Mayapples in May! 🌱🌞

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For the month of May, we’ll be discounting one of our nursery’s quirkiest plants: the mayapple. In the wild, these little green umbrellas spread through their rhizomes and form dense colonies in deciduous understory. Funnily, underneath the umbrella of leaves, they display a solitary white flower, which eventually becomes a small, edible fruit. They aren’t very “apple” like in size or shape and they don’t fruit in May, so the name can admittedly be somewhat confusing! It gets its name from the bloom time (which extends into May) and the flower bearing a resemblance to an apple tree blossom.

Before setting fruit, the mayapple produces a single, droopy flower with a curious quality. They produce NO nectar, but are pollinated by nectar-seeking insects. Bumblebees on the prowl will pay the flower a visit and soon realize the reward is missing and move on. With this bit of deception, the mayapple flower can occasionally be pollinated and set fruit.

When adding mayapples in the landscape, there are a few things to consider:

• They offer early emergence, early dormancy. Expect them to pop up in early spring and go dormant in the midst of summer. We promise that their brief showing in the landscape only makes you appreciate them more! They are a wonderful calling card that spring has arrived.
• Pick a moist, shady area rich with organic matter. There are plenty of wet, shady backyards in Atlanta, so we plant them often.
• Although the fruit is edible, proceed with caution because the rest of the plant will give you an upset stomach. Native Americans would take advantage of this and use mayapple as a medicinal cleanser of the body.

Mayapples can be hard to come by. You won’t find them at the average nursery. Come on by and start your mayapple colony today! USE CODE “mayapple” FOR 15% OFF