No really, that's the a good "common" name. Palm-like single leaves, erupting in Spring just like mayapples—but opening out to these cut-to-threads discs. Shredded umbrellas: much more descriptive. As ever, my question is how had I not beforehand understood that this plant is irresistible, essential, exciting, not to mention easy?
Not rip-snorting when it comes to forming a big colony in a hurry, true. But otherwise easy.
And so of course, did I plant it a decade ago? Then I'd have had a big colony by now too.
But no. Life is a series of humbling moments interspersed with some joyful ones, then some horrible ones. But mainly, humble moments. So I'm picking myself up and getting over this shocking omission from my own gardens. I've had decades of practice at the humble thing. No, let's not consider for a moment that a horticultural society is coming to tour my garden in a week. An expansive colony of shredded umbrellas like this one says (but alas, only to the cognoscenti), "Yes, I knew what this beauty was that long ago, so long that my colony is now this big, truly huge. But you?Your best hope is to start now. Even so, you'll never catch up."
Ugh: to be seeing the front end of Sixty and seeing that, truly, I'll never catch up. (Let alone facing that I'll be seeing the front end of Seventy by the time my colony of Shredded Umbrellas can humble visitors.) Humble humble humble. But after all, just knowing what Shredded Umbrella plant is, is in itself a victory. Yup, I'll keep telling myself that.