This thread is Gardening with Texas plants & Wildflowers part 6.
To see the other parts 5-4-3-2-1- go to the links below.
To go to part 5 click on this link http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/518448/
To go to part 4 click on this link http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/511726/
To go to part 3 click on this link http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/498342/
To go to part 2 click on this link http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/491824/
To go to part 1 click on this 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 can 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 & Wildflowers. Part 6
Well guys, here is the Phlox Carolina, in full bloom, looking toward the street side,
with my cat Angel.
Here's a good website on nutgrass - http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7432.html
It has some suggestions that may help in the battle. :-)
Looking in the opposite direction toward the evergreen bird shelter and the compost pile. The scent is beautiful.
View of the planters by the patio.
View from the other side.
And a close up of the flower cluster.
Linda, thank you for the link about Nutgrass, it shows what a formidable oponent it is to fight, but persist we must.
Made it over - who would have guessed these grasses would cause us so much trouble!
Oh well at the moment I am telling myself it looks like a field with the flowers in it! LOL
Stunning photos Frostweed but it is twice the color in person!
Thank you Mitch, I planted the plants you brought and they are looking great.
Those guys don't miss a beat, I beleive I see the start of flower buds.
I am telling you they are great plants... at the worst they are dry loving, summer blooming weeds - at best who knows a new gardening craze?
Lovely blooms, Josephine! I have 2 that are in bloom, but the babies that I got from you are not nearly big enough this year.... maybe next year!
I do stop and smell my two that are blooming. Not much scent, but a nice fresh smell, no less!
=D
I have a new bloom! A RED scabiosa that I grew from seed! My best success so far! It is barely open here, but I watch it every day! Today it has some little pink sprouts around it too! My how it changes!
mel
We have had great exchanges of information for quite a while now. Maybe we ought to stay away from certain topics or accept that each of us has differing philosophies on life because it it difficult to avoid getting upset when the pronoun 'you' is used.
Personally, I think that, used judiciously, the use of herbicides is justified. I use herbicides responsibly and will continue to do so. This shouldn't make me less of a gardener.
My home is situated in a former Bermuda pasture. Short of digging down 7 - 8 feet and placing a concrete wall around my garden, using Round-up is one of the safest ways (For me) to control Bermuda and other weeds. Round-up works by translocating the chemicals down to the roots. It quickly breaks down in the soil and doesn't travel sideways or reach the groundwater.
I have a very rare genetic disease, porphyria, which necessitates staying out of the sun as much as possible. I do my gardening late in the afternoon or evening. It is physically impossible for me to accomplish all I want to do without resorting to using chemicals. I hope that, as friends, we can put this behind us and go on.
Veronica, I have been meaning to post here how much I enjoyed getting to know you last Saturday. I had no idea about your problem with the sun, I can't imagine how you made it at the nurseries!
Anyone who has a chance to sit and talk with Veronica will quickly discover that she is fascinating! I found out that science runs in her viens, which really explains her passion for research and powers of observation.
It was fun, driving along !-10, trying to identify the flowers that were whizzing by. Sign me up for some more time with her!! :-)
Veronica, I am sorry if I offended you too. You know that I think very highly of you, and we all love how you can identify so many plants, that none of us can figure out.
We need you, and we think you are an excellent gardener.
You are entitled to do whatever works for you, I was just expressing an opinion, but
I guess I should have kept my thoughts to myself, and all this could have been avoided.
Please let us get past this, let us continue to be friends and learn from each other.
Josephine.
I have discovered that everyone I have met from Dave's and other great friends I have made via the internet gardening forums are ALL fascinating! My group of friends, that includes TXMel, are just wonderful! We all have different types of gardens: one is shade and a squirrel and owl habitat, one is mainly bulbs and tons of roses, Mel's is large mass plantings in full sun with almost NO watering (I am still amazed!) and her gorgeous pond, one is a cottage theme w/ poolside tropicals, and mine is for the butterflies, and our new friend Frostweed who has the natives and wildflowers that I envy! Everyone is so different and we learn so much from each other. It's all good. :)
Indeed it is Paige.
Josephine, just catching up with this thread. Your blooms are gorgeous!
By the way, the St. Augustine in my back yard is saturated with nutgrass and it makes me CRAZY!! If anyone has an idea of how to kill it without killing my St. Augustine grass, please send me an email.
Is this nutgrass mainly a problem in St.A grass? I looked at those pics and I think I have seen a few of those things pop up here and there, but not sure it's the same stuff. Whatever it is, I pull it out quickly. It always looks like I'm getting the roots and all. I'll have to inspect it more closely. It's never been in the grass tho, just the beds. I guess that's good.
Back to the natives....I love that Phlox. Is it purple or pink tho? I thought it was purple, but it's pink in one shot. I have some pink ones blooming now and they smell wonderful!
Mary,
You are very kind. I really enjoyed our travel time Saturday. I try to avoid the mid-day sun, but that gets boring so I break out every once in a while. I did a quick tour of the Rainbow Nursery then spent the rest of the time by the water cooler. The hardest part has been to learn to determine when I start to dehydrate. I have a John Deere Gator that allows me to get around the ranch while avoiding some of the late afternoon sun.
Thank you Trunnels, you have a wonderful garden yourself, I have seen some of the pictures, and it looks totally beautiful.
Paige, some people call it purple some pink, I call it bright fuchia pink, and of course it depends on the light at the time you see it. Yes, the scent is wonderful, and I really love it. Right now between the honeysuckle and the phlox, my yard smalls like heaven, or so I like to think. I know the honeysuckle is not native, but that is one of the luxuries I allowed myself, because of the scent.
Josephine. Sorry, I put the wrong name on this paragraf it is meant for Paige.
This message was edited Jun 23, 2005 10:10 PM
What is the native ruellia that grows down here in the southern part of TX? It is beautiful and even when the mowers get it, it comes back and blooms some more.
I picked some seeds from some growing on the side of the road where I walk the dog(I didn't have anything to dig with or I would have gotten a plant!)
Hello Calalily, and welcome to the thread. Native Ruellia growing by the road! Wow, I wish we had some around this area, it must be really pretty. All I know about wild Ruellia is from books, but I bet Hazel and Veronica can tell you all about it from expirience, they live a lot closer to you and probably have very similar flora.
Trois too lives down there in his private jungle with all kinds of wonderful plants.
Josephine.
I'm interested in finding out how to transplant natives....the ones that you move from one place to another or from the side of the road...I found this beautiful little wildflower and was so excited about having it and I tried to move it and today it is all wilted and dying looking..I'm just feeling really sad about it...I wish now I had just left it where it was..
I want to get them established on our property but not at the expense of killing everything...are seeds the only way or is it just to hot this time of year to transplant.
I would love to know to - the field next to me is full of this and that I would love to move some before they cut it all down again... any ideas?
Hello, Hotnspicy and Mitch, I don't know if you guys are talking about wild Ruellias or some other plants. Wild Ruellia is a perennial so it probably would transplant at some point. But right now is just about the worst time, especially since wilflowers are hard to transplant, and with this heat, I would say wait.
May be in September or October, after a heavy rain, on a cloudy day, you might be successful in moving them.
But remember that we are not supposed to take plants from the wild, that is how plants are decimated and lost.
Only if they are about to be destroyed by construction, or some other way, should you take them. In that case you would be saving them from death. But get permission first, if you can.
It is usually best to wait for the seeds and pick some, but always leave some seed so they can continue to multiply.
Most of the plants I have have came from seed that I picked or bought, cuttings and plants I bought, plants I was given, and some like the Tall Goldenrod, Ironweed, Commelina and others, just showed up when I allowed things to grow without mowing or tilling.
In short, the name of the game is patience, my friends.
I know - and the things in the field are maybe the same old same old in some ways I just know they till everything under the first of Aug or end of July so was wanting to be able to save a few... they have a great phox and a few baby trees in there that I think would be great in the garden. At least the field right next to me is left - the light co owns it and they have wires there and leave it several people around here use it for their vegie bed even - so far I have just left it... the only down side - go looking for seeds and get chiggers! Oh well got to pay a price somewhere right?
Mitch, what kind of phlox is out there in the field?
Is this a field that they plow regularly? If so, they are going to destroy the plants anyway, so that might be allright. Check it out and see.
I've moved flowers from one area on my property(or from the gravel road where the ruellias are and where the roadgrader scrapes them up) and most wilt. Some resent transplanting and I've killed a few, like verbena and wild heliotrope. Seeds are best with those. Sometimes a cutting will root, like with the beach morning glories and TX ice plant, all it takes is a little piece to start a plant.
I also beg pieces of stuff from my neighbor who is a big native plant enthusiast(must be native to go on his property, nothing introduced is allowed).
I can't remember where, but I read that Ruellias are easy to start from cuttings. I've had only one experience with Ruellia cuttings. I bought some pink ruellia plants on eBay and one arrived with a broked top. Another "plant" seemed to have been cut just above the roots. I planted both in a 4" pot and put the pot in the shade. Watered when the pot was almost dry. That was about a month ago. Both cuttings put out new growth last week.
If you take cuttings, take a container of water with you so you can place the cuttings in water immediately after cutting. Dipping them in a rooting hormone will increase their chances of rooting. I find I have better luck with some plants if I take the cuttings during the summer.
I have read that wildflowers are difficult to transplant. The only wildflower I've transplant is Passiflora incarnata. We have patches of them in our pastures and I wanted some in my garden. This past April we dug up some sections of the thick underground rhizomes. They all sent out new shoots and are growing well.
I don't like taking my books outside so I take a cutting of the wildflower I want to identify and bring it home. Even when I place the cuttings in water, by the time I get back home the cuttings have begun to wilt. It's really stange. I can cut roses, fool around outside for a while, come inside, make a fresh cut in the rose stems, plunk them in warm water and they revive nicely. You can't do that with wildflowers. They just keep wilting until they die.
They do till it all under to make more hay.. yep they do all that work for hay. Oh well...
It may not be phlox - but sure looks like it to me. Purple flowers and loves the arid parts of the field... will try to head out there and get it pic (if it cools down a little before dark) The grass is about my height in places so daylight only or I dont go - no idea what is in there.
Bettydee, I'll start you a ruellia cutting if you'll start me a passiflora! I do ruellia cuttings all the time, the Katy ruellia(I know they're not native, but they sure take the heat) roots in a few days, the other kinds take longer.
I collect seeds from the guara, Mexican hats and other stuff that grows wild and just toss them into a bare area of the flowerbeds. I figure it will simulate the wild areas they were growing in, lol. I figure if it grows like crazy along the hot road, it should like my corner garden!
Calalily, I remember the beautiful beach morning glories when we visited Padre iland and Galveston iland. I don't suppose they would grow here, but they sure are nice.
So you have a neighbor who has nothing but native plants? A real purist !
I haven't had the pleasure of meeting one in person.
How come he is not posting and sharing his knowledge with us?
May be he is not a Dave's member, but he should be, you might ask him and see.
Josephine.
I agree!!!
Mitch, it would be nice if you could get a picture of that flower in the field, but do be careful, in tall grass snakes could be a problem.
going to try - who knows might be some rare flower, and then again so many could be around.. Last year a saw what I thought was a morning glory and left it only to find out it was bindweed.. so I have a mixed track record here - oh well
Here is the phlox - there is I found some of the mint you have on the side Josephine.. Dont remember the name - when will it be ready for seed? There is a lot of it if they dont cut it this year... they didi not last year so I am praying...
I am sure (well almost) that I have some of that...I have been calling it verbena....but I didn't even look it up ...it just looked like verbena to me...
Ruthie
Mitch,
Your phlox is Prairie Verbena, Verbena bipinnatifida, aka Dakota Verbena. I love it because despite the drought we are having, it's still blooming in places. I have one small patch in the garden and tons of it out in the pastures.
Suzi, I have a passiflora I could send you now and you could send the ruellia when it roots.
Veronica