How to Protect Your Plants from Pests

Painted Trillium

Painted Trillium is a woodland wildflower with showy, white, or pinkish petals adorned with maroon or red streaks at the base, typically found in moist, forested areas and prized for its striking appearance. They are delicate and enchanting wildflowers that offer a range of benefits when thoughtfully integrated into landscaping designs. Its beauty, contributions to biodiversity, potential for naturalizing, woodland charm, and ability to create unique garden space. Painted trillium is common in eastern North America, specifically the Adirondack Mountains, which spans northeastern New York. It's a wildflower known for its red center and delicate white petals. Its botanical name is Undulatum, but gardeners commonly refer to it as the striped wake robin and the smiling wake robin. It's also sometimes referred to as a painted lady because it starts to bloom just as the butterflies come out in the spring. This wildflower is a member of the Lilly family. Identifying the Painted Trillium The smiling wake robin is considered a flower of the Adirondack Mountains. They can be identified by their pink or red center and red stripes that follow the veins of their three white flower petals. In fact, it also has three green or blueish-green leaves, which is how it acquired the prefix 'tri' in its botanical name. Gardeners can expect this wildflower to grow up to 20 inches tall. The single flower that blooms in the late spring to midsummer is about two inches wide with wavy, tapering petals. Gardeners can expect new plants to develop these flowers within four to seven years. Landscaping with the Painted Trillium The Landscaping with the smiling wake robin is ideal for shade and pollinator gardens and areas that get little to no direct sunlight. This makes them ideal for adding color to areas under trees and around shrubs and bushes. Add Painted Trillium to Your Pollinator Garden If your gardening goal is to create a lovely pollinator garden, you can't go wrong with the smiling wake robin. This wildflower is known to attract bumble bees and honey bees, who forage for the pollen from the flowers. Ideal Plants to Grow Next to Painted Trillium Smiling wake robins thrive next to other shade-loving plants. These include Christmas ferns, lady ferns, bleeding hearts, hostas, daffodils, snowdrops, Virginia bluebells, and the woodland phlox. Gardeners can enjoy the smiling wake robin in their shade gardens. They can also use it to add color to areas that would normally be devoid of defined plant life, like under tall trees and shrubs, in order to create focal points.