Twinleaf is a wildflower with a pretty, creamy white bloom that is short lived and resembles the flower of bloodroot. Its botanical name celebrates a U.S. president who loved gardens, Thomas Jefferson, so it is called Jeffersonia diphylla. The diphylla is because it has matching leaves, which gives it the common name of twinleaf.
This wildflower will form a colony and sometimes is combined in a garden or woodland planting with trillium and hepatica. It will self-sow and also can be divided by cutting the tough roots apart.
The easiest trilliums to grow in Midwest gardens are Trillium grandiflorum and Trillium sessile, and each of these varieties has the common name of wake robin.
There is also a pretty double form, ‘Flore Pleno’. The sessile trillium also forms clumps, but they produce maroon flowers and have mottled leaves.
Trillium seeds can take two years to germinate, and the plants may take 5-7 years to bloom, so starting with plants is quicker. Water new plants at least one inch per week and mulch to help retain moisture. Intersperse these wildflowers and Jefferson's twinleaf, with perennial natives such as geraniums and celandine poppies.
This is Moya Andrews, and today we focused on Jeffersonia Diphylla.
