Gardening with Native plants and Wild flowers of Texas.

That is what we call Black Gold! You can't buy stuff that good!

We are amazed at how MUCH stuff we put into our pile, yet it breaks down so well, and gives us so much value in return! We are amazed at the amount of trash that goes out from our neighbors each week, and we are happy that we are not contributing to the landfills with our debris.

Every little bit helps!

mel

I have two variegated turk's caps, but I noticed that one is turning to the solid-colored leaf. That's fine, though, they're still pretty. Joesphine, you cut yours down to the ground each year? Mine keep leaves on them throughout the year, I've just been pruning them back. Probably just a matter of the difference in winter weather, but it's good to know I can cut back with abandon if necessary.

I haven't been sifting my compost, but am going to do that this spring. I read/heard/saw that you can use those plastic trays you get at the nursery (they hold a bunch of the small plants), just choose one with the right size "mesh". I have a ton of those things, and have found serveral that I think will be the right size.

I bought a CompostTumbler a couple of years ago, the "back porch" size, and have really enjoyed it. Since I need to keep collecting while the full bin is "cooking", I took some inexpensive wire fencing - I think it's to deter rabbits, it has smaller grids at the bottom than at the top - and made two columnar containers. After one is filled up, I start filling up the other. By the time a batch of compost is ready to come out of the tumbler, one of the wire containers is already started and ready to go into the newly emptied container.

Good plan Maggiemoo, composting is such a joy, and when you see what it does for your plants,
well, you just fall in love with it.
Yes, you have a lot milder temperatures in Conroe than we do here, my Turk's cap does die down to the ground each winter. I have a rare white flowered one, but it is not very vigorous, may have three or four blooms a year, but as it gets larger it may do better.
It is so good to hear from all of you dedicated gardeners, I just new that there were people out there who care about native plant conservation and the environment.
God Bless You All.
Josephine.

Here is another lovely, Ox-eye Daisy, (Chrisanthemum leucanthemum ) this is a rather rare native to East Texas, however it grows just fine on my full sun slope although it is not very prolific. It normally blooms only in the Spring because my slope is too hot.
Emerging plant 2-15-05

Here is a picture of the lovely flowers Spring 2004

And the gorgeous close up of Ox-eye Daisy.

And a picture of something I hope you will all have in your yard some day.

frostweed, some folks say oxeye daisy is an invasive from Europe!

John

Well, go figure that one out! I was told at the nursery and in the book Texas Wildflowers by Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller, that this is a native. I can tell you one thing for sure, it definitely is not invasive in this area, my clump has stayed the same size for years, and never has wandered, as some plants do, so I would not be concerned about having it in the garden.
Josephine.

It seems to be a controversial subject for which I do not have an answer! Did this google: oxeye daisy invasive and, a whole mess of stuff came up. Try it and see what YOU think.

John

Well, I did check Google and sure enough, without checking everything, I found that it is considered invasive in Minesota, Alberta, Montana, Colorado, to name a few.
However I did check the Lady Bird Jonson site and they did not mention anything about it being invasive in Texas. They did say that it was introduced. So somebody has mixed up information. If you think that I should take off the native title, I will, but I still intend to keep it because it is lovely, and in my experience it is one of the least spreading plants I have.
Josephine.

Hi everyone, I am amazed at your collection of native plants, shrubs and trees Josephine. I also am into the native plants for Texas and got my yard certified by the NWF for wildlife. I would absolutely die for some of those asters!!! I have been wanting them. And a passionvine(Maypop). I have the beautyberries, salvias, indian blankets, a few bluebonnets, vitex trees, hamelia patens, firespike --for hummers, mexican petunias, goldenrod--love it! My HOA does not like me. They think wildflowers are ugly and they prefer grass--but I keep on keeping on!!! Thanks for the site for Texas certification, gonna look into that for sure!!! You have a beautiful yard and love your composting too. Thanks for all the great information too. Happy gardening!!!! Wish more people would plant natives, so our grandchildren would know what lizards, birds, bats, hummers and butterflies live here. I also grow lots of milkweed and such for butterflies.
Sorry this is so long, just excited to read about this, cause I feel this is a necessary project for all to do. Save our wildflowers and our native plants!!!

I have some daisy that I got from a neighbor about 2 years ago. Now I have 100 of them. I don't know which one it is, but she blooms alot, and stands about 18" tall. I would venture to call this fairly invasive. I do enjoy them, though.

I just took a picture, and will post it when I figure out how to...

mel

Hello Rose, Wow! it sure looks like you are on fire. You warm the cockles of my heart with your excitement.
Thank you for all the compliments about the website, our objective is to do as much good as we can for the environment, while at the same time bringing attention to the wonderful plants of Texas. We have such a treasure here, and we must do all we can, to conserve the diversity of plants that God has placed on this part of the Earth.
We will be coming to Humble in August to visit our grandaughter and we could bring you some potted purple aster and passion flower.
We plan to bring plants for Maggie who lives in Conroe, as well, so that way it will be a very fruitful trip.
It looks like you are very well on your way to qualifying for certification, and I hope you will do it soon, it will give you clout with the HOA and they may come to actually appreciate what you are doing. Keep up the good work.
Sincerely, Josephine.
Oh! and keep in touch, Please.

Frostweed, just wanted you to be aware of the issue. I am still wrestling with it. All plants are wild and/or native to somewhere. Its a personal thing, I think. (The purist vs. the not-so-pure)? LOL

John

Ox-eye daisy grows rapidly here in our sandy soil. So far it is only growing in one area, but it is listed by the federal government as an invasive weed. They are pretty when in bloom. I hope it stays put.

BettyDee

Well it looks like the people who sold it to me and the book Wildflowers of Texas by Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller may have been mistaken. It was not my intention to claim that a plant is native to Texas if it is not.
I would like to hear people's opinion, should I delete it, or leave it posted? From now on I will try to do some research and be sure, before I post anything else.
Although it makes me wonder if when we find whole fields full of Bluebonnet or Indian Paintbrush we should call them invasive too, I think not.
Josephine.

Leave it. Some native plants are invasive, too (e.g., poison ivy). The term "obnoxious invasive weed" does not describe this plant but it fits poison ivy (indigenous to N.A.) to a tee! A strict purist may argue with us, I will not. Argue back. Thats how we sort things out in our own minds. Know and understand both sides of the argument.

John

I have both Texas Wildflowers and Wildflowers of Texas, but they provide only 1 photo of each wildflower and sometimes that's not enough. Please continue to provide photos of wildflowers even if they are not native. Both books include ox-eye daisy, by the way. Thanks, frostweed.

On a different note, when I purchased my books, I asked the bookstore owner for a reference book on yellow wildflowers because there is a period when almost everything in bloom has yellow flowers. She said kiddingly that people around here refer to it as 'that yellow flower' period. I need something to help me identify all those yellow flowers, most not included in either book.

Now I am scared of this darn Aster that is not actually Aster oblongifolious that we were talking about before. It's not seedlings coming up but plants spreading from runners. I started pulling a few up tonight and discovered they all have these long shallow runners running from the original plant. There were at least 20 babies 2 ft around in all directions! Ack! Now I am scared this thing is going to take over.

Look at all these babies. The original plant is in the middle with the red circle. Not all the babies are even in the picture.

Hello Sweezel, It does appear that they are coming up quite a distance away from the mother plant, and the leaves do look different from mine, but if it is a pretty flower and you like it, there is no need to worry, you can always pull those out in no time flat if they get out of hand. Did you see the bloom last year and did you like it? If so just enjoy them and add the other asters when I bring them in May.
Josephine.

Staci, did you ask for an id over in the Identification Forum? Someone there will nail it down.

Rose,
Your excitement is contagious! Hope to see some pictures soon.

Mel, did you figure out how to post your picture? :-)

Staci, do you have a picture of your aster in bloom? The leaves are really pretty!

Rose, welcome to DG!!! Pleased to meet ya.

Well, I can do it at my desktop, but I've been on the kitchen laptop today, and don't have the right software. I will hopefully get it tomorrow, after soccer and planting all the new posies that I bought today! thanks for reminding me!

mel

I looked back at my old pictures and I did not take a picture of the plant last year so I was wondering if anyone would be able to identify it from just the babies. I might ask anyway.

OK. Got them cropped and resized... here is the Daisy. I would like to know what kind it is, so when I share it, I can give it a name!

Thanks, Mel

sweezel, those look like the Asters that I have! I'll take a pix of those later, and see if the tag is still out there, too.

mel

Mel,
I just saw this greenery on a daily at Calloways a few minutes ago. II wasn't paying attention to the name other than it said daisy. If you don't find out soon, I'll check it later this morning. I had to get home to meet the sprinkler system guy so he can do my yearly checkup. :-)

Mel, I beleive your daisy is Shasta Daisy, I am not totally sure, I went to Google to check and ther were lots of Shasta daisy pictures, but none of the foliage. I did find a picture of the plant without flowers on Dave's, but the plant was much larger and the picture wasn't close enough.
I do know it is not Ox-eye, because the leaves on yours are longer, less fleshy, and have smaller and more even indentations than mine. It looks like putting up pictures of the emerging plants is a great idea. Let us all do that, and we will have a lot easier time identifying plants.
Josephine.

It's definitely a Shasta, Mel. I have a few of them, though mine are the shorter ones. It may be 'Becky' or one of the other common ones.

Here is a picture of a yellow flower for you Bettydee, I don't have many pictures of yellows but I will try to do better this year.
Coreopsis Lanceolata, Tickseed, or Lance leaf Coreopsis. This is supposed to be native and is easily found along the roads.
Small plant 2-26-05

A picture of the flower close up, this one has an orangie tone, I think it had to do with the light at the time. They are usually a golden yellow.

Carolina Cherry, Prunus caroliniana. This a lovely evergreen, very necessary as a Winter shelter for the birds. They also eat the berries. This native is blooming right now. We have it as a screen for our compost area and it does a great job, besides being pretty. It can get to be a medium size tree but it is very easy to keep in bounds by prunning if you don't want a tree.

And a close up picture of the blossom, I thik is very pretty. Taken 3-12-05.

Thanks Josephine , that would be awesome if you could bring me some of the aster and passionvine in August. I would definitely send you on your way with some plants too!!!! Just keep in touch and let me know for sure. I would not be off the beaten path for you I dont' think. I am definitely going to get certified by the Texas wildlife. I am still waiting for my sign from NWF, they have sent my certificate, but not my sign yet :(. Waiting patiently so!!! I love nature and I do not collect from nature, not plants anyway. Anyway I am excited about the certification and the conserving our plants and wildlife here in Texas. I did the same in Louisiana and in Florida, my Dad(deceased) his family were all farmers and grew their own food, livestock, poultry, so I got the gardening bug at birth probably!!
Well got to go outside and plant some more goodies for the butterflies, and hummers. Take care all and thanks for the compliments and good wishes. Will check this post often, cause I love it so!!!
Rose_petalzz(yes I grow roses too) dried rose branches make wonderful nests for the birds, they love it when I place small cut peices in baskets around the yard for them to use, and they do use them!!!! Just another hint!!! :) Learning all kinds of things on here!!!!

Josephine, do you grow any Frogfruit or Cedar Sage? ...a frog in my Frogfruit. (well, he's really a toad)

Wish I had a toad!

Don't say that! It's march, and the Toads will be in my pond very soon.... keeping us up till midnite with their mating rituals..... sitting on the side of the pond, screaming.....N...E...X...T! THEN, the next day, I get to fish the eggs out of the pond, before we have a thousand tadpoles invading us!



This message was edited Mar 13, 2005 9:48 AM

frostweed. What can you tell us about 4 o'clocks? I think I got one at a plant swap in the fall. I kept it in the garage all winter, and watered things. NOW, something is growing! I has a tall (12-14") straight stalk, with bright green fuzzy leaves.

I was reading about 4 o'clocks and wondered if this might be it! I had thought it was a datura, or trumpet, or something... It has a large bulbous base on it, by the way.

mel