I dont know for sure just asked the farmer who cuts it and he called it phlox - anyone know for sure? would love to have the "real name"
Gardening with Texas Native plants & Wildflowers. Part 6
Mitch, check your plants against the image links at this site: http://uvalde.tamu.edu/herbarium/vebi.htm
John
Mitch,-- Ruthie, Veronica, and John, are right, It is Dakota Vervain,
( Verbena bipinnatifida ) your farmer was confused.
That is a perennial and a very desirable plant, so it would be good to have it.
To good! Now to plot out how to get it and move it... could hope for seed if they let it wait that long...
You know I always figure if I dont hear it on here I doubt any name I get, to many people call this by names they think are right but they are off. Verain - and I saw a stand of Golden Rod out there to... not to mention the mint... to much work to do out there...
Yes thats a native verbena - I 'rescued' one from the lot next to us just before they graded it for building, (when it would have been killed for sure). Its growing like a weed and flowereing non stop, in fact we call it Mrs Weed. It makes great ground cover!!
good! they bloom with no water in the field . . . so they are great for my dry yard... need rain-
Yes mine are prolific and actually are very numerous around here...I love verbena so they caught my eye right away...
Well, what do you know, you guys have it and I don't, I do like it very much, but since it tends to recline, it just can make it on my slope with all the other tall plants.
Some things work, some don't, we all have to adapt to our circumstances.
Okus, I like the rescue idea, we have done that sort of thing too. That's how we got our Honey Locust. Of course some people think we are crazy to have such a tree, but we think it is very pretty and keep it under control by pollarding, so the thorns won't be a problem.
Josephine.
Frostweed, don't know if the beach morning glories would live up there, they got damaged pretty badly in the snow at Christmas, but recovered. My neighbor doesn't belong to DG. I tell him all the time he needs to, but he says with gardening, working and watering he doesn't have time! We are going to get bunny poo in the morning! He's got the truck and I know the source, lol.
His wife loves fragrant flowers so I pick jasmines, gardenias and other fragrant stuff to take to her so she can enjoy. I gave her a small gardenia and it's in a pot(she says it's a house plant so it doesn't count, lol). I need to find her some native flowers that are fragrant.
Bettydee, OK. I will start some ruellia cuttings and I also have some seedlings up(at least that's what I hope they are, lol, they're still teeny)
I printed out lists from the site that Htop sent me on TX natives, I didn't know there were so many pretty ones and come to find out, some in my garden are natives!(maybe that's why they're doing good)
I saw wild frogfruit today and a beautiful pinkish lavender small flowered morning glory right down from the office. Another girl was driving and she wouldn't stop and let me swipe a piece, lol.
Calalily, if she likes scented flowers, she could try Carolina Phlox, Four O'clocks and Jimson Weed. All three have a wonderful scent, and are easy to grow.
Josephine.
I haven't seen the Carolina Phlox down here. I grew it in TN and loved it but didn't bring any with me when we moved, I have 4 o'clocks I can share with her. Don't know if her hubby would go for Jimson weed, but I have seeds.
I didn't know 4 o'clocks were native!
I decided to conduct a little experiment this summer. As you all know, we have been told that perennial seed has to be planted in the Fall or very early Spring.
Well, I did have plenty of Purple coneflower seed, so I decided toplant some in early June, and see what happened.
They were up in two weeks, and doing very well thank you, so it seems that some perennial seeds can be started in summer as well.
Here is a picture of the seed bed.
And here is a close up of the seedlings. I will be potting them as soon as they are big enough to handle, and setting them on the slope this Fall.
I have a feeling that I will have more than I need, so I will be glad to share with those who need or want them.
getting my hand up for a few :-)
Where did you find weed free straw?
There is some dicussion going on about Four O'clocks, some say adapted, some say native. One of my books,
Landscaping with Native Plants of Texas and the Sowthwest, says they are native.
This is the Giant Four O'clock, ( Mirabllis multiflora ) which is the one that most people know and grow.
The way I see it, that's good enough for me.
There are other types of native Texas Four O'clocks, but I have never seen them,
Trailing Four O'clock, ( Allinonia incarnata)
and Wild four O'clock , ( Mirabilis nyctaginacea ) I haven't seen those in the wild, or in nurseries.
I will be potting more Phlox cuttings this fall so may be we can suply you and your friend. Josephine.
imway - that is holy straw! You really need to hear the story it is great.
I'm listening.
O.K. here it goes, the straw came from the Manger scene at our church at Christmas
When they took it down, there were three bales for free, and they said first come, first served, well, we ran for it. Of course there weren't many people runing for it, and so we got there first.
We jokingly told the group that it was holy straw, because it came from the Manger.
And that's all.
I think you should sell it on EBay for holy straw - hey if ghosts in bottles sell thin about that one...
Still a great story - Mitch
Holy straw it must be! There didn't seem to be many weeds. LOL
None from the straw, but some day flower shoots here and there, they are everywhere in my area, and i pull them all the time.
One year though, it was oat straw, and I had a lovely crop of oats that year, but no problem, I took care of them in on time flat.
Suzi,
Mirabilis jalapa, called Marvel of Peru, is the 4 o'clock usually sold. It comes in various colors including the bicolored ones.
Mirabilis multiflora, known as the Showy 4 O'Clock, is a native of Nevada, Utah and Colorado. It has purple tinged pink flowers. Color is difficult to describe.
Mirabilis gigantea is endemic to a few counties in central Texas. It has light purple flowers.
Acleisanthes obtusa, called Vine 4 O'Clock, is found in Central and South Texas. The flowers are white to pink tinged with purple. They are fragrant. Wildflowers of Texas has good things to say about this one. Blooms from April to December in the garden, producing loads of flowers with a little care. Easy to propagate from root divisions. Does anyone have this? It sounds like a great one for the wilflower garden.
Acleisanthes longifora, called Angel Trumpets, is also a member of the 4 O'Clock family. The flowers are white and open at night.
Josephine has mentioned the other 2 members of the family.
This seems to be one family worthwhile investigating and including in the garden if they can be found.
:-), thanks.
so now where can we find these seeds? I found a few at Hudson seed for the Angel Trumpets - and plain old marvel of peru... will let you know if I find any more..
will keep posted. Mitch
The last time we had rain was June 1st. It's amazing how some plants keep blooming even in this drought. Black-Eyed Susan is still blooming. The plants are smaller, but with lots of flowers. One little plant, the Arkansas Lazy Daisy, Aphanostephus skirrhobasis, hugs the ground and doesn't open until the afternoon. I took this photo and the following ones 2 weeks ago.
I finally saw the American Beauty Bush, Callicarpa americana, in bloom this year. On another thread, someone said that jelly can be made from the berries of the Beauty Bush.
I have some lazy daisy seeds if anyone wants some (with chaff). I love this plant, I originally thought it got the name because it tends to "recline", but as Veronica said, it doesn't open until later in the day. Mine has spread "gently", to fill in between the Melody Pink dianthus. They look very pretty together!
I welcome insectivores such as this little tree frog. There were 3 little frogs, 2 green and this gray one. Of all the photos I took, this was one of the better ones. Maybe it's the wet coating, but it's almost impossible to focus on these little critters. These 3 were on a potted plant on the porch.
The Texas Lantana, Lantana horrida, in the garden are still blooming their heads off. Those out in the pastures have quit blooming. Last year, we had quite a few bushes of Lantana camara especially under the live oaks, but they seem to have disappeared this year. This plant has more of the solid orange clusters than of the combination ones. It would be awesome if the flowering clusters were larger.
This is what the combination yellow and orange L. horrida clusters look like.
We have hundreds of wild mustang grapevines growing throughout the ranch. Most of the leaves on the vines are the standard looking ones, but here in the garden, which is closer to the river, the vines have these leaves. I want to grow this vine for the foliage and hope that I can keep it under control.
Bettydee what are the requirements for the mustang grape...I would like to get some establised on my property ...someone told me I needed to be on a river or have a pond and obviously I don't but I sure would like to get some of these started here...Did you root cuttings or plant seed or dig plants ...
Bettydee, I saw a picture of the angel's trumpet while looking at the wild flower site, it looked pretty.
75154, my neighbor gets seeds from somewhere here in TX for wildflowers. We're going to get bunny poo this morning, I'll try to remember to ask where they get them.
Maggie, I would like some lazy daisy seed! Apparently this plant is native to Kansas as well but, the Plant Files list it as hardy to 8a. It is said to be useful in xeriscapes.
John
You got it John, I'll send them Monday if I don't get out in time today.
:-) I wonder if there is enough time remaining for them to make seed this year? Worth a try with some of the seed, me thinks. Sow the rest next spring.
I'd sure try it, I think I have babie coming up from the seeds that have fallen already. It seems like the seed production is pretty constant.
BTW, I'm also going to try to send your crossvine, too. When we were in San Antonio last week Susie (calalily) told me how to pack a plant for mailing. It still seems a little alien to me (plants in the mail?), but I'll try.
Wonderful! Now, how can I reciprocate?
Veronica, those are really nice pictures especially the one of the
American Beauty bush, the flowers are lovely, usually people concentrate more on the berries. I think that the Lantana horrida is very nice, as well as Camara, I have both, the horrida grows a lot faster, so sometimes has to be trimmed back, but tha's o.k.
How are your fig trees doing? I saw that you bought two in San Antonio, I hope tgey do well for you.
Josephine.