Mystery plants for April 20

Mystery Plants Week of April 20

April 22, -

This deciduous shrub is 'Aphrodite' calycanthus! Covered in big, glossy leaves, this shrub explodes with enormous cupped flowers that look a bit like a deep red magnolia. This variety is supposed to bloom off and on all summer. The plant is in its third season in my yard so I will see how long it blooms. The plant does best with filtered sun and will grow quite large, so give it room to grow.

'Aphrodite' is a hybrid between our native Calycanthus

and the Asian species, xSinocalycanthus.

Mine has no fragrance that I can detect, but some people say they smell like pineapple, or bubblegum.

April 23 This Moss is Bryoandersonia illecebra,

commonly called worm moss or spoon-leaved moss. I think worm moss is more descriptive of the one in the picture. This picture was taken in mid-town Little Rock in a shady garden.by a friend of mine. This was a hard one for me to name. I went to my moss books, looked on line and sent the picture to various other horticulturists and no one was certain. Then I sent it to the moss experts at Moss Acres a moss specialty nursery in Pennsylvania and he responded quite quickly. I am not a moss expert, but found Bryum argenteum as the closest thing it looked like to me—or silver moss. I thought there were some silver tips in parts of the picture. Another person guessed Hypnum moss. Now we know! I asked Jim at Moss Acres if they sell this plant, and his response was they normally don’t but might be able to get some collectors to harvest some for me. I was impressed with their customer service!

Apr 24 Saxifraga stolonifera

commonly called Strawberry geranium or Strawberry begonia. As the name implies, it spreads by stolons. It can colonize in a shady garden, but it usually is not too invasive.

It is an evergreen groundcover that thrives in well-drained, moist soil. It is native to Asia. It has lovely white flowers in the spring of the year.

April 25 – Talinum paniculatum or Jewels of Opar

is the perennial plant pictured. It is actually a native plant in the southern US to Central America. The plant grows a bit larger than you see in the photos

and then by summer sends up wispy stalks of tiny pink flowers,

which are then followed by seeds which freely reseed the plant. The standard variety is green in color but Limon, pictured here has chartreuse foliage. Grows well in sun to partial shade but watch for seedlings in subsequent years as it can spread.

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