An Irish Trillium by Billy Moore

For me and for many others, trilliums are the aristocrats among woodland plants, and for its pure, quiet beauty, T. grandiflorum is probably the queen and should be in every garden. There are many other garden-worthy species and hybrids in the genus that are worth looking out for including the diminutive T. rivale which has white flowers often with pink markings which is dead easy, takes up little space and is a delight; I wouldn’t be without it. But in this short piece I want to sing the praises of one of its cousins, the more flamboyant T. chloropetalum.

The form of this plant most often seen has striking maroon or purplish red, scented flowers over green foliage with chocolate marbling. It is a very variable species in the wild and in cultivation; the flowers can vary from white through yellow, pink, liver brown, purplish red, to a rich purple and many shades in between. The marbling on the leaves can vary also, in some clones almost competing with the flower for attention. As well as the variation within the species it also hybridizes with T. albidum, another beauty, which can add to the confusion making identification difficult sometimes. It is a Californian native and thrives in a humus rich, reasonably free-draining soil in light shade. It can also be grown in a pot. It is fully hardy and not too much troubled by pests and diseases although it can be damaged by molluscs. It is rhizomatous and grows to about 60cm tall and in time makes a substantial clump. It is easily propagated by seed, although it’s a slow process, taking five to seven years to flower, and by division of the rhizome. Plants are seldom seen in garden centres but are available by mail order. I grow seven or eight specimens in various parts of my garden, and I wouldn’t be without them.

Apart from the form with maroon/purple flowers, plants with the other colours mentioned are seldom seen. Around the year 2000, I think, I was given a couple of seedlings of T. chloropetalum by that great Northern Irish gardener, Bob Gordon. Bob got his trilliums many years ago from the late Dr Keith Lamb and planted them in his woodland. Originally the plants were the standard colour but as they seeded around over the years colour variants appeared the first being a dingy white which had no appeal but, later, plants with greenish yellow flowers appeared. The seedlings that Bob gave me came from close to one of these plants. I planted them in the garden and in a few years, they flowered, all but one being the usual colour. That one, however, was a clear yellow and is a really beautiful plant and very unusual. By 2013 the plant had bulked up a bit and I decided to pot it up to bring to one of the AGS shows in 2014. It was at its best for the Ulster Show that year where it was judged best plant in the Show. It was also assessed by the Joint Rock Committee (AGS, RHS and SRGC) which sat at the Show and which gave it an Award of Merit and invited me to name it. As a tribute to my good friend Bob, I chose to call it Trillium
chloropetalum ‘Bob Gordon’ and it is now registered under that name with the RHS. Over the past few years, I have given bits to a number of good growers and it is my hope that in the not-too-distant future it will become available commercially.

I attach a photo of it as well as one of a nice clump of one of the more normal forms which has given me great pleasure each spring over the past ten plus years.