Trout Lillies

These lovely trout lilies (Erythronium) were blooming in the garden of a friend who is a wildflower enthusiast. These beauties have several other names, none of which are as appealing as the blooms themselves. They are called dog's tooth violets and adder's tongue, both names referring to the long tooth-like bulbs. Trout lilies and fawn lily refer to the spotted leaves.

I have quite a few of these  bulbs that come up every year, but I seldom get more than an occasional flower. This year I didn't get a single bloom. They are not long lasting blooms at best so I try to keep an eye on them to make sure I don't miss them if they do bloom. The bulbs do not bloom until they produce 2 leaves. All my plants only had one leaf this year.

The grower of these trout lilies advises that in the wild he has seen them growing on soil associated with limestone and says when they are planted, the planting hole should have oyster shells (of the kind fed to chickens). Maybe that is my trouble. My soil is incredibly acidic.

Trout Lilies at Duke Garden

 

Last week I made a trip to North Carolina and plan to regale you with photos of that trip over the next few days. This picture is of Erythronium americana, trout lily, that was growing in the Duke Gardens native area, also known as the Bloomquist Garden. Trout lilies, also known as dogtooth violets (no relation to violets),are among the earliest wildflowers to bloom. Mine are up, but if I was going to get any blooms, they would already have bloomed.I rarely get more than one or two flowers when they do bloom, certainly not a big bouquet like this one. Unfortunately, this is the typical case for me, so I decided to check up on how to grow them. The information I found may explain why I get so few flowers from them.
Trout lilies do not bloom until they produce two leaves, which can take several years. The key to my non-success may lie in the fact that these lilies do not bloom til they reach a depth in the ground of 10 to 20 cm or 4 to 8 inches. The trout lilies I have came to me as hitchhikers in some soil on plants that were moved from a friend's woodland garden. I saw there were some tiny bulbs in the soil, so rather than plant them, I simply dumped the soil on the surface. All these years later, they are still trying to pull themselves lower in the earth.
A few of the growing conditions I did have right- shady area under deciduous trees in moist(?) woodland soil.The plants need sun in the early spring when the leaves are photosynthesizing, but the leaves die back and retreat to the cool earth near the time when the trees leaf out. If they are fertilized at all, compost should be used.
This is a small plant, not more than 3 or 4 inches tall at max. If you click on the image you should get enough enlargement to take a better look.