The dream of recreating a hillside of trilliums or a meadow of liatris rapidly morphs into hunting for three or four for the Armitage garden.
Times are changing, thankfully. Good nurseries are making significant inroads against this problem, and to be sure, I don't blame commercial producers or retailers: it is as much a problem of market demand (in truth, there are simply not enough of us) as it is of production (many wildflowers are hard to domesticate — propagation and growing time are both issues). While crazy enthusiasts like you and me may lust for a pot of jack-in-the-pulpit, most weekend gardeners do not even notice its absence or even its presence — in their quest for hostas and geraniums. The dream of recreating a hillside of trilliums or a meadow of liatris rapidly morphs into hunting for three or four for the Armitage garden. Those of us who would like to recreate a population of mayapples can always try, but unless one empties the college fund, we often start with a colony of one. Time and patience, not brains or money, are the true necessities if wildflower bounty is wanted in the garden.