Virginia Bluebells, Virginia Cowslip, Mertensia virginica L., Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Virginia Bluebells	Mertensia virginica (L.) Pers. ex Link	Borage (Boraginaceae)	Woodland	Spring
Other names and notes	(Virginia Cowslip). The elliptical or egg shaped leaves can also have a bluish appearance, the buds with a pink tinge, the blue flowers nodding and bell shaped. An early May bloomer whose foliage will die back by mid summer. Located in many spots in the Woodland Garden.

Notes: Eloise Butler's Garden Log shows her planting 3 specimens on April 30, 1912, obtained from Gillett's Nursery, Southwick MA. This plant was listed on Martha Crone's 1951 inventory of plants in the Garden at that time. Native to the SE section of Minnesota plus Stearns County. In North America its range is eastward from the Mississippi River exc Louisiana and Florida and the Maritime provinces of Canada.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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