Several years ago, we cleared some box elder trees (trash trees in my opinion) and brush. After clearing them, we found two Jack-in-the-Pulpit plants. They were located at the base of an ash tree, and we were thrilled to find them. We left them be and enjoyed them, though they seemed to have a rough year. The smaller green one was used by leaf-cutter bees, so its leaves had a number of chunks removed. They both began to look a bit ragged as the summer went along, but the green and purple one produced a seed head. I just let it be, and they both came up the next year. At that point, I got curious and looked them up on the internet. Lo and behold, Jack-in-the-Pulpit are really woodland plants preferring shade. When we'd cleared the box elders and brush, we'd removed the shade. Our two plants weren't in sun all day, but they did have sun a majority of the time. Once we discovered they needed shade, we decided to transplant them. This spring was the time. I was afraid to transplant them because I was afraid I'd lose them. We'd really come to love them and wanted to have them around for along time. Since I knew nothing about transplanting them, I looked it up on the web. I found sources saying transplanting them would be easy to sources saying it would be hard. All of the sources said they didn't like to be overly wet in the winter or spring. Joy. We're having a VERY wet spring. I decided to dive in anyway and move them. I started with the green one, which was smaller. I used a perennial fork and dug far away from the plant, not knowing what I would find. I knew they were bulbs, but I didn't know how large the bulbs would be. I was surprised to find the soil wasn't as bad as I thought, and the clump crumbled when I lifted it. To my surprise, there wasn't one bulb, there were many. Some of the bulbs were very tiny, about a quarter inch in size, and had a single leaf attached. Based on my reading, these were one year old plants. Some bulbs were slightly larger and had two leaves, making them two year olds. Each of the three blooming plants was at least three years old, and their bulbs were closer to an inch in size. I guess I got about 6 or 7 plants from the one clump. Once I'd planted them in our woodland garden, I tackled the larger green and purple clump. I guess I got 10 or more plants from that one. The babies are all nestled in a single location and appear to be doing well. After more than a week in their new homes, I think they'll make it if I can keep the squirrels from digging them up. The blooming plants also appear to be doing well and have actually gotten larger since I transplanted them. As we were planting them in their new homes, we found a leaf cluster from another plant just next to where we were planting, so we have a third cluster we didn't know about. It's not yet blooming, but it's right where it should be. I hope I have a happy tale to tell next spring and that all the transplants make it through. Stay tuned. Here is a photo of the green and purple one blooming before it was moved.
