Gardening with Texas Native plants & Wildflowers. Part 4

3 more.
1. Lyre Leafed Sage.

2. Trailing Fuzzy bean.

Bluet patch.

There was a science fiction movie called Day of the Triffids. Alien plants, arriving in a meteor shower, move around on their own killing anything they can find. They were more active at night. Yours could be called Winter of the Figs. If the figs make a move toward you, RUN.

I have two dwarf figs I'm keeping in pots because I'm afraid to lose them during winter. Tuesday, my husband and I went to the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham. There were two huge fig trees growing in the nursery. I think I'll put mine in the ground. I just need two holes dug.

I was out before it got so hot and took a photo of a pink wine cup. They have been increasing in numbera here. I recall seeinng only a few, 3 years ago. Earlier in the year, I saw a white one or two, but didn't have my camera with me. I love the viberant purple color of the normal purple wine cups, but they never photograph well.

The fig that moved is a cutting from a very large fig tree we had in Houston. That is the direction it moved, so maybe it wants to go home.

I agree that Wine Cups are the most difficult of all flowers to photograph. They just never look right.

Veronica, that is a lovely picture of a pink Winecup, I had never seen one.
Don't be afraid of planting your Fig trees in the ground, I have a Texas brown turkey, tha is about 30 years old. It has lived through very low temperatures, I beleive as low as five above 0.
It has died to the ground on those years when it went below 20, at least 3 times, but allways came back.
Here is a picture from two years ago, when we had a good snow fall, it didn't hurt it one bit.
It is about 20 feet tall with many trunks, we love the fruit, but the last two years the squirrels and the birds have eaten it before it ripens. We are considering trapping the squirrels and taking them to Veterans park, we shall see.

Trois,
Is the West Texas Mist an annual? It's really pretty.

It is listed as perennial. I don't know for what zones.

It just grows wild here and we never gave it a lot of thought or checked to see if the same plant comes back or it is just reseeding. We have much more every year.

This message was edited May 26, 2005 5:14 PM

This message was edited May 26, 2005 9:45 PM

Three blooming now. All wild.
1. Verbina

2. Scarlet Pimpernel.

3. Frilly Passion.

Trois,
This that the Passiflora incarnata?

If I remember correctly, the experts had a problem with this one. It seems to have elements of more than one kind. There are about a dozen different wild ones here during the summer.

I have three large patches, but they are all P. incarnata.

Here's a Mexican Hat that showed up by chance in my garden. I love serendipity!

Cowpen daisies, four o'clocks and a datura started from seeds that Josephine gave me.

Closeup of the cowpen daisy.

Here's a white prickly poppy - perhaps from seed given to me by Josephine - but they are almost 5' tall - would they grow that much in one year? Or do you think they were already there?

Tiny unidentified wildflowers that are growing at the back of my yard.

This shot shows the newly rebuilt retaining wall between my house and my neighbors. The understory trees are Eve's Necklace. The white flower is similar to Queen Anne's Lace and I'm told that swallowtail butterflies lay eggs on it. True?

I saw this at Green Mama's - think it was identified as inland sea oats. It grows wild on the banks of the Brazos behind our house. It's leaves remind me of some types of bamboo - think it's quite pretty. Have lots if anyone wants a start.

These vines are growing almost rampantly on the vacant lot next to me. Anybody recognize this? Gourd, squash?

Wow, Shugarfoot, you sure are doing great. I am so proud of you! Thank you for posting your pictures, they look great, especially the Cowpen Daisy and the White Prickly Poppy.
I don't think the poppy would get that big in one season from seed, so it probably was there all along, waiting to spring up.
Of the unidentified wildflowers the yellow one is Common Yellow Primrose, but the pink one I don't know, may be someone else can identifie it.
The sea ooats is very pretty. I am sure someone has a need fot it.
The flower that looks like Queen Anne's lace is Mock Bishop's- Weed it is an annual but self seeds heavily and it is a larval food source for swallowtail butterflies.
Keep up the good work.
Josephine.

The big one is a native gourd that has big yellow flowers and baseball sized striped gourds. We used them for balls when I was a kid.

The gourd is called Buffalo Gourd, Cucurbita foetidissima, is a perennial vine whose branches can get over 18' long and very invasive. Supposedly, the natives boiled the gourd and ate it. and the roots were used as soap. It stinks if crushed. Could you isolate the pink flower and take a close-up?
Veronica

I also have thousands of the unidentified Pink flowers. They look like minature Texas stars. People have tried to convince me it is a pink variety of Blue Eyed grass. I don't think so.
In the foreground, under the Marsh Pinks, are the tiny pinks. They are about 1/4 the size of a Scarlet Pimpernel.

Your little stars are very pretty, Trois, but I think they have different leaves than the ones in my yard. Mine remind me of a geranium that I had in Colorado, only this is a much smaller scale. Here's a closer pic.

Yes, the leaves are different. I may never get an ID, but at least they are nice to look at.

Looking at the seed pods, I do think mine is in the crane's bill family. It looks similar to Erodium Cicutarium on the wildflower.org site.

You are on the right track Linda, it is definately of the Geranium family, there is one in Wildflowers of Texas book that is very similar called Texas Storks-bill ( Erodium texanum )

Keep up the good work, Josephine.

And Trois, you are doing great job too, giving us a glimpse of all the wonderful plants you have at your place. Thank you very much, Josephine.

I found one this morning I have never seen before. Can anyone ID it for me?

Wow! that is a neat flower. The closest one I have found is Gaillardia aestivalis, variety winkleri
at lady bird Johnson. It is not exactly the same but very close, let me know what you think.

I think it is a relative. The leaves are also a bit different.

May be Veronica will know.

I hope so.

It looked more like sneezeweed or bitterweed, Helenium, so I went on a hunt. Found it on this link. Taken from a different angle it's the same plant. The stem shape provided the clue. Purpleheaded Sneezeweed, Helenium flexuosum.

http://botany.cs.tamu.edu/FLORA/dcs420/b/hdw030599es.jpg

Only problem is TAMU's website is the only one to provide a photo of H. flexuosum with red petals. A google turned up only yellow-petaled H. flexuosum. It's possible that there are color variations of this wildflower.

Thanks. That is most likely it. I wish they had showed leaves and so forth. I will keep an eye on this one and see if there are more of them than one plant.

Hooray for Veronica! I knew we could count on you and your excellent research skills.
Trois' flower was prettier than their picture, I think because it was fresher and had all the pollen on it. Thank you very much.

I went back this morning to have another look and took a few more pictures since more blooms were open.This seems to be a solitary plant. I searched the area and could find no others.