Dodecatheon jeffreyi Rotlicht

Dodecatheon jeffreyi 'Rotlicht' is a beautiful variety derived from a native shooting star of North America's west. Its spring flowering has something magical about it, in the form of small flowers of a very deep reddish pink in the shape of an inverted bell, which gracefully hang from floral stems emerging from a primrose leaf rosette. Equivalent to European cyclamen, this small plant has a particularly short vegetative cycle, and its cultivation is somewhat delicate, in clay or humus soil, moist, without limestone. It will thrive near water sources.

Dodecatheon jeffreyi, also known as Dodecatheon tetrandrum, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the primrose family, native to the western United States, from California to Alaska through British Columbia, where it grows in moist undergrowth and not far from watercourses, mostly at high altitudes. It forms a rosette of pale green leaves in spring, ovate to obovate, obtuse, sometimes slightly dentate on the edges, slightly wrinkled, and measuring 10 to 20cm (4 to 8in) in length. In spring, from April to June depending on the climate, brownish, blackish stems, 15 to 45cm (6 to 18in) long, emerge from the rosettes, bearing at their tip a small cluster of 10 to 15 carmine pink flowers, with a white base and a small golden yellow heart. Their petals, completely turned backwards, reveal prominent stamens with orange anthers. Less than three months pass between the appearance of the foliage and the onset of dormancy in summer.

Dodecatheons are little-known and underutilized perennials in our gardens, probably because of the brevity of their vegetative cycle and their cultivation requirements. However, the spectacle of their flowering deserves an attempt to tame them in a mountain garden or in the shelter of a woodland. These plants of damp shade or alpine meadows thrive in humus-rich, limestone-free soil, under the foliage of trees. In this usage, Dodecatheon jeffreyi 'Rotlicht' will accompany Astilbes, female ferns, hostas, Rodgersias, or bleeding hearts. Since its foliage disappears early in summer, and it is preferable not to disturb it, but also not to forget it is there, they can be associated with low ground covers, such as Chrysosplenium oppositifolium, to prevent the soil from remaining bare for a long period.