General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Partial or Dappled Shade
Partial Shade to Full Shade
Plant Height: 6 - 12 inches
Plant Spread: 6 - 12 inches
Leaves: Unusual foliage color
Spring ephemeral
Other: The above ground parts of Trilliums are scapes with three large, leaf-like bracts with the true leaves reduced to underground papery coverings around the rhizomes.
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: Red
Bloom Size: 1"-2"
Flower Time: Spring
Underground structures: Rhizome
Uses: Groundcover
Will Naturalize
Propagation: Seeds: Stratify seeds: Seeds need alternating periods of warm and cold stratification to germinate
Sow in situ
Seeds are hydrophilic
Other info: Plants can be grown from seed, but it can take up to two years for fresh seed to germinate and another five to seven years for plants to bloom.
Propagation: Other methods: Division
Other: Trilliums are not bulbs and don’t like drying out. They lose all living roots and will become limp and have little chance of surviving beyond the first season if bare rooted for any time.

Image
Common names
  • Wake Robin
  • Sweet Betsy
  • Toadshade
  • Little Sweet Betsy
  • Trillium
  • Nodding Wood Lily
  • American Wood Lily

Photo Gallery
Location: North Carolina Botanical Gardens Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Date: February 28, 2023
Little sweet Betsy #384; RAB p. 239, 1-3-12; LHB p. 236, 33- 51 -
Location: Hood, Alabama
Location: North Carolina Botanical Gardens Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Date: February 28, 2023
Little sweet Betsy #384; RAB p. 239, 1-3-12; LHB p. 236, 33- 51 -
Location: Mt. Cuba Center, Hockessin, Delaware USA
Date: 2018-04-22
Location: My garden in southeast Nebraska
Date: 2012-04-09

Courtesy Crownsville Nursery
  • Uploaded by vic
Location: Mt. Cuba Center, Hockessin, Delaware USA
Date: 2018-04-22
Uploaded by daylilly99
Location: Tennessee
courtesy Sunlight Gardens, www.sunlightgardens.com

Courtesy Crownsville Nursery
  • Uploaded by vic

Photo Courtesy of Lazy S'S Farm Nursery.
  • Uploaded by Joy

photo credit: Derek Ramsey

Photo Courtesy of Lazy S'S Farm Nursery.
  • Uploaded by Joy

photo credit: Derek Ramsey

Photo Courtesy of Lazy S'S Farm Nursery.
  • Uploaded by Joy
Comments:
  • Posted by SongofJoy (Clarksville, TN - Zone 6b) on Jan 15, 2012 1:11 PM concerning plant:
    Little Sweet Betsy, the largest of the eastern sessile Trilliums, grows up to 15" tall. It has dark red flowers and beautiful mottled foliage and tends to form clumps. It occurs from southern Kentucky to Alabama and Mississippi west of the Appalachians. In rich, upland woods on limestone soils, it may grow by the thousands. This Trillium flowers before the others, mid-March here in Tennessee. Flower odor is slightly spicy.
  • Posted by Marilyn (Kentucky - Zone 6a) on May 25, 2013 4:52 AM concerning plant:
    "Trillium cuneatum or Sweet Betsy is a flowering perennial plant which is native to parts of the southeastern United States that flowers in early March to mid April. It is also known as whip-poor-will flower, large toadshade, purple toadshade, and bloody butcher.

    The plant has three broad, mottled leaves surrounding a sessile, banana-scented flower. The petals are erect and maroon, bronze, green, or yellow in color.

    This wildflower prefers to grow in rich soils mostly upland woods, especially limestone soils, also in less calcareous sites. It is found at elevations of 50–400 meters (165–2300 feet)."

    Taken from wikipedia's page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

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