{"id":2184,"date":"2016-10-25T16:03:11","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T23:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/?p=2184"},"modified":"2025-08-07T18:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T01:10:08","slug":"pacific-northwest-native-plant-of-the-week-foamflower-tiarella-trifoliata","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/?p=2184","title":{"rendered":"Pacific Northwest Native Plant Profile: Foamflower (Tiarella trifoliata)"},"content":{"rendered":"

           \"Tiarella    <\/strong><\/p>\n

Tiarella trifoliata<\/em>, commonly called “foamflower,”<\/strong> is a lovely woodland perennial within the Western hemlock\/Douglas-fir plant community of the Pacific Northwest. Besides having beautiful soft green leaves that are often divided into three leaflets, its sprays of delicate flowers \u2014 of the palest pink \u2014 bloom on leafy stems for an amazingly long time: From May to as late as early October. Really!<\/p>\n

How it grows
<\/strong>This charming plant can be found in damp, shady forests, and near streams. It has rhizomes but doesn’t spread like typical ground cover plants; in fact, you’re more likely to find it self sowing than spreading speedily underground. There are three varieties: Tiarella trifoliata<\/em> var. trifoliata,<\/em> the one you’re most likely to find for sale, is found<\/a> mainly west of the Cascades as well as in southern Alaska and British Columbia, at low to middle elevations. Tiarella trifoliata<\/em> var. unifoliata<\/em> occurs<\/a> on both sides of the Cascades, west to Montana, and in B.C. and northern California, typically at higher elevations. It has more deeply lobed leaves and is one of the last wildflowers to bloom in the forest. Tiarella trifoliata<\/em> var. laciniata<\/em>, has a very small range<\/a>\u2014only a few counties in Washington and Oregon and parts of B.C.; its leaves are maplelike and shallowly lobed. The other North American foamflower is T. cordifolia<\/em>, native to the eastern U.S.<\/p>\n

\"Tiarella

Tiarella trifoliata<\/em> var. trifoliata’s<\/em> dainty bell-shaped flowers, very close up.<\/p><\/div>\n

Wildlife value<\/strong>
Foamflower’s clusters of tiny blossoms provide pollen and nectar for native bees and syrphid (aka hover) flies<\/a>. Seeds are eaten by ground-feeding birds such as sparrows. Foliage provides cover for very small creatures and protects the soil.<\/p>\n

Try it at home
<\/strong>Maturing to barely a foot tall and wide, it’s best grown en masse<\/em> in the shade (or partial shade) of conifers where the soil is well-drained but naturally rich (or has been amended with organic matter, like compost), as well as along shaded pathways or near ponds and streams. Plant this gem in the fall for best results. If it’s not grown in a moist area, keep it happy with supplemental water during dry periods and it will self sow, but only in the most polite way.<\/p>\n

Grab a partner<\/strong>
Grow foam flower with associated species such as Douglas-fir, western hemlock, western redcedar, vine maple, serviceberry, oceanspray, thimbleberry, sword fern, salal, Cascade Oregon grape<\/a>, inside-out flower, oxalis<\/a>, and many others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Eileen M. Stark<\/a><\/p>\n

To leave a comment, click on post’s title<\/h6>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                Tiarella trifoliata, commonly called “foamflower,” is a lovely woodland perennial within the Western hemlock\/Douglas-fir plant community of the Pacific Northwest. Besides having beautiful soft green leaves that are often divided into three leaflets, its sprays of delicate flowers \u2014 of the palest pink \u2014 bloom on leafy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[392],"tags":[260,235,136,182,219,236,250],"class_list":["post-2184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pacific-northwest-native-plant-profiles","tag-functional-gardening","tag-foamflower","tag-northwest-native-plants","tag-oregon-native-plants","tag-pollinator-garden","tag-tiarella-trifoliata","tag-wildlife-garden"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p69uLV-ze","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2184"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6626,"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2184\/revisions\/6626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realgardensgrownatives.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}