Jack’s in His Pulpit, All’s Well With the World
The last week of May is generally the busiest week of the year in my job. This year the last week of May effectively lasted until June 2nd, which is why I didn’t get home until this afternoon (after being away since last Sunday).
I’m rather overwhelmed by all that’s going on in the garden, and by all I need to do to catch up. The giant branch of the Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila) that came crashing down to earth yesterday isn’t helping, but I won’t talk about that now.
Instead, I want to show you several Jack-in-the-Pulpit plants (Arisaema triphyllum) which planted themselves in the back garden. (What is the plural of Jack-in-the-Pulpit? Jacks-in-the-Pulpit? Jacks-in-Pulpits?) They are a welcome surprise.
When we moved here, there were a couple of Jacks, but they vanished on me. I tried several times to plant replacements, but each was undone by rust. Except now here they are, perhaps from seeds left by the original Jacks.
Keep going to see some other random garden views.
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) with Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris). Sadly most of the Wild Columbine didn’t live through the last winter.
Here’s a closeup of the Wild Columbine flower.
Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) is blooming now.
Here’s Golden Alexander with some orange Poppies. Sometimes you can make really nice combinations with native and non-native plants – the GA is native, the poppies not.
White Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum var. album).
That’s the best I can do for now in terms of a post, except I will share some good news with you. We got a second opinion on the sewer line. Turns out we can wait until September to take care of it. Plus the cost will be obscene, but about $1,000 less obscene than we originally thought.
Hope to be more on top of things next week, on the blog and in the garden. a
gardeninacity 
Is golden Alexander just a native wildflower that happened to grow there naturally, or did you intend for it to be there. I am not familiar with it.
We planted this some time ago, but it is one of those plants that you often see growing wild around here.
Like our native poppies. Although they grow wild, many of us toss seed to get them started in our gardens.
It’s a native wildflower, but I did plant it in a few places years ago. Since then it has been spreading randomly around the garden.
Aren’t Jacks the most interesting plants. I have read that ants will take those seeds places and plant them for you. Maybe this happened in your garden. I would enjoy poppies no matter where they popped up in my garden. I think this is a beautiful combination with the Golden Alexander. I hope you get caught up soon. Good news about your sewer line.
I didn’t know about the ants, but I did read that Jacks were pollinated by gnats and thrips.
My garden is green and drowning. Waiting for the bearded irises to open and hoping another storm doesn’t destroy the blooms. My volunteer clematis that I discovered last year is doing really well and lets hope it blooms. And my lamb’s ears appeared last year too after a decade of being gone. Weird.
Lots of garden plants like to play hide and seek with their gardeners.
Brief panic set in when I saw your golden Alexander. It looks so much like a plant I’d identified as Texas umbrellawort, I thought I’d been mistaken. Then, I compared the leaves, and it’s clear they’re different plants, although both are in the carrot family. Tauschia texana is endemic to Texas, but we have the golden Alexander, too — which I didn’t know until I read about it here.
Another example of the value of botanical names – the common names can cause lots of confusion.
I’ve had similar problems with Jacks disappearing but this year they are back in a big way so I am letting every one go to seed. They are so dramatic that it is hard to lose them. Like you, my native Columbine seems to have succumbed to the winter. That poppy/Alexander combo is a stunner.
Maybe it’s a good year for Jacks all around. I will definitely let mine go to seed.
Those native plants are so pretty and it is even better to give them closer inspection. The poppies are welcome anywhere!
That’s what I think, and they aren’t big enough to smother anything else.
Busy, busy, and beautiful. Great news about the sewer line, even if it is going to cost an obscene amount of money.
It could have been so much worse, I guess.
All of these are great plants for the garden. I can’t seem to keep Wild Geranium nor get poppies to grow at all. Hope you get to spend lots more time to spend enjoying the garden.
Just goes to show how different our gardens are. I couldn’t get rid of the Wild Geranium if I wanted to .
It is amazing what goes on in the garden when you’re not looking. 🙂 Loving your wild columbine, mine is done for the year, though I have a yellow one in bloom, which is odd for June. What is the heart-shaped foliage planted near your wild one?
That’s Brunnera macrophylla, Siberian bugloss. An exotic, as the name implies.
Welcome home! Your legislative session is badly designed for gardeners. Virginia’s is out of session by spring — convenient for gardening, but I can’t recommend the legislative results…
Where did you get the white Geranium maculatum? I planted two different named white selections, hoping their offspring would be mostly white-flowered. Sadly, the majority of seedlings are a washy pink.
Actually, this year’s legislative session had pretty good results, but it was still a grind. I’m pretty sure I got the white G. maculatum from Prairie Moon, but they don’t seem to carry it anymore.
I have been too busy to blog too, planting up a large area of my garden with prairie-type plants and ornamental grasses. Do you have Hostas flowering already? The shot of the Columbine with the ostrich fern looks like it also has Hosta flowers in it, as well as Brunnera leaves?
Shocking as it may sound, I have only one hosta that I planted in a large container, and it is not flowering. Those are actually Spanish Bluebells in the photo.
Jack in the pulpits grow in very damp, almost boggy ground in nature. That might help tell you why you have / don’t have them.
We’ve had the rainiest May on record – so that could certainly be a factor!
We’ve had the same!
Well, it’s been a boggy sort of year.
They are unusual plants Jason. I think I have only ever seen them on blogs and not ‘in person’. I have a similar white geranium (can’t recall the name) and they do look lovely brightening a shady spot. The Golden Alexander and poppy are a very pretty combination. Hope you get more time for the garden this week.
I did! Took off almost the whole week, devoted to the garden and some doctors appointments.
This is such a timely post, I can’t believe it. A gardening friend gave me two Jacks. I must have killed or buried one, but I had one this year, and its a beauty. But, then I went out into what I call the pucker brush to drop off some limbs and leaves and there in my path were two Jacks. I got so excited I couldn’t believe it. I know I wasn’t supposed to move them until fall, but I dug them up because they were in the walkway and moved them next to the other one. So, I raise my glass to more Jacks for both of us. 🙂
L’chaim! And to many more Jacks to come!
What a great name…Jack-in-the-Pulpit! I haven’t heard of this plant, perhaps known by another name in Australia. I absolutely love your wild Columbine…so beautiful.
There are species of this genus native to parts of east Asia – not sure about Australia.
I’ll try and find out.
I love ariseamas, so weird and wonderful I also love your wild aquiligea.
A. triphyllum seems less exotic to us but the Asian species can be truly weird.
I let columbine self-seed in my yard. Last year there were tons of volunteer plants, this year only a couple. That was a harsh winter.
It sure was. I’ve given up trying to tell the Columbine where to grow. I just accept them wherever they volunteer.
A great group of natives to welcome June!
Exactly!
Hi Lisa. Now and then I write a comment on your blog, but I just noticed they never appear. Do you ever check your spam folder? I have the feeling that’s where my comments are going.
Lots of lovelies there. We have Jacks all over the back garden, and none of them were planted by me. They are fun, aren’t they?
Fun and slightly weird, actually, but nice to have around. Lucky you to have lots of them growing wild.
The usual direction of these things is more expensive, not less, so good news (or at least better news) about the sewer line. I feel your pain about being overwhelmed by all that needs to be done. For us, the weather kept me out of the garden for so long & delayed both maintenance and planting out so it’s a race to catch up before heading to Denver next week. Top of the list is getting the irrigation set up in the side border – don’t want to take any chances with all the new plantings!
You’re right that the price of home repairs tends to go up as you move forward with them, so I am happy that is not the case here (so far).
Lovely to see what’s blooming, especially self-seeded! You must really miss your garden when working away from home. Oh….sorry you are forking out a fortune for something you don’t even want.xxx
I went on a field trip to east Texas recently, and got to see Jack-in-the-Pulpit. I’m going back for another plant walk tomorrow, and taking my camera this time. I got to see pitcher plants, too. East Texas certainly is a different world.
I imagine so – maybe more like the Ozarks than the Texas coast?