Hundreds of years ago, settlers making their way across the American prairies observed abundant nodding flowers scattered throughout open, moist woods and rocky slopes in the springtime. Although these wildflowers have suffered declines in their natural habitats, the native plant gardening trend means that the shooting star is widely available in cultivation, ready to grace your garden with a piece of living history.
The shooting star plant is a spring ephemeral, which means that it's in its glory in the spring, but it drops off the radar after that. In the summer plants go dormant, withering away under summer's glare. Don't worry, this short-lived perennial will reappear in the spring when mild temperatures and moist soil tell the plants to get growing again.
Collect the very fine seed of shooting star plants in July from spent flowers. The seeds require moist stratification to germinate. In late winter, place them in a sandwich bag full of moist peat mixed with vermiculite for one month. After your last frost, spread the mixture over your chosen outdoor area. As an alternative to stratification, plant outdoors in the fall. Thin seedlings to one plant per square foot after germination occurs.
Both the shooting star and the nodding onion (Allium cernuum) have pink nodding flowers. Nodding onion plants are also native wildflowers, and grow in zones 4-8 in full to partial sun and sandy loam. The nodding onion blooms later than the shooting star; usually from June to August. The foliage of the nodding onion is taller and more narrow than the shooting star, and it also has a distinct onion smell when crushed. Plant some nodding onion flowers as companions to your shooting star plants to continue the pink blossom show in your wildflower garden.
1 Comments
It seems to me that in order to grow such flowers at home in the garden or something, you definitely need to use Pest Control Software, since pests can greatly disrupt your plans for growing any kind of plants, as well as affect their appearance and health
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