Gaura

I have been eyeing this median strip planting on Houston Street for a few weeks now. Each day on my way to work, I mean to stop by and take a few photos of the Gaura that's blooming there.

I finally got around to it yesterday.


Gaura lindheimeri or Gaura, or wandflower or butterfly gaura is a sweet, light, long blooming native perennial. The tall stems on which the flowers sit - in the right planting - can catch the wind easily, thus the name for this cultivar, 'Whirling Butterflies.'


Guara is derivative of the Greek word 'gauros' which means superb, majestic and proud. Lindheimeri comes from the name of Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer, a German-born man who ultimately found political exile in Texas. He is considered the 'Father of Texas Botany' - at least according to his wikipedia page.

Clethra alnifolia

Right near the oakleaf hydrangea from Wednesday's post, stands a Clethra alnifolia, or summersweet or sweet pepperbush, preparing to bloom.


Clethra is a native, summer-flowering, disease-resistant, fragrant shrub with lovely red fall color. So as a result it's clearly a wonderful plant to have on your palette. The one drawback it does have is that it's very late to leaf out. Your lilacs will be in bloom and bulbs will be popping out of the ground, but if you don't know any better, all you'll do is obsess over whether or not that damn clethra has died on you. It hasn't; it just likes to sleep in, so to speak. This is hardly a dealbreaker - the plant is too lovely not to use. Just forewarn skittish clients, or tuck it further back on a border so other things can mask it's bareness in the spring.



Clethra is literally the Greek name for alder (which I suppose is confusing for Greek people learning plants) and alnifolia is Latin for Alnus (alder) like foliage.

Aquilegia

Columbine, or Aquilegia, is in bloom right now. The white one below (most likely a cultivar of A. hybrida) is growing just near the courts at Tompkins Square Park.




Many columbines are native to the Rockies and other mountainous areas in the west. They grow best at high altitudes, but are very popular perennials elsewhere. They self-seed readily but are not invasive. A spring ephemeral, the foliage will die back in late June, when the weather gets quite hot.


I suspect part of the reason the plant is so popular in the nursery trade is due to the very showy, very unique flower structure. The petals form into nectar spurs. That alone may be hint enough that one of the pollinators of this plant is a moth -- moths have long proboscises to access the nectar. Native Americans would often use the flowers as an edible garnish, but other parts of the plant are highly toxic.

Aquilegia -- of which there are over sixty species -- is in the Ranunculaceae, or buttercup, famliy, and is a relative of the also-toxic Aconitum.

Fothergilla

Fothergilla species are in bloom right now, and my guess is that the ones below, blooming in Teardrop Park, are Fothergilla x gardenii, as that's the smaller, dwarf species.


Any type of Fothergilla is pretty cool though, due to the unusual flowers. The white spikes are the stamens and there are no petals on the flowers whatsoever.



Fothergilla is native to the southeast United States, is relatively deer resistant and has very few diseases. I have also seen it in Union Square and Tompkins Square Parks, so that demonstrates the plant's fortitude.


It is in the Hamamelidaceae family, and is thus cousins with witch hazel. It would be easy to guess this as the leaves on Fothergilla have that same distinctive spatula-shape, only smaller.

Erythronium

Here's a shot of Erythronium grandiflora, or glacier lily, growing in Jefferson Market. This is a new plant for me. I noticed it growing in the southeast corner of the park


Erythronium is a Liliacaea family bulb, native to North America, particularly in the low lands of the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas. This is also why it has the other common name of yellow avalanche lily.



Erythronium grandiflorum shares the genus name with about twenty other species, with common names such as trout lily, E. americanum (due to the fishlike, speckled leaves) and dogtooth violet, E. dens-canis (due to the tooth-shape of the bulb).