Friday, May 13, 2011

Mitella Diphylla: Mitrewort or Bishop's Cap

Mitella Diphylla is a fabulous little plant for the woodland garden. It enjoys spring sunshine and is among the first perennials to bloom sending up sprays of stems covered in miniature white flowers. When the summer heat kicks in it prefers shade. The flowers fade but the neatly mounded light green foliage remains throughout summer. It prefers moist soil but does quite well for me in average to dry soil.

From a distance the flowers create a white haze above the foliage. It is really worth getting up close to see the flowers. They are reminiscent of snowflakes. I have never seen this plant available at garden centres. I picked it up a few years ago at the High Park Native Plant Sale. There is always a great selection of natives available. While I love to gawk at all the newest plant selections to see the latest, greatest colour or the biggest, fanciest blooms, I find I am often more thrilled with the understated beauty and sheer reliability of native plants.

2 comments:

janientrelac said...

has your garlic come up yet? I planted last fall, mulched well, raked the mulch off a couple of weeks ago and nothing at all yet.

O.I.M said...

I'm happy to say my garlic is doing really well. It's already about two feet tall and the stalks are looking thick and healthy. I planted in fall too. It seems late for no signs of garlic but don't despair. I had one year with a failed crop but it has been success ever since. I hope you see some garlic sprouts soon. Good luck.
irena