Native Plant

“Don’t even think about digging Jefersonia diphylla from the wild, or the

President will come back to get you.” —Dr. Allan M. Armitage, Herbaceous

Perennial Plants, Third Edition, 2008

Tw inleaf

With its prett y blooms and lovely foliage, this woodland beaut y is double the fun.

text stephen westcot t-gr at ton

lthough t winleaf is native only to Ontario, it grows h a ppi l y enou g h i n g a rden s across the country, provided it’s given the woodland conditions it requires. When t winleaf is pl a nt e d b ene at h de c iduou s trees in rich alkaline soil, it benef its from bare tree branches and sunny conditions while it blooms in spring, followed by a shaded leaf y canopy that protects it from summer sun.

The three-centimetre-wide white f lowers of t winleaf are often likened to those of bloodroot (Sang uinaria canadensis), but t he t wo pla nts a re unrelated. After flowering, twinleaf produces a pear-shaped seed pod topped with a lid (like an acorn), and the foliage expands to almost twice its spring time size. Where soils remain moist and shaded in the summer (a mulch of shredded leaves helps keep roots cool), twinleaf makes a f ine g roundcover, g row ing

A25 centimetres tall by 35 centimetres wide. T w inleaf ’s common na me arose because each blue-green leaf is deeply divided into two equal lobes, giving the impression of two leaves rather than one. In 1792 , t he genus wa s named in honour of gardener, naturalist and third president of t he United States Thomas Jeferson (1743-1826), and still grows at his Monticello plantation home.

TWINLEAF (Jefersonia diphylla) Zone 5, native from Ontario west to Minnesota and south to Georgia.