This plant is Western Ironweed (Vernonia baldwinii ) emerging in early March. It is a Texas native, a very strong and drought resistant perennial 2 to 5 feet tall. Strong, needs no staking and has lovely purple blossoms that look like soft brushes. I love this plant. The butterflies love it too.
A picture of Western Ironweed in bloom.
That is lovely! I love the spiky looking flowers! The hot pink is so brilliant. Where have all of these flowers been...?!
I told my hubby this morning that we need to run to Austin to see the Wildflower exhibit this year! We will try to work it in!
Josephine,
Thank you so much for the Frostweed and Penstemon seeds!
I'm glad you posted the picture of the Salvia Guaranitica. I had some last year and noticed today that it is coming up.
I look forward to meeting you on May 15th!
Is this Desert Marigold a Texas Native? I recall its sweet strong marigold smell from my early childhood. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1744/index.html
Hi everyone, I have a Texas Mountain Laurel, and I just took pics of it blooming recently! It is a slow grower, but worth the blooms! She needs staking however at first; mine leaned over the fence while I was ill last year and my neighbors cut the whole top off!!! But anyway here is a picture of the blooms, and they smell to me like grape koolaid! Happy gardening!
Yes, it is:
http://www.desertusa.com/mag01/apr/papr/marigld.html
It even occurs in NE California.
Wow, what a link. It'll be at home in the nature flirt part of my garden.
I am concerned that it might be very dangerous as it's easternmost nativity is Texas and Chihuahua. I'll keep at eye on it. They are being sold "annonymosly" at Lowe's.
What is a "nature flirt?" Wouldn't a desert plant be save in Florida? It has a very different enviroment.
Hello Sugarweed and John, I hope you guys don't take this the wrong way, I have been debating as to whether I should say something, but the marigold that Sugarweed has in her picture is not Desert Marigold. If you look closely at her picture, her Marigold plant is bright green and smooth. If you look at the picture of the Desert Marigold it is a grey green and also wooly not smooth. The flowers on hers have a lot less petals or rays than the other one. Now I wish that I could tell you for sure which Marigold hers is. I have looked a lot, and the best I can come up with is Signet Marigold, or Lemon Marigold, (Tagetes tenuifolia ) none of the pictures show the foliage close up, but the flowers seem to fit.
Whowever, the plant on the link that Sugarweed posted and the plant on the link that John posted are both Desert Marigold so I wonder if I misunderstood her question. In which case I apologize.
Josephine
I think you are correct Josephine. Especially after seeing weezingreens photo.
Tagetes tenuifolia's leaves look different to me. http://www.tuinkrant.com/tkarchief/tk/51/images/tagetes_tenuifolia_signet_lemon.jpg
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictures/p13/pages/tagetes-tenuifolia-8.htm
Hello Htop, nice to hear from you. Which one do think it is?
Josephine.
Hi, Josephine. I am not sure. If Sugarweed's plant in her photo is a tall plant, it might be Tarragon Marigold, Texas Tarragon, Sweet Mace, Yerbis Anis (Tagetes lucida), but it doesn't smell like a marigold. The leaves smell like anise. It looks like my Tagetes lucida, but shorter. It's difficult to teel how tall it is from the photo.
Right now it's about 14", purchased in proven winners.
The foliage doesn't look anything like my Tagetes lucida (yet another aka- Mexican mint marigold), though the flowers do. I don't know what anise smells like, but I've always thought that mine smells like licorice.
Anise smells like licorice!
Hello Htop, I also thought it might be (Tagetes lucida ) but what made me decide against it was the shape of the leaf, Sugarweed's plant had a divided leaf , and (tagetes lucida) has an entire leaf, a leaf with no indentations.
Now I am going to ask a dumb question that never ocurred to me before.
Sugarweed, did your plant have a name, either common or latin , with it, when you bought it?
We all have assumed that it didn't, and may be that is wrong. What led you to think that it might be a Desert Marigold? Is it because that is what the tag said ,and you weren't sure?
We are like the blind leading the blind but, we will get there!
Hey, sometimes you have great adventures when you wander around, even blindly! :-)
Some of the best!
Maggiemoo, my Mexican mint marigold smalls like licorice. I hadn't seen any indentations on Sugarweed's plant's leaves. I guess I need new glasses.
Well, this has been fun. I love Texans, they are so helpful.
When I bought it there were no tags. That scent made me 6 years old again and it was in the cart.
Frank, my resident desert dweller said the plant was a fetid marigold.
Today after lunch on that side of town I went to Lowes again and I got a tag off a new shipment. But, I lost it. lol, let me look.
Ta da! it's a "Tagetes lemmonii", but I dont get anise or licorice, but sweet strong spicy marigold. I planted it by moonlight last night so I have to go to the garden to smell it. I Just picked a small bouquet and definately no anise. Too many things can occasionally smell like anise and it's not on my smell daily list. The folage taste fresh, little mint, not gonna put it in salad.
Mystery solved my dear friends, thanks
Well, it looks like we all fell a little short, but we surely had fun trying to find out what it was. And we were all very close, just not quite there.
It was in the Dave,s data base all along, but we just didn't know exactly what to call it.
All I can say is, better luck to all of us next time.
Thank you, Sugarweed for solving the mystery.
Josephine.
I knew all along we'd nail it! The pressure was on.
Where did you find it in his data base? I was just getting ready to add it.
Hello Sugarweed, Here is the link to the data base where I found it. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54284/index.html
Josephine
Ah, yes, Copper Canyon Daisy! I love the smell of this. I can't really describe it, but one description I read is "lemon with undertones of camphor."
Here is a picture of mine last fall, the first year I had it. It's already looking much fuller this year.
So, its a Texas native?
John
Yes, it is. It took me a while to find a source that called it that, most said native to Mexico. Now don't ask me where I finally found it called a TX native, I can't remember more than one thing per day, and this memory just pushed that one out! :-)
I'm trying to indentify all my plants as natives or not, working toward the Urban Certification Josephine told us about. Many of my plants I think should be native, but I can't quite pin them down... but I'm getting there!
Keep at it!
It sure doesn't look like my Copper Canyon Daisy. I even went out and looked at it when Sugarweed's photo was posted. It has small, delicate leaves snd the plant is sorta "airy" looking (Not thick foliage) and the stems break easily... but photos can be deceiving. Mine looks like Maggiemoo's. It does not smell like a marigold (kinda like licoricey camphor) and the blooms are small. The leaves look to large on Sugarweed's plant.
Yeah, Copper Canyon Daisy (tagetes lemmonii) is more airy, fine foliage, and smaller, more daisy-like flowers. Mexican Mint Marigold (tagetes lucida) has denser foliage, and the flowers are more like marigold flowers.
Well, there you go time for a Copper Canyon forum, lol... lemmonii lemon, lucida licorice.
My picture was deceiving, taken 6 -10 inches above the pot with no size refferance, (something I'm an advocator for). The flowers are an inch and a quarter at most. I should have posted it next to something common like money.
As for Mexican natives, most of Texas was a Mexican Native before (6 flags). The only thing between Texas and Mexico is a line put there by our forefathers. Therefore anything native especially to northern Mexico, and parts of New Mexico and Oklahoma are also Texas natives!!!
After all there are only 2 places in the country where everybody's posture naturally leans forward at a nintey degree angle, Chicago and Amarillo.
Because they are always windy.
I love all my Texas friends here,
Sidney
Dis-placed Texan
Time to come home, Sydney.
Well, actually Sydney is home. lol
Sidney is happly transplanted actually.
That cold October wind reminded me of Mama's (GM) words;
"I guess the only other place in this world I'd want to live is Florida so I could grow things year round."
She is very happy for me to be here I'm sure and has to be one of my garden angels.
I will come visit one of these days and Ya'll sure are good company here in the garden.
:-) Home is where we hang our hat!
I'm glad you come to visit us here, and look forward to an in-person visit some day.
Well, here is a plant that has Texas native written all over it.
The famous Texas Bluebonnet ( Lupinus texensis ) I don't think any of you need to be reminded, but it would be a shame not to feature it.
Please post your pictures on the thread, we can not have to much of a good thing. Let us have fun, with all the gorgeous sights you have in store.
Emerging Bluebonnet 2-10-2005
A field of Bluebonnets, not the best picture, but lovely anyway.
Texas Bluebonnet and Sandyland Bluebonnet ( lupinus subcarnous ) are the only two Lupinus species endemic to Texas, the other species have a wider distribution.
