Sunshine Farm and Gardens: Rare and Exceptional Plants
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Rare and Exceptional Plants for the
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Claytonia virginica

[] I've really never been a big fan of "Common Names" for plants, but every once in a while, one really hits the nail on the head and "Spring Beauty" is a resoundingly perfect tribute to Claytonia virginica, the earliest of the early, ephemeral Spring wildflowers. Claytonia virginica is native to over half of the US and to several provinces in Canada - //plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CLVI3 It's one of our most beloved harbingers of Spring with its dark green, supple, almost succulent foliage and five petaled white flowers with soft pink veining.

Claytonia virginica grows from a small, round perennial tuber and sets a good bit of seed so a colony will appear before you know it. I find it useful as an early groundcover due to its diminutive height of 3" - 8".  It's really very easy to grow in sun or shade and looks lovely in the front of a perennial border or along a path in the woods. I've even seen it naturalized in people's lawns and it's also 100% deerproof which is a great plus these days.

The genus name is in honor of John Clayton (1694–1773) who was a colonial plant collector in Virginia. He was born in England and moved to Virginia with his father in 1715, where he lived in Gloucester County, exploring the region botanically. Clayton sent many specimens, as well as manuscript descriptions, to Dutch botanist Jan Frederik Gronovius in the 1730's. Without Clayton's knowledge, Gronovius used the material in his Flora Virginica (1739–1743, 2nd ed. 1762). Many of Clayton’s specimens were also studied by the European botanists Carl Linnaeus and George Clifford and it was Linnaeus that gave the genus the name Claytonia.

A very similar native species is Claytonia caroliniana  The two species are similar in habit and flower, the only difference being the foliage.

Claytonia sibirica is another species of "Spring Beauty" that is less ephemeral, but not as perennial.

The genus Claytonia is a member of the Portulacaceae family which is also home to the very popular annual Portulaca grandiflora

I've been building a good stock of Claytonia virginica to share with you and if your ground is frozen, not to worry, as you can specify the shipdate for your particular area in a provided space on our online PDF orderform.

What you'll receive are large, 5 year old bareroot blooming size tubers. They'll arrive wrapped in long fibered, unmilled sphagnum moss. This material is antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and a very useful material.

The prices shown below include FREE SHIPPING on bareroot plants out of their 2" pots. If you would like to receive the plants undisturbed, in their pots, please add .95¢ per plant to cover the extra cost of shipping soil and pots.

7   for $ 35.00  delivered ($5.00 ea)
10  for $ 45.00  delivered ($4.50 ea)
15  for $ 60.00  delivered ($4.00 ea)
20  for $ 70.00  delivered ($3.50 ea)
50  for $150.00  delivered ($3.00 ea)

Larger quantities at even lower prices upon request.

Ordering couldn't be easier! Just fill out the order form at https://www.sunfarm.com/orderform.pdf

Most of our previous weekly specials are still available. Go to - https://sunfarm.com/specials/ to browse the archives.

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Barry Glick, Sunshine Farm and Gardens
696 Glicks Rd, Renick, WV 24966, USA
Phone: (304) 497-2208
E-mail: barry@sunfarm.com

Last modified February 19, 2020
URL: https://www.sunfarm.com/specials/claytonia_virginica.php