While most plants are going dormant in winter, others have a seemingly backward schedule. One of those is our native cardamines. Below is our garden clump of Cardamine bulbosa, which emerged in late November, and is growing happily as we hit the new year. This cabbage family (Brassicaceae) member, native from North Dakota south to Florida, grows happily through the winter cold, and then bursts into flower, usually just after Valentine’s Day in NC. By May 1, they have gone dormant for the summer. Because these grow in the off season for most retail plant sales, few nurseries dare to offer them. You would think that any ornamental perennial with such a huge native range in the US, would be grown by everyone, but that simply isn’t the case. We’ve volunteered to be its new PR agent.
Our selection below, Cardamine bulbosa ‘Snow Ruffles’ is a 2015 Zac Hill/Jeremy Schmidt collection of particularly vigorous clone with nicely ruffled leaves, that produces an amazingly dense floral show. Propagation of these is quite easy, either from division or leaf cuttings.
I’m always looking for woodland plants to brighten up my woods during the winter. These plants growing schedule seems ideal. What’s their hardiness. I’m in zone 6.
We list these as Zone 6a-8b, at least.
Would these do well in what would be considered dry shade during the typical growing season under deciduous trees?
They should be fine in those conditions.
How lovely! Thank you for sharing this cheerful plant friend!