivered ($3.50 ea)
50 for $150.00 delivered ($3.00 ea)
Larger quantities at even lower prices upon request.
Ordering couldn't be easier! Just fill out the order form at
http://www.sunfarm.com/orderform.pdf
Most of our previous weekly specials are still available. Go to -
http://sunfarm.com/specials/ to browse the archives.
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