I save plants from new buildings - got my golden rod, loads of Iris, some DLs, and most of my seeds that way. The big find last year was some red yuccas! Sure wish I could find plants more like that one - but then again I have only been rescueing plants for 3 years now so I have a lot to learn on getting there before the trucks and looking for plants that might be small of blubs that have already died down...
Gardening with Texas Native Plants & Wildflowers, Part 10.
Mary, we don't know yet, but most probably will, and what fun it will be to visit with you and see your garden. I hope we can make it happen.
I can see that you are going to be a very enthusiastic grandma, it is great to be excited looking forward to such a special event.
Josephine.
Linda, that Salvia is relly pretty. Yes we do rescue plants as much as we can. Many of my plants came to us that way. There was a lovely old home site here in Arlington with all kinds of unusual plants, that is now a car lot, we hate it when we go by there.
I do have quite a few white Primroses potted up, I had to, they were about to take over my new bed. I have never seen them grow so fasr and so tall.
If you guys want some, please let me know, I do have plenty, and I love to share.
Josephine.
They do grow fast - Josephine the ones you gave to me I planted each one in a diffrent part of the garden, wow they have all gone 4 to 10 time bigger in jus the last 4 weeks!
Josephine, I would love to have some of your white primrose. I have a "no-man's land" in the back of the yard that I haven't tried to grow anything in because of the problem with getting water to it in year's past. That is solved this year when DH and I bit the dust and had a sprinkler system put in. But so far, I only have a couple of things back there. Native plants will be my best bet for the area I am sure. But it is also very rocky, so it won't be taking shape fast. Here you can see the area from a couple years ago, behind some Larkspurs. It does have a few trees so it is sun to part shade.
That is great Sheila, do you want me to give them to you at the R.U.?
Yes, I will have something to exchange by then also.
Josephine, I would love some of your white primroses, too. I'm really excited at the prospect of more sun to part-shade areas to plant in my front yard, since I've "re-drawn" the lines of my front bed.
My fall aster is really growing well. Should I be pruning it back to encourage more bushy growth? (It looks pretty bushy now, but so do Copper Canyon Daisy and Mexican Mint Marigold at first. If you don't prune them back a few times, they flop open in the middle - and the pruning give much more blooms in the fall!.)
Keep me posted about coming down here. Maybe some others from this area can come up and we can have lunch or something in the garden? (Or inside, it may be way too hot to sit outside.)
Mary, I am so glad that you will take the white Primroses, they are adorable, be prepared to give them some space, or you can always supply all your friends.
Yes you should prune the fall Asters once or twice, but no later than the end of July, to give them a chance to recover by October, they sure are gorgeous.
I will surely let you know about coming to Houston, I think it would be really neat.
Josephine.
Hello Mel, check this out, this is the little Comfrey plant you gave me at the October r.u.
Doesn't it look great? It has grown by leaps and bounds. Thank you.
Is it a native? I pick one up from the same lady who gave me the Veronica and said they both were native... lol
Mitch, I cheked usda and it says it is naturalized but not in Texas.
It is an herb with medicinal properties.
Sad thing is - she is a speaker and one of the heads of the Ellis County Native Plant Club... I have them both in my herb garden.. if you can call it an herb garden when it is 50 50 flower and herbs. . .
Mitch, I saw the windows that Esther fixed up as picture frames and they looked very nice. But I heard that you had wanted to use those for the garden, well, guess what? I was on my morning walk yesterday and I found 2 windows for you.
Maybe you can use these for the original purpose.
Can we bring them to you this coming Monday 24th, at about seven o'clock?
We can also pick up your plants at that time.
Let me know if that is o.k.
Josephine.
That would be great! Monday at 7 it is - I will Dave mail you how to get here!
Mitch
Great find Josephine, nice of you to capture them for Mitch!
My husband had to help, they were too heavy for me to carry home, but I spotted them and claimed them, it was a good thing I saw Mitch's post, or I wouldn't have known.
Josephine - both of you thank you soooo much for picking them up. Are they wooden or metal? (Love them both... what a great find!)
They are metal, they last longer that way.
This message was edited Apr 19, 2006 10:28 PM
I didn't realize there was so much going on on this thread! Thanks for sending me over Josephine. You are welcome for the Primroses. I can't take credit for anything but pulling them out of someone's yard and bringing them home. I really did forget these were white or I would have mixed them in with the pink you gave me. I did see a few that I didn't pull up so I might try and transplant them soon.
Here's a pic of my pink ones almost 2 weeks ago. They are even thicker now. I've had to cut them down closer around the air conditioner. They seem to be doing what we had hoped, which was covering the grass so my husband wouldn't have to mow that side, except he really wanted it on the other side of the air cond. (The neighbor moved their fence which made it nearly impossible to get to that little strip) I might be on my way to my own slope!
They will last much much much longer! Sounds great - just perfect.
Paige, those Primroses look adorable, just take a few and put yhen on the other side of the air conditioner, they will fill it up soon. I am very happy for you.
I am not able to see Paige's thumbnail, nor CJ's from earlier. I may need to reboot. Right now I need to recharge my bod..goodnight.
Paige, I forgot to ask you how your Desert Bird of Paradise is doing, the one you got from your elderly neighbor, I hope it is doing o.k.
Josephine.
Sylvia! look what the lovely Hosta I got from you last year is doing.
It looks beautiful and it survived the cold in the pot ouside, so it is very hardy.
Thank you for such a lovely gift.
Josephine.
Josephine & Paige, do you cut the primrose back at all for reblooming? Does it only bloom in the Spring and then get cut back? Or do you just leave it to do it's thing all year long?
I leave the ones on the slope alone, bacause it would be very hard to cut with all the other plants growing around them, but the ones in pots and flower beds I cut back to keep them neat and for reblooming.
Josephine.
Mary, this is the first time I've ever had the primroses so I don't really know. I got 2 from Josephine and those 2 spread and they bloomed a lot more than I thought they did. I'm not able to actually "prune" these since there is such a mass of them. I just took big shears and had to cut them down. I'm thinking that will just make them probably bushier.
Josephine, I've given up hope on my little tree. It looked pretty bad when I got it but it might be able to recover but it's not shown any sign of life at all. But my little Desert Willow is still alive!
I am sorry Paige, may be it will still come through, but with such a cold winter and the stress of moving it, it will be hard.
I am glad the desert willow is doing well. I started some seeds from mine and if they do as well as now, I will have desert willows for everybody.
Here is what they look like now. Aren't they cute?
That's alot of desert willow Josephine! Is that the tree or the vine? What color are the flowers?
It is the tree Chilopsis linearis, the flowers are light pink with a hint of burgundy.
I will be repotting them in about a month.
Josephine.
Thanks you guys, about the primroses. I have a few that appeared in my front yard, in an area that used to be my lawn. They are now on the other side of my newly re-drawn bedline (I curved it over to include them.) They will enjoy the company of the new plants, I know.
Wow, Josephine, that IS a lot of plants in that little container. When you re-pot them, do you have to do anything special to be sure the roots don't get tangled and damaged?
Just be very careful, usually they separate pretty well. When thay are so close together what I usually do is put two ot three in the new pot together, and them after a while cut off the weekest and leave the best one.
My Mist flower from Tx Mel is coming up nicely, as is the Yarrow from Mitch. My Penstemon from Josephine has bloomed it's head off for a month or more and still going! My Frostweed and Asters may be coming up, but I don't know which one they are again! I marked the cup and set it out and forgot the markers. Everything seems to be happy so far so I will know when they bloom!! I love surprises!
I hope you don't mind me jumping in. I was going to start a new thread, but realized that this one is probably more appropriate....My question is about a native after all. :-)
I have a question about Gayfeather. Since I have been on DG, I have really grown in interest in adding more native landscaping to my yard. Often, I look at the thread Josephine started that classifies the natives by bloom color, plant type, trees,vines, etc... The first thing I want to add and have started planning for in my minds eyes is gayfeather. I like to cut my flowers (roses, daisies, caladiums, etc) sometimes and bring them inside to enjoy. I know that gayfeather would be a lovely addition to my arrangements as their bloom is beautiful! Purple is my favorite color and I don't have many purple flowers for some reason.
Is it too late to plant gayfeather? Should I wait for the fall, since it is already approaching 90 and 100 degrees daily? I dont have a bed prepared for it yet, is this something that needs a 'formal bed with amended soil'....or can I remove some grass, plant it, mulch around it and maintain it that way? Also I think I want to add it to the west side of my house, which does not get any morning sun, but does get hot, hot afternoon sun. Do you think this will be ok, or should I plan it to go somewhere else?
And finally, when I look it up in PF, mostly the people who have responded and say that it is doing well for them, with the exception of one Houstonite, are from up North. Is it mostly 90-100 degree heat tolerant? About how many times a week do you need to water it in the high heat?
Ms-merae, we love it when people join in, it makes it a lot more fun.
I am probaly not the best person to advise you on this, because at this point in time I don't have any Gayfeather.
However I have grown it previously, and I do love it too, I think it is gorgeous.
I have seen it growing wild in Houston in empty lots and small prairies, so the heat is not a problem.
My book says it likes full sun, but as you know in Texas a little less than full is o.k.
It likes well draining soil and it is drought tolerant. Of course I always recommend improving the soil before planting, you can't hurt anything by making your soil better.
The seed of Gayfeather, Liatris punctata should be planted in the fall, and the corm divisions can be planted at any time, as long as good care is provided.
I am going to get some at the Wildscape plant sale, mine got crowded out by my other wildflowers and i miss it.
Well, I hope that helped, please keep in touch and let us know how it wirks out.
Josephine.
Hello Hazel, check this out, these are the seedlings for the
False Freesia,Amonatheca Laxa coral red, that you sent me. They are looking really good and I hope to see them bloom sometime. Thank you very much.
Here is a link to the plant files for those who want to see it.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/37069/
I'm waiting for my Roughleaf Dogwood to bloom, first time ever. Isn't it funny? You start with a little plant and it finally gets big enough to bloom. Then when you see the little buds, it seems like it takes FOREVER to actually start flowering! I told it "Look, you see this camera? Don't keep me waiting!"
Linda, be sure and show us the picture when the flowers open, they sure are pretty, I hope it will become a lovely tree.
Josephine.
Josephine I was able to trade the plants today (the crepes that I won) for an Esparanza and a 4 foot tall TX Mt Laurel. Two in trade for the three crepe myrtles...