yesterday I took a walk here is just a small sample of what I saw ..the Liatris is just everywhere ,all over this part of Oklahoma .We have never had it in abundance before..Any suggestions as to where it may have came from???
A walk on the wildflower side
Well, every single one of those little flowers is going to make a seed...
I think it's like everything else, the rain in the spring convinced all the prairie plants that had been sitting out the drought years to go for it this year. We've got tons of big healthy plants, although mostly not blooming.
Grits, you are so lucky to have those beautiful Liatris, I love them but I can't grow them standing up here, they always flop.
I think I give them too much tender care.
The button bush is lovely also, butterflies love both of them.
Thanks Jo I didn't even have to ask and you put a name to the Button Bush it was growing all along the side of the road some of those were quite large ..The Liatris was awesome some were outside of a fence that ran alongside the road so I am planning to go back and harvest some seed ..here are a few more pix of my walk that is all but one which is of a four o clock blooming at 8 o clock in the morning..
I think this will show just how abundant the Liatris is this year not just in this pic from Pushmataha county but as far north as Fort Smith Ar.and maybe even further north but I don't plan to venture any more north than I have too
So beautiful!
Yes, that is a lot of liatris, totally amazing.
They transplant pretty well, too, even during growing season. They make really long roots, like all good prairie plants, but they roots come out of a fairly shallow corm. You can just pop that up, move it where you want it, and just make sure it has water until the root starts growing again. Each corm is supposedly good for 5-6 years.
How hard are they to grow from seed,? the reason I ask is that I am now doing a smallish flower garden for the City of Talihina as a volunteer meaning I either get to do what I want or nothing and next year I plan to convert to wildflowers and this is looking very good to me ..Y'all would have to see this phenom to believe it this is something that happens around every third or fourth year ..One year it was a very tall white clover another it was Coreopsis (sp?) and never did any of these plants stick around ..Due south of us there is a large USDA exp station(@lane Ok) and I am beginning to wonder if these are escapees from some sort of growing exp..
Don't know if there is science to support it but I have been told/read that when plants/trees are put under severe stress they will make twice the seed to ensure survival. Everything in my flower garden has gone overboard with blooms, hence many, many more seeds. The red oak trees are loaded with acorns. In my area the winter of 2010/11 was the coldest on record. The summer of 2011 was the hottest on record. Winter 2012 was the mildest and they have just posted that we had the hottest May, 2012 on record. Now I don't know what any of that truly means but the plants and trees have responded like gangbusters.
Anyone share some light on this theory. (Aside from politics of global warming)
I have sprinkled seeds from my liatris around my flower bed and have several new starts. The little shoots look like grass blades, so don't pull them up if weeding!! Also, they may need a cooling period so if you don't want to winter sow them, put them in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
My plan is to liberate some of the seeds and winter sow them into a NEW bed with sterile soil so I and be sure of what if anything comes up of course I will hold on to a like # of seeds just in case..
Keep us posted on your adventure!
Ok here is the latest on my Liatris adventure ,I took a trip to Texas (Conroe) and while there I discovered a large colony of Liatris growing in a ditch in a spot that was missed by the mower on one side and the sprayer on the other ..I rescued them and moved to a safer place IE: my sister's flower bed ..On Second thought that may not have been the best idea I ever had in our family she is best known as the Black thumb sister..This was a much taller Liatris and without the little cabbage like buds..My guess is it is an escapee from a nearby garden ...
Beautiful fields of Liatris Grits. It is possible the mowers left the patch of Liatris by your sisters' house. The state of TX plants wildflowers, then mows before it can set seed. They are slowly but surely learning to leave some stands of wildflower plantings alone. Finally!
I am curious about your HoneyBalls or ButtonBush. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1515/ I have started some seed for this and it is a slow grower. It sounded like it needed a more moist area. Can you tell me the conditions that plant is growing in please? Have you smelled the fragrance on it? It is reputedly wonderful.
I noticed the Ironweed is just coming into bloom here. There is also something fragrant on the air that is blooming in these woods but I don't know what or where. Wildflowers are always delightful.
Am seeing them north all the way to Chicago- yes- its like last year scared the beejeezus out of the wild plants. I am also seeing tons of native daylilies blooming en mass, and a pinkish clover on the sides of the road from Nebraska thru New York... because the guys who plant the wildflowers aren't the subcontractors hired to do the mowing of the right of ways-left hand is not to meet right hand thinking...so the wildflowers get mowed too early...
They grow wild here in our scrub areas, too - ours haven't come into bloom yet, but when they do, it's a beautiful sight!