Native Plant Spotlight: Trillium

Trinity flower, or Trillium is another of my favorite spring woodland flowers. It’s so elegant and often takes a detailed eye to spot in the woods. Trillium is a lower growing plant so it would work in the front of your woodland borders.  It loves a partial to full shade location and moist but well drained soil. There are many varieties of Trillium, 2 of which would work in Maryland gardens: Trillium grandiflora with big white flowers and Trillium erectum with taller red or white flowers. I’ve seen these growing in the wild in mountainous areas, usually close to some water.

The deer occasionally munch Trillium but what don’t they munch, right? When trillium gets the growing conditions they need they establish a nice stand and will be hardy. This means that often, while the deer graze, they don’t eat all of your Trillium. If you are just getting some Trillium started in your garden and you know deer graze in that area I would protect them with netting for the first few years. They grow by rhizome so can be divided and placed elsewhere in the garden to spread. I like pairing Trillium with bloodroot, wild ginger and Solomon’s seal.

Yellow Trillium

Trillium is sometimes hard to find but now more nurseries are offering this native plant. Make sure you plant it with a nice dose of compost and then add some leaf compost around it a few times a year and it should be very happy!