This thread is a continuation of Gardening with Native plants and Wild flowers of Texas - Part 1. If you would like to visit the previous thread click on the following link http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/486105/
Hello Everyone,
The people on this thread are interested in discussion, seed and plant trading, and learning in general about native plants and wildflowers.
We are dedicated to plant conservation and love to demomstrate what ca be done with the native plants that have been ignored by the nurseries in favor of the exotics. Many of the plants in our yards are native and we are always looking to improve. We are sure there are others out there doing the same thing and loving it as much as we do. Please let us talk about what you are doing and what you have accomplished.
We hope to hear from all you dedicated gardeners. Let us have some fun.
Sincerely, Josephine
Gardening with Texas Native Plants and Wildflowers - Part 2
Oohhhhhhh. Yeah, another start! I am having so much fun learning a new native every day! Thanks for starting again! Ya'll stay tuned!
John, I really don't know where they have one, but I found the Red Buckeye at Redenta's Garden
nursery in Arlington, I hope that helps. I will check some more for you.
Josephine.
Say thanks to your husband for his help on getting Part 2 going.
Veronica
Yes, thank you to your husband, frostweed.
Since we are talking about Natives, I thought I would let everyone know that the Heard Natural Science Museum in McKinney has a wonderful Native Plant Sale in April. Here is the link to the website with the long list of plant offerings: http://www.heardmuseum.org/go/nativeplantsale.html
It's me again. I think I figured out what my Aster is. I looked at the Heard Plant Sale offering list since I got it there last year. They have Willowleaf Aster (Aster praealtus) listed this year so I looked it up. The description fits what they sold me last year as Aster oblongifolius (which they are not selling this year). A web page has the picture that looks like it, says it spreads by underground runners, and sometimes has a red tint. Txmel, is that what you have?
Anyone want any of this? I am sure I will have more babies coming up? :)
Is it native to our area, Staci? If it is, I would like one. Thanks for that link. I will check it out.
John
Sweezel, thank you for the link to the Heard Plant Sale, I don't know that I will make it, but I am sure some of us will.
Please save one of your baby Asters for me, I would like to try them out.
Hello Everyone, this plant is not a native, but it was given to me by the lady who inspired me to start my natives habitat, so it is very special. It is called, Salvia Guaranitica, native to South America. This is a very vigorous perennial with beautiful deep blue flowers that is very easy to grow, and as you probably know deep blues are not easy to find. If you would like to have some, let me know, I am potting cuttings at this time.
This message was edited Mar 17, 2005 11:49 AM
Ooh, ooh, I do, I do! This plant has been at the top of my wish list scince last year!!
John
John, according to the webpage's when I searched, it's native to the Central Plains and usually found more a little north of here. I have it in about 3 to 4 hours of mid-day sun. It was about 2.5 feet tall and it fell over towards the sun before I staked it with a stake and some string tied loosely around it. It still thrived. The next babies that pop up, i will pot up. I pulled up and trashed a bunch because I was mad that it was not what it was supposed to be. LOL I will pot up as many as I can and bring them to the Roundup for you two and anyone else who wants them.
The Heard is worth going to anytime, but the sale is a blast. They have literally hundreds of plants but you have to get there early as possible. The real popular stuff will be wittled down at the member sale, but there should be plenty left.
And now one of the most beautiful native shrubs in Texas, actually it can be a small tree, but it is a very slow grower, up tp 15 feet tall. It is also evergreen, and the flowers are beautiful with a lovely scent reminiscent of grape cool-aid, that will perfume your yard in the Spring.
They are blooming now, but this year mine only has one bloom cluster. Last year it was loaded, so I will post the pictures from last year.
Texas Mountain Laurel, Mescal Bean, ( Sophora secundiflora )
Well guys, I did figure out why my Texas Mountain Laurel didn't have much of a bloom this year. Since it had so may blooms last year and every one of them set seed, I was very thrilled because I had vissions of multiplying my shrub, so I let all the seed capsules remain.
Well what I have learned is that the bloom clusters start to develop on the tips of the branches in the summer of the current year, for the followinf spring, and since all the branches were ocupied with the seed capsules they were not able to develop blooms. So the moral of the story is, if your shrub has seed capsules all over, take off some, so you will have flowers next year. Here is a close up of this years cluster.
A picture of the blosom very close up. I love it.
Hi guys, just popping in from work. I noticed that there is a forum on soil that now includes the subject of composting - Soil and Composting. As many of us on this thread either compost or are interested in it, I thought you'd want to know about it: http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/soil
I assume the mescal bean is legal to posess? LOL
Thank you for the link Maggie, It is very helpful.
John, I haven't heard anything to the contrary, the seeds are deadly, but my book says, fortunately the hard seed coat usually prevents children from chewing them.
Josephine.
It was popular back in the 60s, if you get my drift. With Indian tribes back in the olden days for cerimonial purposes. I don't know if it was smoked, ate or, what.
Frostweed, I would absolutely be thrilled to have some of the Salvia Guaranitica and the Texas Mountain Laurel (I may have misunderstood your messages, so feel free to set me straight). I live in Mansfield, so can pick up anytime you have them ready.
Adeline
Hello Everyone, in case some of you are not familiar with the Texas Wildscapes Backyard Habitat Program we thought that a link to a page that explains how we got involved, and a direct link to the official site, might be of help to you.
It is our hope that many of you will enjoy the rewards of this Urban Certification program sponsored by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Hello Posie4you, yes I will be glad to give you some of the Salvia Guaranitica, but I only have two seedlings of the Texas Mountain Laurel and I am reserving those for right now. The germination was very poor so I did not get much from all those seeds.
We normally are home and available on Sunday afternoons so let me know when it is a good time, I will email you my address.
Josephine.
This message was edited Mar 17, 2005 7:49 PM
SAVE ME ONE of everything. Are you running me a tab? I'm good for it. I am so upset, I didn't put a WATCH on this new thread, and forgot that since it was new.... I am trying to catch up! I'm sure Konkrete did the same thing...I'll yell at her too!
I miss my daily fix from this link!
mel
Yes Mel, I am keeping track of the things that everyone wants, so far I have 12 trays filled with little pots, and I am adding more as the plants become available. I think that right now ther are 14 people needing native plants, and that makes me very happy.
This is so nice, when I finally meet all of you, it is going to feel like we are old friends.
Josephine.
Josephine, will you be going to both TX roundups? I am.
I am planning on going to the one at lake Texoma on Sunday May 15th, so I am hoping to see you all there, but for those that cannot go, we will arrange to get together so we can meet and deliver plants.
John, do you really want a Paw Paw tree? The reason I am asking is because on the 3rd of
April we are going to Tyler to meet another gardening friend and also to see the azelea trails.
We are really looking forward to it since the Dogwoods should also be blooming.
I understand that the Paw Paw is more common in East Texas, so I thought some nurseries there might have it, and if they do I could pick one up for you. Please let me know if you are interested.
It is just an idea, I don't know if they have it, but I can try.
Josephine.
Here is a picture of a little Redbud that we planted in memory of my husband's mother.
The picture shows the Texas Mountain Laurel and the Cherry Laurel. We used them as a screen for the the compost area. Also it shows a very tall Elderberry, a Sweet Bay tree, and a Yawpon Holly. This is our evergreen area that we planted as a shelter for the birds in Winter.
The Elderberry is at least twice the normal height, because it is a heavy feeder and it is living off of all that wonferful compost.
A close up of the Redbud, ( Cercis canadensis ) bloom, I think they are beautiful.
And another blossom that is very similar, but only in the looks of the bloom.
This a Mexican Buckeye, ( Ungnadia speciosa ) This tree or large shrub is totally different from the Redbud, with leaves that look like pecan leaves and interesting fruits. This is also a native. I will try to show better pictures later in the year.
Josephine, I need to research the pawpaw further. I think it needs a pollintor nearby, requiring more than one tree. I will get back to you on that.
Josephine,
Do you know an easy way to see if certain plants/shrubs/trees are native to a particular area? I assume most plants are native to somehwere, but the trick is, what's native to my area? I looked over the application for the Urban Certification program and got to wondering how much of what I already have is native. Some of my plants, while well-adapted to this area down here, may not necessarily be a native.
Yes, pawpaws are said to need cross-pollination. I got two seedlings five years ago from a nursery in Georgia (which has since closed). They are very slow growing plants. Last year one of them bloomed and some small fruits began to form but dropped off. The other (smaller) one did not bloom. That same tree is blooming again now. If I could do it over I'd go the extra expense and get named varieties.
Maggie, one of the easiest ways is to go to www.wildflower.org and type in the latin name if you know it, since popular names can vary so much, if not, use the popular name and see what happens. Another way is to go to the Google search engine and type in
" native plants of texas," that will give you lots of different sites to search, and you will probably find the plant you are looking for on one of those sites, if not, you can type the name of your plant on Google, and then see if any of the sites says where it is native to.
Of course your books can also be of help, although no single book has everything.
Remember that they are not asking that the plant be native to the Houston area, but that it be native to Texas.
One good way to know what you have is to start listing your plants on paper by category, such as trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and so on. List the plants by their commom name and latin name if you can, and once you have all the plants on your property listed, you can set about finding out which ones are native.
This way you will be able to count the total number of plants you have, and find out what percentage of them are native. I hope this is clearer than mud. Josephine.
Yuska, our native pawpaws are found in river bottoms often in groves and like moist conditions. Could that be why the fruits are dropping? I agree that the named varieties are the way to go. There is also a native shrub pawpaw. I have seen the fruits in stores (rarely) so someone is growing them commercially!
John
Thanks Josephine, will do. I know that my trees are more than 50% native, I think my shrubs are (don't have very many), but it's when it gets down to the perennials, annuals, and vines that I definitely need help identifying what's native.
dstartz, I would love a Mountain Laurel. It's looking like a 60% chance of me getting to the Central Roundup on Saturday. If I can't get coverage for my store that day I'll probably drive over from Houston Sat. evening and get there late that night. Come h--l or hight water I WANT to come and met and greet all of ya'll.
Kip
Sorry, forgot this.
PS: The one thing I have to trade is the variaty of Hybiscus that looks like marijuana (sp) I've grown them from seeds from a friend. image of the babies.
That would be the Texas Star Hibiscus. This is just the edge of one of mine that grew over 6 ft. I finally moved it to the back corner of the back yard. It's already resprouting too.
Thank you konkreteblond, I was wondering what the blooms would look like. I plan to keep two of them and now I know where to take the rest !!
PS: is that a female Mockingbird I see ??
This message was edited Mar 19, 2005 12:06 AM
So you hadn't seen the blooms? They get huge. This isn't a great pic but I think it's the only one I have on my digital camera. That is a mother finch that is looking for her baby that fell out of it's nest. The baby is in the bed below her but she can't see him so she just keeps sitting there yelling for it. They eventually found each other. :)
Well, here is the wildflower slope on March 15th, I have been trying to show the changes monthly. Not a lot of change yet. Next month should show a grat difference.
