{"id":4399,"date":"2024-09-09T07:08:43","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T15:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=4399"},"modified":"2024-09-09T07:08:43","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T15:08:43","slug":"golden-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/golden-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>What features are essential to a successful garden? Some people would say \u201cstructure\u201d. Others would opine that no garden is complete without some kind of water feature\u2014even if that water feature is only a birdbath. Still others would say \u201cevergreens\u201d or \u201chardscaping\u201d or \u201cfour seasons of interest\u201d. All of those things contribute to the best gardens, but I think one more element is needed\u2014surprise. Every interesting garden that I have ever seen features surprises for the visitor. It could be piece of garden d\u00e9cor that suddenly pops into view when you round a corner. It might be a mirror positioned on a back wall that makes the garden look bigger. Maybe it is a wacky element in an otherwise formal landscape. The possibilities for surprise are endless, and many do not require expensive installations\u2014just creative ideas.
\n\tI had my own garden surprise last week on a trip to Virginia. Walking along a street in a little northern Virginia town I caught sight of what at first appeared to be a group of yellow species tulips growing in an embankment that bounded a home garden. September is the time for asters and goldenrod, not tulips, so my curiosity was piqued.
\n\tA closer inspection revealed that the \u201ctulips\u201d wore more like large butter-yellow crocuses, with upright \u201ccups\u201d on relatively short stems. A vague memory stirred in my mind and the word \u201cSternbergia\u201d emerged. I double-checked with a well-known plant identification device\u2014my cell phone\u2014and the identification was confirmed. The \u201ctulip\u2019 was Sternbergia lutea, also sometimes known as \u201cautumn daffodil\u201d, \u201cwinter daffodil\u201d, \u201clily-of-the-field\u201d or \u201cyellow autumn crocus\u201d. Of all of those common names, the daffodil descriptors are closest to reality. Sternbergia is a member of the amaryllis or Amaryllidaceae family, related to spring-flowering daffodils, as well as diminutive snowdrops and gigantic holiday hippeastrum, more commonly known as amaryllis.
\n\tThe Latin name \u201clutea\u201d means yellow, and Sternbergia lutea is the most widely available species in the genus. Sprouting from a bulb, the elongated, somewhat grass-like leaves arise from the base of each plant at about the same time as the flowers. Individual flower stems are about six inches tall. The blossoms, which are cup or goblet-shaped in bud, flare out into yellow stars when the six petals are fully open. The leaves are ephemeral, disappearing in late fall or winter, long after flowering. Happy plants, grown in full sun or very light shade, can and do naturalize, which I suspect is what happened on that Virginia embankment.
\n\tAnd when the plants are happy, so are the fall pollinators that find it easy to light on the open flowers. As with other members of the amaryllis clan, Sternbergia are infrequently browsed by deer, allowing them the time and opportunity to bloom, flourish and form nice clumps.
\n\tOf course, gardening life is full of complications. I had a strong urge to rush to the computer and order some Sternbergia for my own garden. The bulbs were available from several vendors, but growing advice came with a caveat\u2014\u201csharp soil drainage is important, particularly in the winter months.\u201d My soil is heavy clay, which euphemists would call \u201cmoisture retentive\u201d and pessimists would call \u201cdifficult to work with.\u201d I call the situation challenging, and as I clicked on the \u201cplace order now\u201d tab, I vowed to include some sand or grit in the planting holes to give my new Sternbergias the good drainage they deserve.
\n\tSternbergia was named after one of history\u2019s many botanizing clergymen, Kaspar Maria von Sternberg, a Bohemian aristocrat of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Much better known for things scientific than ecclesiastical, Sternberg established both a museum and a botanical garden, and conducted pioneering research in the field that become known as paleobotany.
\n\tSternbergia, like many plants, packs a large load of historical context into a small, flowery package. The context is interesting, but the package is compelling. If you would like to create a bit of autumn surprise in your garden, go to Brent and Becky\u2019s Bulbs, 7900 Daffodil Lane, Gloucester, VA 23061; Tel. (877) 661-2852; www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What features are essential to a successful garden? Some people would say \u201cstructure\u201d. Others would opine that no garden is complete without some kind of water feature\u2014even if that water feature is only a birdbath. Still others would say \u201cevergreens\u201d or \u201chardscaping\u201d or \u201cfour seasons of interest\u201d. All of those things contribute to the best … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,1],"tags":[2972,256,3090,3091,3089,2793],"class_list":["post-4399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-uncategorized","tag-amaryllis-family","tag-fall-crocus","tag-fall-daffodil","tag-fall-bloooming-bulbs","tag-sternbergia-lutea","tag-yellow-flowers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4401,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4399\/revisions\/4401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}