Welcome to your Sutton Farms!
Shooting Star
Dodecatheon meadia
The Shooting Star is one of the more unusual
wildflowers. The pointed, rocket-shaped, flowers have delicate white or pink petals surrounding brown
and yellow centres and bear a slight resemblance to cyclamen blooms. The plant itself forms a low rosette
of leaves then sends up one to two foot tall flower stalks in May and June. Its usual habitat is moist
areas on wooded cliffs and it grows well in moist to moderately dry, rich soil, in full sun or partial shade.
Shooting stars are perennials belonging to the genus Dodecatheon. They have a smooth, hollow, unbranched stem that holds a cluster of rose-, white-, or lilac-colored flowers, above a basal rosette of light green oval leaves. Each flower in the cluster is 1 to 1.5 inches long with five strongly backward-pointing petals. At the tip of each flower, the five yellow stamens surround a single pistil in a cone-shaped arrangement that gives the illusion of speeding motion.
The flower stalks curve so that the flowers nod when they are in bloom. Following pollination by bees, the ovary grows into a brown, paper-thin fruit. As the fruits ripen, the flower stalks straighten so that when the fruits are mature the flower stalks are erect. The fruit is a capsule containing numerous tiny seeds that mature and are released in late summer. Despite the seeds' small size, they are relatively heavy and the wind does not carry them very far.
The unusual shape of the petals and stamens gave the plant its common names--mosquito bills, birdbills, and shooting star. The similarity of the plant to the English primrose, or cowslip, has led to the name "American cowslip." The name "prairie pointers" was given to the plant by early settlers during a time when both prairies and the plant were much more common.
Shooting Star... The trees are between 12" and 24" tall when shipped... And shipped Bare Root...
Shipping and planting times are winter and spring months. Please choose from following months: November thru April. But we will make exceptions with limited warranties due to heat during shipping.
And, any tree shipped during normal green and growth months ... which is May through October is going to arrive with brown, burned leaves. They will recover and go green again, but they are going to look dead on arrival.
PRICING AS FOLLOWS:
2 Shooting Star = $12.95
10 Shooting Star = $33.95
25 Shooting Star = $49.95
50 Shooting Star = $89.95
100 Shooting Star = $178.00
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If you have any questions, please send email
to jlsutton@apex.net. |
