G'Day!
- Is Mystery #1 a broadleafed evergreen or did it lose all its leaves laqst fall and is growing new? Are the newly opened blooms a bit sticky? If the former, it's a member of the laurel family, practically all of which are quite desirable. Some, such as very pretty white-and-pink "lamb-kill," are poisenous, but not attractive to nibbling (ie, "deer-proof" but not to worry about having them about.)

Happy gardening,
-vlad

I need more clues on the #1. Thinking bluebell buds are striking deep pink, but bell shaped blooms are lt pink and blue. 5" or 6" is short for a bluebell too (not to mention laurel Vlad :-) I don't know, dodecatheon? The leaves and color fit, but not the shape.

#2 You have a rabbit, or 30.

Could #1 be bleed heart (dicentra)?

Re: #1. The plant is not evergreen--just pushed up out of the ground about 3 weeks ago and is now blooming. (It actually came up in almost the exact spot where I just planted a dormant ostrich fern. :-() I looked at bluebells & dodecatheon, & it's neither of those, and it's definitely not dicentra. The flowers are in a cluster, and now that I think of it, are more trumpet shaped than bell shaped. But--I will post a photo tomorrow (camera is charging now and it's dark at the moment anyway).

Re: #2. Definitely not rabbits. By "small urban yard" I mean very small and very urban. It's in the back of a rowhouse, surrounded by 6-8' high brick walls, solid gate, etc. etc. I don't think a rabbit could get in here, and have certainly never seen any around. I thought it might by snails or slugs, but see no other signs of plant damage except these plants. Could it be ... (shudder) ... RATS? We got those down here aplenty! And they seem to be able to get through the eye of a needle ... But why would they only eat the leaves of the toad lilies, and nothing else? Like the yummy daffodil bulbs, for example, which the squirrels seem to like (though they have left mine untouched).

Squirrels don't eat daffodil bulbs. Neither do voles or chipmunks. They're pretty much bullet proof when it comes to being eaten. But squirrels do eat tulips and other flowers. I've had tulip bulbs dug up and taken up to the deck to be devoured and went out the other day to find the blooms cut off and leaves scattered about like crumbs from a table! That's the only thing in my yard they've bothered so far but I don't grow toad lilies. Even urban yards seem to have lots of squirrels so I'd look to these tree rat pests to be your thief.

My guess about the toad lily culprit is slugs.

Is it
Astragalus distortus (Fabaceae)Ozark milkvetch
or
Lamium purpureum (Lamiaceae)purple dead-nettle?
I really like this site for finding things that are growing in my yard.
http://persoon.si.edu/dcflora/flowergallery/allimages.htm
it only has stuff that has been found growing in the dc area.
Good luck with your search
Oh yeah and I have had bunnies eating my lillies i would have never guessed slugs but they are too slow to see them in action!

Lettssee, thanks for the link to the DC Flora site--I looked through it ... I think the plant may be Virginia bluebells. This is the best match, but the leaves don't look quite the same (they are less pointy). Unfortunately, I the photo I took won't paste into this message for some reason. In any case, I'm pretty sure it's either this or a close relation. I guess I should keep it in the garden? (Sorry to the earlier poster about dismissing the initial bluebells suggestion--it really doesn't look at all like the traditional bluebells.)

Re: mystery #2. Squirrels or slugs, either would make sense. Oh well. It was just an experiment to plant the toad lilies, anyway. I guess I'll chalk up one to mother nature & try something else.

Thanks for all the replies! If anyone has any further ideas on the bluebells or whatever it is, please let me know!

Jean