Erythronium

There are a host of different erythroniums now, ranging from pink to white, cream and apricot as well as several taller, more robust yellow varieties and species.

There is a host of different erythroniums now ranging from pink to white, cream and apricot as well as several taller, more robust yellow varieties and species.

Don't just leave the fallen leaves because they may be hiding some of your tiny treasures such as erythroniums and pretty Epimedium grandiflorum and versicolor.

Erythronium revolutum, White Beauty, has white flowers eight inches tall, and the sort of clean pristine looks that seem just right for spring.

White Beauty, one of the most desirable Erythroniums.

White Beauty', one of the most desirable erythroniums.

Erythronium californicum "White Beauty" is particularly fine, with large creamy-white flowers, marked with a circle of red - a pollen guide for insects.

Don't just leave fallen leaves because they may hide tiny treasures like erythroniums, epimedium grandiflorum and versicolor.

I love the smaller and more delicate bulbs, such as fritillaries and erythroniums, and these are best bought from specialist alpine growers.

The third gift to gardeners from the great Canadian forests are the erythroniums, or Trout lilies.

There are wood anemones, primroses, celandines and snowdrops and other bulbs too, erythroniums, dogs tooth violets, fritillaries and trilliums.

Snowdrops are followed by a succession of other bulbs, hellebores and pulmonarias, primroses, springtime trilliums and erythroniums (dog tooth violets), woodruff, wood anemones and bluebells in the shady garden.

There are lots of other worthwhile bulbs to grow including anemones, chionodoxa, muscari, scilla and snowdrops, fritillarias, erythroniums, irises and lilies.

Canadian woodland plants all seem to have this cool quality and you don't have to be a genius to match trilliums, erythroniums (trout lilies) or the Canadian Bloodroot (sanguinaria canadensis) to the humus-rich shady conditions they prefer.

Add a few extra hellebores, wild cyclamen, pulmonarias, erythroniums, wild primroses, digitalis, dicentra or epimediums to the shadier parts of the garden and it will surely stand out from the crowd.