I know! My friend said there is some rare, beautiful white flower that is indiginous to this particular little corner of Illinois. I sent her the pictures as well, and I’m hoping this is what it is. I put logs (from the Great Tree To Deck Debacle) around it so I don’t lose it in the weeds and grass. If I need to dig it up to protect it, I’m standing at the ready!
The three variegated leaves look to me like some type of trillium. Possibly Yellow Trillium, although if you’re really lucky you could have a lawn covered with Red Trillium (aka ‘Stinking Willie’–“smells like a wet dog.”)
On the other hand, if it sprouts an enormous, roughly humanoid-shaped pod during the night, then it’s almost certainly not a trillium.
Well, it’s either dig it up or mow it down. There’s a better chance of it surviving if I move it to a non-mowing area. Not much chance of that happening for at least another week, but I’ll have to deal with it sometime.
Another agreement of Trillium. I used to have a river bank full of them. They were lovely, and kind of reminded me of the foliage seen in dinosaur-themed movies.
Kalhoun, frustrating; your photo link won’t appear for me, tried a couple of times, and no go, just won’t display the photo. I know trilliums fairly well. Here’s a USDA page for trilliums, scroll down a bit for Related Taxa to get the maps of different state populations. Perhaps you can find the one you have there.
As to transplanting it, if it’s a trillium, it would be better to wait a month, after bloom, even if not bloom, after active growth, to reduce stress on it. If you can’t wait due to mowing, lift it up with a lot of the soil around it, not just bareroots, and make sure you water it well after the transplanting. Trilliums are precious plants, they are slow to grow, so appreciate it as a treasure.
That is a neat looking plant! I’ve added it to my list of possible flowers to try to make a wire sculpture of. I still haven’t quite worked out how to get an Iris (petals, stem and leaves out of one wire) yet though. That sixth petal is a doozy! This one might be a bit more doable though, since it’s three petals and three leaves with no stem inbetween.
ETA: What I mean by doable is, it becomes rather a snarl by the sixth petal, they don’t want to stay in position etc. It’s a matter of trial and error for me is all.
Thanks for that map! I found my county in Illinois and they say the Whip-por-wil (sp) is the variety that grows here, but this doesn’t look the same as those. Here’s the link again. Maybe it was just being finnicky. http://new.photos.yahoo.com/karlen1956/album/576460762399780687
I hate Yahoo! photos but I haven’t gotten around to moving mine yet.
I think I’m going to get one of those tomato plant wire thingies to put over it. I can trim the grass around it with scissors until after the bloom. I am also going to try to find more information on moving it. If anyone out there has ever tried that, please chime in. Ooooh! I’m so excited!!!
I scoped around on transplanting, and as elelle said, after the bloom is the best time. I’m just so amazed that they can be so prolific and yet take so long to mature!
I have a shady, dampish area in front of my house. There is almost no grass and we actually hardly ever go to that part of the yard. I think that would be a good spot to put it, since it won’t be disturbed. With any luck, maybe this little dude will multiply. I’m going to take pictures every day to record its progress.
It’s looking like it will be red. New progress photo to follow. Sorry I’m such a dork about this. I can’t tell you how tickled I am that it sprouted up in my yard after all the abuse our lot has taken.
Truth be told, I probably would have missed it and mowed it down if Mr. K wasn’t dragging his feet about getting the mower up and running. It’ll be a jungle by the end of the week!
Trillium is one of my favorite spring ephemerals (along with trout lily, blood root, and mayapple).
It should transplant pretty well and reproduce.
The shady, dampish spot should be good. Trillium and other ephemerals leaf out and bloom early, before the trees leaf out and completely shade their location.
We’ve got tons, and my wife was just asking the other day if I knew anyone who wanted any.
Do you?
IMO, no N IL garden should be without some ephemerals, and other natives like Solomon’s seal (“true” and false), jack-in-the-pulpit, ginger, columbine, etc.
I would like some, but unfortunately I have no way of getting them right now. Thanks for the offer, though.
I was unaware the columbine was native to Illinois. I know they’re the Colorado state flower. I had some here a few years back (from the nursery) and they did well for quite a while before they tanked on me.