I use to run an aquatic nursery so i am very familiar with marsh marigold

In my work with native biodiversity, I have become greatly concerned with the confusion between these two plants as they look extremely similar to all but the closest inspection, and may have even been confused in the nursery trade at one point. For its part, Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) is a lovely plant in its own right, offering a cheerful relief from winter when it blankets the ground with bright yellow flowers in early spring. But, to mistake it for Marsh Marigold (a native plant) is a big problem that I am trying to correct every chance I get!

I do state that the wild Marsh Marigold I display won’t tolerate dry conditions. That’s been my experience with the wild Caltha palustris I’ve grown. I also note that the wild variety don’t last – even in the wild the plants go dormant in soil that remains very moist. Garden varieties I have no experience with – they may be much better suited to a garden through selective breeding.

Best to warn people off from attempting to plant these wild ones where the soil does get dry, especially for long periods of time. The thing about shade is it helps retain soil moisture. Often when the ground is not baked in the sun the soil retains enough moisture. Dry (to me) means no moisture in the soil – Often people will consider soil as dry when it is in fact not. Moist doesn’t mean your hand will get damp/wet when feeling the soil, plants can pick up water long after that point.

Maybe a better ‘guide’ would be to call them “native”. That way people wouldn’t assume you need special conditions. Bee balm, coneflowers, sneezeweed, asters and even clematis are native wildflowers. I agree labeling these as ‘wildflowers’ could scare off many new gardeners (except for the fact they’re so well known). Using “native” doesn’t imply any special care is needed.

On the other hand we have alien wildflowers. They’re really not wild. They generally are plants from other areas brought over to the ‘new world’ since they had uses we no longer think of. They escaped and naturalized in the wild because they found life easy outside garden borders. So in some ways a ‘wildflower’ can be thought of as easy to grow. Just think of the Mullien (Verbascum thapsus) so common along roadsides. Or Gill Over the Ground (Glechoma hedercea) that makes up the major part of most lawns in my area.

Someone who does catch garden fever will not be intimidated by any label. We just have to try everything and anything that catches our fancy. Native or alien everything we grow was actually wild at one time. We just do our best to domesticate them to our gardens. Labels be damned, I’ll try anyway because I can’t help myself. More often than not we find it wasn’t so hard after all.

You are so right – Marsh Marigolds are a early spring treat often overlooked. It’s not a trailer park beauty in my mind. I prefer to think they’re more like Cinderella. Now where are all the Prince Charmings?