Native Plant of the Week: Sprengel's Sedge ~ Carex sprengelii

Sprengel's Sedge ~ Carex sprengelii


If you're looking to try or add more sedges to your native landscape, Sprengel's Sedge is an excellent candidate.

Preferring partial to full sun locations, it's most often found in low-lying areas in woodlands with adequate sunshine. It prefers richer soils but is also very tolerant of drier upland conditions.

Flowering in early spring, the showy spikes are about 3/4 inch tall and upright. Later in the summer they tend to bend over and droop downwards. The perigynia forms in mid May through June and resembles "the volumetric flasks of a chemist's laboratory." (Field Guide to Wisconsin Sedges, Hipp, Andrew L.)

Sprengel's Sedge reaches 12-14 inches in height in drier upland sites but can grow as tall as 36 inches in height in really rich sites.

Although this sedge is rhizomatous, it does form nice clumps which makes it a good candidate for massing in the home landscape. We have ours planted with woodland perennial natives, shorter species such as the Downy Yellow Violet and Virginia Waterleaf, and taller ones such as Early Meadow Rue.

This photo is of a large cluster of Sprengel's Sedge at a local park. It's on an uplands site in a Oak Woodland where it's very sunny due to a break in the canopy.

Sprengel's Sedge is native to central North America, see map below for range.

USDA Plants Database

Rue Anemone Faunal Visitors

Rue Anemone ~ Thalictrum thalictroides


The Rue Anemone has been really showy this spring in our mesic Minnesota woodlands. A light pink to white flowering perennial native, it reaches about 8 inches in height.

Native bees and flies have been enjoying the flowers including this large Andrena bee, which are often mistaken for bumble bees.

The tiny Sweat Bees (Lasioglossum subgenus dialictus) have also been visiting the Rue Anemone flowers. The larger Mining Bees (Andrena species) bees like to scare them off as they come buzzing in to land on the flowers.

And of course lurking nearby were several Cuckoo Bees (Nomada furicornis species group), taking in the pollinator activity and waiting for an opportunity to slip into one of the pollinator nests to lay their eggs.

Syrphid flies of many types also stop by for some pollen. Rue Anemone is another spring flowering native that does not provide a nectar reward.

So these visitors make do with eating or collecting the pollen.

I spotted another pollinator predator, a spider waiting with legs outstretched for its catch on a cool, overcast day. Unfortunately, I think the spider was out of luck as it was much too cool for the pollinators to be visiting any flowers.

Native Plant of the Week: Early Meadow Rue ~ Thalictrum dioicum

Early Meadow Rue ~ Thalictrum dioicum


This perennial woodland native is one of my favorites to utilize in shaded, dry, upland sites. Flowering right now, the softly lobed leaflets set off the 18-24" tall flower stalks.

The clusters of yellowish dangling stamens of the male flowers are very showy and unique. Male flowers resemble tiny lanterns and as the stamens blow in the wind the pollen is dispersed.

Female flowers (housed on separate plants than the male flowers) are not as easy to spot. Sepal like petals are short lived on the female flower and what remains are thin pinkish-white pistils.

Early Meadow Rue is a great woodland native for any well-drained shaded woodland garden. Its flower stalks are stiff and persist into the summer months as the seeds form.

The foliage is equally attractive and contrasts nicely with many woodland natives such as ferns, solomon's seal, or wild ginger.

It's also a larval host plant for the White Striped Black Moth.

You can find Early Meadow Rue for sale at many native plant nurseries. If you have the right spot for this native I think you'll really enjoy it.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

Early Meadow Rue is native to eastern North America, see map for range.

It's a Bee Eat Bee World

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the early spring pollinators on Bloodroot and Pasque Flower.

I photographed many bees, one I didn't write about was the Cuckoo Bee (Nomada ruficornis species group) pictured here on the left. These small rusty brown colored bees are thieves of sorts, otherwise known as kleptoparasites.

They lack any kind of pollen transport structure so they rely upon other bee species to do their pollen collecting for them.

The Mining Bees (Andrena species) were the most common visitors of the Bloodroot flowers and these are one type of bee species that the Cuckoo Bee preys upon.

The Mining Bees collect and stock their ground nest with pollen which they lay their eggs upon so the hatching larva can consume the pollen.

Andrena bee in foreground, Nomada bee behind

"A Nomada female will slip into a host's nest and stick her eggs into the wall of the host's larval cell before the host has finished stocking it with pollen. When the host (usually an Andrena bee) finishes stocking her cell and lays her egg in the nest, the Nomada larva will kill the host's egg and take over the nest, like a cuckoo chick in a bird's nest." (Insects Their Natural History and Diversity)

Cuckoo Bee

Having Cuckoo Bees present in our landscape is in my opinion a good indicator of ecological health and biodiversity.

It indicates that we are providing the right types of flowering native plants and nesting sites so that Andrena and other solitary native bees can successfully build nests and rear young (except for the ones taken over by the Cuckoo Bees of course).

Native Plant of the Week: Nodding Trillium ~ Trillium cernuum

Nodding Trillium ~ Trillium cernuum


The Nodding Trillium is just about to flower in the central Minnesota woodlands. The most common or widely distributed Trillium species in our state, it's a beautiful understated native perennial.

You have to look for the flowers underneath the three leaves as they are hidden below. This Trillium is very similar to Drooping Trillium ~ Trillium flexipes which is less common. Drooping Trillium's flowers are usually above the leaves. See photos and information about the two on the Minnesota Wildflowers site here.

The 1.5 inch wide white flowers are comprised of three petals and 3 green sepals. Not an especially showy Trillium species for the ornamental landscape, it is still a nice woodland native worth seeking out and admiring for its subtle beauty.

We have a small cluster of naturally occurring Nodding Trillium in our own landscape growing in amongst Wild Leeks. Fortunately, this small portion of our landscape was minimally disturbed by previous homeowners.

Nodding Trillium is found in mesic sites in woodlands including cool east facing slopes, and lower lying locations that are seasonally moister. 

Bright red seed capsules form near the end of July into early August. These are much more evident to passers by than the flowers.

Inside the seed capsules are many small brown seeds each with a protein-rich fleshy elaiosome attached to attract ants who are the dispersers of the seed.

Read an earlier post about ants dispersing Trillium seeds and other spring woodland natives whose seeds are dispersed by ants.

Nodding Trillium is native to northeastern North America, see map below for range.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

American Plum Faunal Visitors

American Plum ~ Prunus americana


The American Plums are flowering much earlier than usual with our warm spring weather.

If you don't have an American Plum in your landscape then you're missing out on the extremely fragrant, showy flowers AND providing an important nectar and pollen source for early emerging bees, flies and butterflies.

We have planted two in our landscape, this photo is of the smaller of the two. It's on the north side of the house in a sunny, dry site.

American Plum is a wonderful small tree, we have overhanging wires just behind where this one is planted and at its mature height (around 15 feet) it won't impede on the wires.

Many native bees (and honey bees) have been visiting the flowers during the warmer temps mid day. The Mining Bees (Andrena sp) are abundant although when windy have a hard time landing and perching on the flowers. The Bumble Bees are just emerging and have also been visiting the Plum.

Blue Orchard Bees (Osmia lignaria) appeared late last week, their irridescent blue bodies stand out next to the Mining Bees.

"Adults are active in the spring, when they build and provision nests. The eggs complete development to fifth instars by early summer; then they spin cocoons and enter a dormant stage. Pupation occurs by late summer, and adult eclosion occurs a month later. Adults hibernate in their cocoons, and emerge in the spring." (BugGuide.net)

Orchard Bees are being managed as an alternative to honey bees for fruit crop pollination.

Two types of flies were visiting the Plum flowers including this large Flower or Syrphid Fly - a very convincing bee mimic.

The other fly, a Greater Bee Fly (Bombylius major) also a bee mimic with its hairy body and hovering behavior.

The larvae of these Bee Flies parasitize the larvae of solitary bees including the Mining Bees (Andrena sp) above.

The first Red Admiral butterflies of the season were also enjoying the nectar provided by the Plum flowers.

The American Plums in my yard should be flowering for another week or so and I can't wait to observe what other fauna will be attracted to the flowers.

Native Plant of the Week: American Pasqueflower ~ Anemone patens

American Pasqueflower ~ Anemone patens


American Pasqueflower is a wonderful sign of spring in prairies and dry sites. The hairy flower stalks almost glitter in the low angles of a rising or setting sun.

The large, 1.5 inch wide flowers open up for warm temperatures during the middle of the day and close up at night. Flower color can range from white to a light blue.

Forming small, short clusters (5-10" tall), American Pasqueflower is often found in dry shallow soils on cliffs. This native perennial prefers a sunny hillside, or prairie over a partially shaded woodland edge.

If you have a sunny location with well drained soils and are looking for a nice alternative to non-native spring bulbs, definitely give Pasqueflower a try.

Seed heads somewhat resemble the feathery seed heads of Prairie Smoke adding some extra interest in the landscape in the late spring.

I have been watching mine closely this spring for what types of pollinators are visiting the flowers.

This week, they were several small Sweat Bees (Lasioglossum Subgenus Dialictus) pollinating the flowers. Bumble Bees and Mason Bees have just emerged so I'll be watching closely if they also visit the Pasqueflower.

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
2011. North American Plant Atlas. Chapel Hill, N.C.

American Pasqueflower is native to central North America, see map for range.

Early Spring Pollinators

The Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is just finishing flowering in the yard. The large white flowers open during the mid-day sun attracting several bee species.

One of the larger bees, a type of Mining Bee (Andrena species) fly around in search of nectar but the Bloodroot plays a mean trick and does not provide any.

Some of the bees seem to know this but are still seduced at checking out the flowers from time to time, just to make sure.

Andrena bees have solitary nests in the ground, often in sandy soil. Often several nests are aggregated in one area. (Attracting Native Pollinators)

What great timing the Bloodroot has chosen to flower, when there's little else available for early emerging bees. Bloodroot has the ability to self pollinate but probably much prefers some help in cross pollination from the bees.

A smaller Sweat Bee (Lasioglossum Subgenus Dialictus) was also looking for nectar on the Bloodroot. 

The same small Sweat Bees found plenty of pollen on the Pasque Flowers.

These bees also nest in the ground, preferring sandy soils. A pollen ball is made in the burrow and a single egg is laid on top. (Attracting Native Pollinators)