Dirty Fingers Muddy Knees

Outdoors, Where the Wild Things Are

by Susan | Jun 17, 2016 | Traveling Plantswoman

One of the main reasons I left an accounting career to do garden design was so I could be outdoors. At first gardening was just a way to be outdoors and still make a living. Now gardening has turned into a passion, not just a job. However, I still look for ways to get outside. This past weekend it was a trip to the Tubal Cain trail. I like to mix in my love of plants with my love of outdoors. Often I’m left behind while I stop over and over to check out a plant that caught my eye.

Rhododendron macrophyllum - northwest native

I was hoping to see some wildflowers but did think it was a little early to see much. I never expected to see the native rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum) in such amazing beautiful color. The understory of much of the trail was completely covered in blooming Rhododendron. In different phases of bloom and different colors of pink, the blooms went from deep pink purple to light cotton candy pink.

Along the trail on the way up there were brilliant red columbine Aquilegia Formosa tucked into shady places. The scree (gravel washes) had Cornus Canadensis, Saxifraga and Clintona uniflora or queen’s cup growing along the edge of the trail. Frittilaria lancelota was up and solid green. The tip of the flower had been formed but was still small and the same color.

My goal was to get to the alpine meadow at the end of the trail. The long slope was flowering with early spring/summer flowers. Mountain phlox, lupine, campanula, penstemon and Thalictrum were just beginning to bloom showing soft subtle colors this early in the year. As the summer progresses their colors will change to more brilliant shades.

We sat down to eat our lunch on a rock next to the trail, turned around and were surprised to see the large form of Mt Buckthorn in front of us. Clouds were moving around it and the sun was playing with shadows and forms on the snow.

Turning around after 2 ½ hours we came back down the trail still looking for a coral root. I finally spotted this hardy orchid and tried to get a good picture but all of the photos came out poorly. This photo is from the Native Plant Society of Washington.

Western Coralroot, Corollorhiza mertensiana

If you get a chance to take a walk, go now. The Rhododendrons will be blooming for a couple of weeks still and the variety of wildflowers blooming will just keep getting better. The trail is an easy 8 – 10 miles round trip with elevation gain of only 1000 feet over 4 miles. Take your camera, pack your lunch, and have beer in the cooler when you get back. That’s the way to hike.

Mid-Century Woodland Garden

by Susan | Jun 10, 2016 | LB Tutorial: Design Challenge

A beautiful house with history and modern lines, a stand of old mature fir trees, and wonderful clients, what more could a designer ask for?

This lovely home was remodeled and updated about 6 years ago. Built many years ago without permits it was a definite challenge. A sensitive contractor and clients with good design esthetics made for a gracious custom home. After the remodel the garden was kept clean and tidy but did not really have the same level of design and materials as the house did.

I was excited to be involved. Some of the challenges of the site were the same as in the house. How to keep the eclectic history of the garden with large trees and native plants while creating an entry walk worthy of the house. A bamboo fence added a little of an Asian feel, leaving it was important because of the history but we didn’t want the garden to be a Japanese style garden. I minimized it with a much more dominate walkway and plantings that draw the focus down to the entry of the house.

Before

Thinning out the Acer circinatum, native Vine Maple, was a hard sell for my clients. Getting to see the thin lines of trunks with their twists and beautiful bark, uncluttered the mid level of the garden was an important element. It becomes a lighter space, and you are able to view the entry while walking through the tall dark fir trees, and lovely light green trunks and leaves of the maples.

The walkway was created out of poured concrete that was acid washed. Subtle down lighting illuminated the area to walk on without giving too much light that would distract from the garden itself. By creating an indirect path it gives an opportunity to pause on the way down to the front door. Sometimes walkways that go down to an entry are more difficult to feel at ease on. The front cement stoop was removed and stone tiles that match the inside hallway stone were added. This creates a visual that draws the eye from the front porch through the entire house to the view out the front windows. A sense of arrival that is a real reward for walking down the pathway.

Stone on the edges of the walkway (Silver Falls Ledgestone) keep the walkway clean from higher soil levels along the path. These are also softened with a combination of two types of Baby Tears. Bright green plant foliage also lightens up the area. Japanese maples and mugo pines were on the property along with some additions from the client’s other home. Many of them were moved into new positions that made them more important. Focal points were created in different areas, with dog proof groundcovers on the edges of the pathways. A fine gravel, granite ¼ inch minus, (also called decomposed granite) gives a solid pathway that is still friendly to dog paws.

Guests are always excited to come and visit and while sorry to leave, the walkway gives a beautiful, totally different perspective on the way out.

Design ideas:

Work with what you can keep on a site. You don’t always have to take everything out and start over. Leaving some of the plants on a site give a sense of history to a garden.

Design for all the users of the garden. The first bright green grass I used (hakonechloa macra aureola) had to be replaced because the clients two dogs loved it so much they ate it. The acorus graminus, sweet flag grass, is just as lovely without the same attraction for the dogs.

Create interesting perspectives from different areas of the garden. Coming in should be different than leaving and cameos of special plants can be scattered around the garden.

Plants I Dig: Rare Plant Trials

by Susan | May 23, 2016 | Plants I Dig

Most of you know I like a challenge. Whether it is growing something that many people can’t, killing something many people don’t, or knowing a plant that someone sends me a photo of. Rare plants can be a challenge. While I love the happy prolific plants in my garden I really love the difficult ones. Maybe because I’m difficult? Perhaps…

I’m also impatient. I stress about a plant that I think I’ve lost in the garden. I search and can’t find it where it is supposed to be. Then I make a call, click a button, or go on a hunt and there is another one to replant. Most of the replanting is followed by ‘Oh there it is’. Now I have two, or three (it is good to plant in sweeps).

Paris polyphylla ‘Heronswood form’ - blooming

This lovely Paris is a Heronswood form (Paris polyphylla ‘Heronswood form’) and something I’ve lusted after for a while. I purchased one several years ago and lost it in the garden. Last year I purchased one from the Heronswood sale, and planted it close to the house. This year I searched for evidence of the plant still there. It is in a spot that tends to get animal activity (dog, cat, bird, rabbit) and although fenced off I felt I lost it. Off I go last week and grab another at Windcliff plant sale. This one (number three) I decided to plant up in the shade garden next to the upper pond. Maybe it would fare better there and be out of danger of being trampled. I grabbed a couple of coleus to fill in the spot where my other lovely plant should be and low and behold there is the leaf pushing out of the ground. It is definitely there just a tad slower to show up. Looking on the bright side, now I can experiment with site placement to see which place is better. Hardy to zone 5 with average soil, regular water and bright shade it should be easy to experiment with. The green flowers are amazing!

Exotic and mysterious is the Roscoea cautleyoides. It is from a ginger family Zingiberaceae. It looks very orchid like to me and grows well under the apple tree with the Paris and a Dactylorhiza maculata. This one is blooming early and happily next to the slow Paris. The lovely yellow blooms are brilliant in this little shady spot and, unlike most Gingers, it likes part sun/part shade. It gets a good blast of sun in the afternoon. It does like to be moist and is surprisingly hardy to zone 6a.

Out of all the things that are blooming in my garden I can’t get over the orchids. Again and again they scream for my attention. Not that they are big and loud, they simply have a quiet mystery that calls.

Dactylorhiza maculata is also surprisingly easy to grow. The upright cluster of purple orchid flowers is held above wonderful spotted leaves. It loves moist ground and will grown in shaded spots or even full sun with good moisture. This one came from Cistus Nursery two years ago and is increasing in this bed. I will probably experiment with site placement in the fall and move some of it up to the stream side upper pond.

Tempted into a little more difficult orchid, the Epipaticus sabine fit the spot. Even though it is touted by Kelly at Far Reaches to be easy to grow, I was worried. But as you can see it is happy in the garden by the upper pond. There are several stalks of lovely orange red flowers. It does like moist rich soil and a partly shady spot. Hardy to Zone 5 with promise of multiplying well I’m excited to see how it does going forward.

Some gardeners have a hard time spending a lot of money on just one plant. Even though I have lots of room for ‘test’ garden and most of my experiments have benefits for my clients, I am also cautious about spending too much on individual plants. Knowing I can succeed with specific cultivars boosts my confidence in growing more of the same. But I like to be sure they are not on my ‘I killed that’ list before investing more time, money and garden space. I encourage you to try just one or two things out of your comfort zone this year. Here is the plant combination that I used. Try one, try them all, I’d love to see what you come up with!

Ho Hum? I Think Not!

by Susan | May 6, 2016 | plants

This is the Pacific Northwest. As we drive through neighborhoods, parking lots, and walk through forest trails and parks we see Rhododendrons. Actually, we kind of get tired of seeing Rhododendrons for sale everywhere, and planted everywhere. Even in the design community we tend to avoid using them whenever possible. Like anything that is overdone we try to look for something new and different.

Secretly though, I have several favorites in my Garden. One of my favorite people is Robert Zimmerman from Chimicum Gardens. He is an amazing Rhododendron grower. Most of his plants are species, personally collected in the wild by him. He has educated me and tempted me to add to my collection and plant really amazing rhododendrons in my client’s gardens.

This one comes from Robert Zimmerman. Although a zone 8 plant and only hardy to 15 degrees it is happy here in my new garden beds. The structure is great, and the fragrance captivates from over 10 feet away. The lovely clear blossoms almost transparent with a lovely pinkish blush while in bud.

Rhododendron ‘Fragrantissimum’

Regarded as one of the most fragrant Rhododendrons. It is a medium-sized evergreen shrub. Blooming heavily in mid spring, its large, trumpet-shaped frilly white flowers, up to 2.5 inches wide have a bright yellow throat and are delicately blushed with pink on the outside.

Held in small loose trusses the blooms are really stunning with hairy dark green leaves with impressed veins. The main attraction is really it honeysuckle fragrance. Although it is more tender than many other Rhododendrons it is hardy to 15F and has been great in my garden. It is under high shade and near the upper pond so it may have a little more shelter there.

Grows 3 – 5 ft tall and wide.

Grows in part shade in moist, acidic, hummus-y well-drained soils.

Rhododendron ‘Ebony Pearl’ is a hybrid grown by Briggs Nursery. It has copper new leaves and dark foliage. It has put on good growth since being here and this year the blooms are amazing. It moved from underneath a cedar tree where it struggled to survive to a moist shaded bed with good soil and good drainage.

Grows to 6’ hardy to -5F.

Grows in part shade in moist, acidic, hummus-y soils.

Lovely warm yellow orange is beautiful in the spring. The Exbury Azalea ‘Golden Flare’ has a reddish-orange blotch and has a soft fragrance. It is deciduous so the fall color is a added bonus.

Grows to 6’ and is hardy to zone 5

Grows in sun to part sun with adequate water.

These are my secret Rhododendron passions. I have several more that aren’t blooming just now but have a special place in my garden.

And So It Begins…

by Susan | Apr 22, 2016 | LB Tutorial: Growing Food

The days have been very warm for April and the garden beds are ready to plant. I don’t know about you but sometimes I get carried away with new seeds I’ve purchased and forget about the old ones. This year I sorted through my boxes of seeds and found several packs with just a few seeds left that were outdated. Wondering about the germination of old seeds (and reading about them too) I decided to plant some in the greenhouse to see if they would germinate.

The zucchini seeds were from 2011 Italian seed source. Out of 12 planted 6 came up which is actually a pretty good ratio. I will get them into the garden this next week. My first vegetables were planted last week using the expired seeds also. Germination was a little spotty but it is warm this year and there is plenty of time to reseed if needed. Seeds of spinach, arugula, lettuce and radishes went into the beds that still look a little rough.

Mushroom compost is my usual amendment for the vegetable beds. This year instead of my purchase of bagged mushroom compost I decided to purchase it by the yard. The compost was not as smooth and delicate as the bagged goods. I was hoping that it would breakdown a little more after the prep of last month. It didn’t really look like much of a change but I took the chance and planted anyway. The seedlings are tough! They are coming through the organic matter just fine.

melon seed packages, botanical interests

New to me this year are the Cucamelon or Mouse Melon and the Ha Ogen Melon. Last year my first ever cantaloupe was so thrilling. I know, thrilling, really? Well, never thinking it was possible to grow them, and then actually eating them was, for me, thrilling.

I found a recipe on #gardenchat for pickled Cucamelons. They were so beautiful I had to try them. They are not up in the greenhouse yet but I should see them soon.

Here are the specifics for the Cucamelon:

botanical interests cucamelon seeds, cucamelon seed package

Cucamelon Mouse Melon HEIRLOOM Seeds

Melothria scabra

90 days. Cute, grape-sized fruits look like tiny watermelons but have a cucumber flavor, often with a hint of tartness. Also called sandita or Mexican sour gherkin because the fruits turn more sour as they mature. Long vines up to 10′ produce plenty of “watermelons” to harvest from summer to fall. Plants don’t seem to be affected by insects that typically cause problems with cucumbers and melons. A terrific container or hanging basket variety!

Days to Emerge:
7 – 21 Days

Seed Depth:
1/4″

Seed Spacing:
3 seeds per mound

Mound Spacing:
4′

Thinning:
Not required

When to sow outside: 1 to 2 weeks after average last frost, and when soil temperature is at least 65°F.

When to start inside: 4 to 6 weeks before average last frost.

Harvesting: Pick fruits when about the size of a grape or under 1″ long for best flavor. As fruits mature, sourness increases.

The Ha Ogen melon matures in less time than the Cucamelon so it should do even better in my garden. I’m still remembering a melon I had in the San Juan’s at a farmer’s market there. It was amazing and looked similar to this one. Hopefully it will taste the same.

Here are the Melon Ha Ogen details:

botanical interests melon ha ogen seeds, melon ha ogen seed package

Melon Ha Ogen Organic HEIRLOOM Seeds

70 days. One of the sweetest, most aromatic melons you will ever taste! Ha Ogen is quick-growing, open-pollinated melon that has a long history of devoted connoisseurs. The 3–5 pound fruits are pale green inside with a salmon-colored ring around the seed cavity and a sweet and spicy flavor. If you have room in your garden to grow only one melon this year, Ha Ogen should be your first choice!

Days to Emerge:
5-10 days

Seed Depth:
1/2″

Seed Spacing:
2-3 seeds per mound

Mound Spacing:
4′-6′ apart

Thinning:
Not required

When to sow outside: 1 to 2 weeks after average last frost, and when soil temperature is above 60°F.

When to start inside: Recommended for cold winter climates. 2 to 4 weeks before average last frost. To minimize transplant stress, use paper or pulp pots and transplant pots directly into soil.

Harvesting: Harvesting at the right time is very important with melons. Commercial growers harvest before melons are ripe, forcing them to ripen off the vine, but the last few days of ripening on the vine put a lot of sugars into the melon; so melons taste significantly better when vine ripened. How do you know when Ha Ogen melons are ripe? A ripe melon will have a pleasant, fruity aroma at the blossom end; and a crack will form on the stem right near the point of attachment (this is called the “slip stage”). In a few days, the melon will detach from the vine with little effort and pressure. If it is somewhat difficult to detach the fruit from the vine, the melon is not ready yet. Do not allow to over-ripen.

In the garden right now the purple sprouting broccoli from last year and the rhubarb are looking great! Almost time for some rhubarb deserts!

Every gardener should plant a seed. There is something about the anticipation of the plant emerging from the soil that creates spring. It is actually your tangible contribution to the cycle of life. While instant gratification is all the rage and can definitely be seen in the massive amounts of seedlings in the stores the planting of the seed itself in the warm earth connects you to the earth in a different way. Even if you usually don’t plant seeds, give it a try. Whether flower seeds or vegetable seeds give it a try this year. Oh! I think I still have some expired seeds to share too! Just leave a comment and I’ll send you some.

The Seductive Magnolia

by Susan | Apr 15, 2016 | plants

I’m not from the south but I could be. I love the beautiful flowers of magnolias. When My oldest moved to South Carolina with her husband I had my first over the top magnolia experience. Walking downtown Beaufort the overwhelming scent of sweet lemony magnolia was amazing. Since that time it has been a bit of a passion to have magnolias in my garden.

In South Carolina one of the most planted magnolias is the ‘Magnolia Grandiflora’. It is a lovely evergreen with large flowers and glossy green leaves. The blooms are bigger than your hand and creamy white. The trees can grow very large and somehow manage to escape the winds of hurricanes. I love the cultivar ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’, both are more compact and able to handle the load of our occasional snow without broken branches.

A favorite from just a few years ago is the Magnolia ‘Black Tulip’. This is a cultivar that I’ve been planting about 5 years. Monrovia Nursery is now growing and selling it. I love the dark red/pink color. Now if you know me I’m not a big fan of pink. I like colors to be what they are. Either red or white, pink seems between colors not either.

This lovely tree was planted last year and it seems like it responded well to partial sun instead of full sun. The one I had planted in my old garden was not as saturated in color as this one. I think there is a definite benefit from the partial shade it gets in the morning.

One of the first to bloom in my garden is the Magnolia maudaie. This has a little brown on the edge of the blossoms now because it was blooming in the beginning of March. We have had a couple of cold days since it bloomed and the frost damaged the blooms just slightly. The blossoms are well worth the trouble if they don’t get a late frost.

A relative of the Magnolia is the Michelia which looks like a mini Magnolia. The outside of each blossom is covered in a fuzzy dark brown sheath. The blossoms, while small, are still beautiful, creamy, and fragrant. The evergreen leaves are glossy miniature versions of the Magnolia grandiflora. The delicate stamens and petals are amazingly like the bigger magnolias.

Now on my list is a new cultivar called Magnolia Sunsation. I saw it at the Northwest flower and garden show this year. After the show I tried to find the cultivar but ended up calling the company that had them in the display garden. I’m ready to go next week and pick up a 12-foot specimen. I’m excited to have a cultivar this new in my garden.

Here are the particulars (source): During the 2011 Magnolia Society meeting in Rhode Island, a majority of ladies in the crowd raved about this abundant bloomer with its rosy-accented flowers. It’s a wonderful selection due to the warm color tones, blooming later than any of the other yellows and before the emergent leaves. August Kehr, the hybridizer, would have never accepted much credit for this plant he created, but he deserves all our thanks for his exceptional work, including this plant. Interesting story: On the way to see Augie from Raleigh, NC Pat McCracken and Mark Krautmann decided to accept August’s invitation to name all of his (at that time, only numbered) superior yellows. Before we got to Hendersonville, where he and his wife lived, we came up with Stellar Acclaim, Sunsation, Solar Eclipse, Hot Flash, and Sunspire. Augie was too modest to name his own “children”. Flower Color: Yellow Zones: 5-9 Growth Habit: Tree Height: 20-30 Spread: 8-10 Light Needs: Sun-Shade Flowering Season: Spring Leaf Color: Green

These wonderful plants are good contributors to the garden. The structure of trees is important in the layering of the garden. They also provide shade where needed. Color at different times of the year, whether in leaf or in flower is a good addition to the garden.

Plants I Dig: April

by Susan | Apr 8, 2016 | Plants I Dig

This time of year there are so many plants that are at their peak that it is hard to choose a favorite. One that always makes the cut is the yellow Camilla ‘Jury’s Yellow’. I didn’t know that there were yellow Camilla’s until a few years ago. I had a client that wanted one included in her garden. At that point I had to order them from Oregon and they came to me in a box UPS.

Lovely double flowers are very impressive in their size. Soft yellow with cream in the centers brighten up the landscape from a distance and are equally lovely from close up. Typically loving an acid soil with good moisture it makes a great background plant. It could also be a specimen at the end of a path or surrounded by other spring blooming plants. Part-shade to shade is best with a smaller structure than most camillias.

Black Magic Camillia came with me to the new house last year. It has a very lush dark red flower. It has wavy dark red /black leaves. This has a larger scale that the Jury’s Yellow Camilla. The leaves are a dark glossy green with a little serrated edge. Light shade with acid soil and moisture will give you wonderful background shrub for years to come.

Orchids have become easier to purchase for the home garden. Close to me is Far Reaches Farms. They have many orchids that are fairly easy to grow. No reason why not to try! Very sweet little Pleione formosana ‘Blush of Dawn’ looks like a tropical beauty. It is hardy with shelter in our area, and grows in the shade to part sun in moist soil. Good drainage is important and is sometimes achieved by planting in a hollowed out log. It blooms in May and increases as it gets established. I have an orchid from my old garden so I put them together in the part shade by near the upper pond.

Raised Bed Gardening

by Susan | Apr 1, 2016 | gardening, LB Tutorial: Growing Food

As I wait for the seeds to arrive it’s time to start working on my garden beds. I choose to use raised bed gardening for my vegetable beds and have helped many customers to do the same.

Raised bed gardening has several advantages. They give a greater depth of soil (which results in better roots), improve drainage, and the soil is quicker to warm up in the Spring. The beds don’t require tilling or double digging to improve the soil. In fact the more you stay off of them and don’t compact the soil the better it is.

I’ve made raised beds out of galvanized tubs, cedar, concrete, and stone. All of these bring the garden up to a level that it is easy to work in. My method is open box wood built with leftover planks from a long ago garden show. The grass was removed and boxes built and put in place. Some people just leave the grass and pile soil on top but I feel the breakdown of possibility of grass and weeds coming through is not worth the chance.

Here are some tips to get your raised bed garden ready for the spring.

Remove any old plants and weeds out of the beds. I have some broccoli and leeks left in the garden from last year. Now it is time to remove them and create space for the next planting. There are some weeds that seem to return every year and now is the time to get the jump on them. I leave the onions and garlic that I planted last fall alone except to add some bone meal to the sides to give them a little boost. Living with a zone 7 garden the ground is not frozen but this year it is absolutely saturated with water. When pulling the old plants from the beds I try to knock most of the soil from the roots so the soil stays in the bed. The roots and tops of the leeks go into the compost bin, the weeds into the debris pile, and the leafy bits to the chickens. Everybody is happy.

(see the notes below about how I sort my garden piles)

Check for holes and needed repairs to make sure every thing is sound for the upcoming year. There are some rodent holes in the edges of the beds so I work in some large rocks under the corners to block up holes. My chickens can also be messy in there so sorting out the soil and raking it is needed. I don’t dig into the soil at all right now for two reasons. First, the soil is too saturated with water and digging through it will break down the structure of the soil. Second, resting the soil and adding amendments on top create good worm action.

Add mushroom compost to the top of the beds. During the gardening year the beds can lose soil from harvesting. Topping up the beds with mushroom compost creates a perfect bed for new seedlings. Usually the compost from the bin is saved for the non-vegetable beds. The ornamental beds love it and if there are a few weeds left in the compost they are easily dealt with.

Garden Piles:

Compost

gets vegetable leftovers, leaves, cuttings, and prunings. It also gets the clean out of the chicken coop including the white pine chips and manure. Newspaper and cardboard too.

Debris

gets weeds, clumps of grass, cedar branches, any invasive plants like lamium, horsetail, or bamboo.

Woody

gets bamboo stakes, left over wood from projects, larger branches from fallen trees or wind damage

Looking for some raised bed inspiration?

Smelly Spring

by Susan | Mar 25, 2016 | Plantswoman Design

Sometimes spring doesn’t smell so sweet. The Western skunk cabbage or Lysichiton americanus is one of those plants.

My property has a pond and stream on it and there is a great bit of mucky edge that will make a great bog garden. Right now it is a little junky with invasive reed grass, water cress, and Himalayan blackberry (I have been cleaning these out since I have been here). Planning the bog garden began with a Gunnera tintora (from my old garden) and some native iris pseudoacorus. Those went in last year and the list has been growing in my mind. Skunk cabbage is one of those things from my childhood that bring back fond memories, not sweet, but fond. Today I spotted some along a stream on family property on the Olympic Peninsula. No time like the present so off I went to dig some.

When going out to collect some Lysichiton americanus be prepared to get muddy. Lysichiton americanus likes to live in very boggy, muddy places. It also is very deeply rooted. When I finally liberated some fine specimens the holes were about 2 feet deep. Shovels full of heavy (with tree roots and leaves), wet soil were lifted out of the area to get to the roots at the bottom of the stalk.

Garbage bags were the container of choice so the mud could stay with the roots and only with the roots, no mud in the truck.

Several large pieces came up and were good to plant along with two small bulbs. They have a bulbous end with long roots. The larger ones had roots that were about 15 inches long. They pulled out of the ground with a sucking sound.

Here is their new home. Yes it is just as muddy here too.

Hopefully they will form a colony of skunk cabbage. They are used in design for a native ground cover in a boggy situation. Several sources say they won’t bloom in shade but I have only seen them in the shade out in the wild. They bloom with a yellow and sometimes green spathe. Arum lilies are popular with gardeners. It is possible that this one is not because of the scent.

NOTES:

SKUNK CABBAGE (Lysichiton americanus)

FAMILY :Araceae family (perennial)

HARDINESS : Hardy to Zone 5-9

EXPOSURE: Grows in woodland, dappled shade with

SOIL : many types, wet soil being preferred.

NATIVE : Western N. America