Mr. Green Jons

My secret is not about dirt, either.

I’m against non-native, invasive, noxious species.  Those things that at some point we thought we wanted or needed but have now gotten out of hand and they just muddy up the waters for everything else that’s trying to grow and green.  There are so many plants that I see growing wild due to man’s folly and it makes me think about what’s not living there because of it.  With that in mind, I confess that I have introduced something into my garden that I really shouldn’t have: spring beauties (Claytonia virginica).

I brought these with me from Illinois when I moved to Portland.  They’d actually been with me in the Chicago suburbs for a year or two.  When I dug myself a portion of mint from my mom’s house, I inadvertently dug up some spring beauties too.  I unwittingly took the beauties to live with me in the suburbs when I moved the mint.  I was pleasantly surprised the next spring when the popped up alongside the mint.  What I find ironic about my little beauties is that the western U.S. has a surprisingly high number of native spring beauties, but me, I’ve got a sample of a variety from the eastern U.S.  I could have had any number of beauties and I chose these little ones.  They had me at “hello”.

When this plant surfaces in the springtime (about 2-3 weeks ago to be semi-accurate) they stick long slender serpentine leaves up through the soil.  As the leaves get longer and more robust, they next develop delicate stems and buds.  Voila!  A week later you’ve got the kind of flower any bride would be pleased to carry down the aisle.

So, I’m guilty and I’m a hypocrite.  I do what I encourage others not to, but when a flower is so precious as to be named “spring beauty” how can you be mad at it?  Look at the picture below and tell me they aren’t lovely.  Can you see the tiny pink lines on the petals and the pink stamen?