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Shooting Stars

© Jojo Sigurgeirson

Sometimes in my daily routine of caring for plants at home and at my job, I think back to the time when I first saw that particular kind. Sometimes it's difficult to remember that initial introduction, maybe because the said plant didn't have a huge effect on me. One example is Lavateras. While I really like them now, the first specimen I saw was young and rather unimpressive. That can't be said for Shooting Stars.

Of course, I didn't know what they were at first. This was well before the time when I knew the difference between a buttercup and an azalea, so the sight of this woodland wildflower display was even more potent. They were nestled between clumps of equally stunning companions -- Aquilegia and Semiaquilegia.

I sat at the edge of a wooden bridge which spanned a tiny creek. Their parabolic forms seemed to surround me entirely, waving ever so slightly in wind. Each individual flower had a perfect point and reflexed petals. Never again have I seen such an awesome display of any kind.

Locally, shooting stars begin to flower now, that is, at the end of March. The white or pink blooms are borne on erect 10 to 20 centimeter stalks above the leaves. Borne in an umbel, the flowers have petals bent backwards to look like a "shooting star." This has been cleverly described to resemble a badminton birdie, but it's the centre of the flower that is most intreging. To attempt to describe this would be labour lost so I will just let the pictures here speak for themselves.

Growing Shooting Stars
They grow well in a wide range of soils, but particularly well in calcareous ones. I add a bit of lime to certain areas of my wooded garden to keep it from going back to acid, but in many gardens, this will not be at all necessary.

Shooting stars do require some shade and a fair amount of moisture. Excess sun increases the water requirement. I have seen them grow fairly well in rockeries in sun, although it looked like the plants were weakened by repetitive loss of foliage early in the season. It must also be mentioned that this rockery was in Coastal BC, where many claim that even our full sun is not really all that sunny. Regardless, in ideal situations the leaves should remain green and healthy until mid-summer to provide lots of energy for next year's blooms. The fastest way to kill off these life-giving leaves is too much hot sun and too little moisture. Growth will be most vigorous in rich soils with dappled shade.

An extreme closeup of a dodecatheon

Dodecatheon littorale as grown in a garden

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