Hylodesmum nudiflorum belongs to the dappled shade of mature hardwood forests, where it picks its way through sandy or gravelly soil high in organic matter. A member of the pea family, it fixes nitrogen through its partnership with soil bacteria, quietly improving the ground it occupies. The common name captures its most striking feature: the flower stems emerge bare, leafless, bearing their clusters of small pink blooms without any leafy accompaniment.

Those blooms appear in mid to late summer, delicately fragrant and irresistible to bees, at a season when the woodland garden can feel short on interest. Planted in a native or woodland garden, tick trefoil asks for little more than a suitable site and the patience to let it establish. The seeds that follow will disperse naturally, slowly thickening a colony over years.