My friend Moni found Cream Gentians growing wild in her grassy field a few years ago. She never planted them, and the field had been pasture for many years before she bought it. But there were the gentians, where they’d no doubt been growing for thousands of years. I was overjoyed. I'd never met Cream Gentian, which is not commonly found In southeast Iowa. So I went to meet them.
Moni picked up her shovel, and we walked out into her field. We found the knee-high patch of Cream Gentian. It's impressive though not brightly colored even when in bloom. The foliage is thick, almost like a succulent. The subtle play of pale yellows and greens is charming and soothing.
We found more plants growing right in the trail. They were small, because they suffered being repeatedly stepped on. She handed me the shovel, and I dug up three plants. I brought them home to my prairie flower garden, dug them in, and wished them well.
That summer they did not bloom, but they established themselves and grew. The leaves looked like green flowers themselves, the way they form a tight, vividly green whorl.
The next summer, my Cream Gentians bloomed. The blossoms are white and look like big, not-quite-open buds. Moni had assured me that they would never open wide — they’d just get a little loose at the top. A bumblebee can squirm in through the opening and get to the nectar inside. The gentian charges the bee a fee for the nectar, in the currency of pollination service.
Many insects aren’t strong enough to pull the Cream Gentian’s petals apart and get inside. Bumblebees can do it, though. From both the gentian’s and the bumblebee’s point of view, that’s perfect. The bumblebees have the gentians’ nectar pretty much to themselves and don’t have to share it with other insects. Therefore, the bumblebees favor those particular flowers. The advantage to the flower is that because the bees concentrate to some degree on the one species, they carry pollen efficiently from one gentian to another.
The blooms last for weeks and weeks, but eventually the plant turns its attention to creating seeds. Even then the white petals do not fall. They slowly lose their luster, turn brownish, and become somewhat floppy wrappers. The whole plant starts to look a bit shabby, and the drying petals don’t look as if anything is inside.
However, if you squeeze one of these dry, beige blossoms, you'll feel a pod inside, the size of a vitamin pill capsule. If you open it before it is ripe, you will find a greenish pod with forming seeds inside.
As the pod ripens, it is green at first, with the seeds sealed inside. When it’s ripe, it takes the shape of a pair of praying hands. When the prayer is complete, the fingertips part and curl backward. Out pours a stream of papery wafers, so insubstantial they seem weightless.
Each one look a bit like a miniature fried egg, with the embryo showing as a darker, thicker mass in the center.
Nature scatters the seeds with the assistance of the wind. Sometimes she uses a gardener to help her spread the seeds to a new area and begin a new patch of Cream Gentians. I do some of that every year.
I like being used that way by nature.
Scientific name: Gentiana alba
Common names: Cream Gentian, Yellow Gentian
Plant family: Gentian family (Gentianaceae).
It is not fussy about soil. It likes full sun but can take a little shade. It grows three feet tall and blooms in late summer. It’s a good garden plant.
It is found rather sparsely up and down a band through the middle of the Midwest and at scattered locations to the east.
Cultural Notes
Cold Stratification
In order to germinate, the seeds need a period of being cold and moist for at least 60 days to break dormancy. This is a mechanism to prevent the seeds that fall in summer from germinating in summer, so that the young plants will have a full season to develop before going through winter.
The easiest way to accomplish the cold stratification is simply to plant seeds outdoors in fall. Plant seeds on the surface of garden soil, or in flats. Nature will do the stratification for you. Do not bury the seeds under soil, but may help to cover the seeds with a single layer of thin cloth until they germinate, to keep them from drying out. I have had better luck with gentians planting them outdoors in fall than in starting them indoors under lights.
USDA Zones 4-7
Full sun to partial shade
Medium to dry soil
Blooms late summer into fall
Grows 2-3 feet tall
Elbow room: 1 - 2 feet
Blooms 2nd or 3rd year
oh the beautiful gentians and the beautiful mind of Diane....
xoxo
I love that you "like being used that way by nature". I am enjoying reading your curiosity and joy of created things, thank you!