Bog Saxifrage Seeds (Micranthes oregana)

Bog saxifrage is a pleasingly odd kind of plant. One that we used to glance upon occasionally, with its almost succulent rosette leaves and flowering stems, possessed of a kind of stoutness and giving rise to constellations of white-yellow-green flowers towering up to almost a foot and a half, just peeking above the canopy of surrounding grassy vegetation.

In these glancings, it occurred to us – there is a surprising diversity of small creatures that visit the flowers of this plant—some wild bees of course, but more so, legions of small hoverflies and beetles, lacewings, the smallest of wasps – some barely specks of tiny, but exuberant life. Bog saxifrage isn’t a plant of pollinator abundance, it’s a plant of pollinator diversity.

As the names would indicate (both common and scientific), it’s plant of wet ground, and of Oregon. Those things are true, but incomplete. It’s more broadly a plant of the west, roughly from Alaska through Northern California, and of the Rockies. And yes, it is a plant of wet ground, but also of well drained thin soils, sometimes of alpine rock crevices, or partially shaded hillside seeps. It turns out to be quite flexible and accommodating of different conditions, but quite prefers cool temperature, full sun to partial shade, humus-rich moist soils. Grant it these conditions and it happily establishes, blooming from late spring through mid-summer.

Bog saxifrage is a decently long-lived perennial. It can spread a bit via rhizomes in favorable sites. It adds a marvelously stout, dapple-colored flowering presence to meadows, contrasting interestingly with virtually everything else. Charming in rain gardens, bioswales, semi-shaded nooks and crannies, and in expansive meadows alongside camas.  

Approximately 500+ tiny seeds (0.05 grams).