Growing near our front step is a small grouping of flowers. They shouldn’t be there. They weren’t planted. They rarely get sun; our roof stops most of the rain from watering them; the morning newspaper frequently scores a direct hit on their bed . . . and yet they grow. I think they represent life existing against all odds.
My wife Peg looked them up in her Audubon wild flower book and thinks they are similar to Alpine Shooting Stars. They have pale, light lavender petals with short leaves in a cluster about the base of the flowers. The flowers have a 3 – 4 inch stem. Using Google’s Advanced Search tool I located a similar flower identified as Jeffery’s Shooting Star at Todd Lake in Oregon. It’s small and beautiful, too.
Perhaps, on a clear day when the sun is low enough to cast it’s light at just the right angle; the downward facing blossoms turn their heads into the beams for the light . . . just long enough for the energy boost they need to survive. We call them Margaret H Shooting Stars. They are delicate, yet hardy. We love them.
I think those are Hardy Cyclamen.
We have three types of them in our yard…one that blooms in the spring (intense pink blossoms) and two others that come out in late summer/early fall. One of the latter has white flowers and the other the same color as yours.
Keep an eye on your flowers….if they are Cyclamen, they will develop small, ball-like seed pods that are attached to a stem going into the ground. The seed pod will be brown, shiny, and about the size of a quarter….leave them alone but check them frequently. When they start to get soft, you can remove them from the stem; gently break them open; remove the seeds and plant them somewhere else…..put about 1/4 of an inch of soil over them.
It will take a couple of years before they produce flowers, but it’s worth the wait. The first indication that the seeds “took” is the appearance of a small, mottled (dark and light green) leaf coming up from the ground in the spring.
In the meantime, enjoy this last burst of color before winter.
Eric and Jen,
I think you are correct. I checked images of Hardy Cyclamen and you know your plants my friends! I’ll tell my wife, Peg. She had one lone flower in a glass of water for a day looking at it and sketching it as well. She will be so happy to know exactly what we have growing by our front step. I’ll clue her in to the seed pod as well.
Thanks for reading and for commenting . . . and suggesting. I love it when people make suggestions on some of my food articles as well. This makes articles social media!
Don