One of my most favorites is the Corn Poppy, I remember as a child in Spain seeing entire fields of them
mixed with yellow Mustard and they were magnificent. They are one of my best childhood memories.
Here is a link to the plant files http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/237/index.html
Tell us about your favorite flowers and why you love them.
Lilac: bush of it growing up reminds me of Mom to this day. It was her favorite.
For reasons not sentimental I love the gladiolous. They seem to bloom early from bulb and have few pest problems. I love the rose because it is a long bloomer and evergreen BUT I had no idea when I put them in that they were so prone to pest so they keep me on my toes and at the garden center buying special things for them.
How could I pick only one? One favorite is the Squarebud Primrose, then there's Turk's Cap, Anacacho Orchid Tree, any passionflower bloom, White Limestone Honeysuckle, Desert Willow, Elderberry, Roughleaf Dogwood, Blackfoot Daisy...oh, heck, I love just about everything with a bloom!
Another flower that I love is the Texas Bluebonnet, it is such a wonderful sight in the Spring, we are so licky here in Texas with such an amazing variety of wild flowers.
I guess I love the look of a field covered with flowers, but then I love so many others too.
Here is a link to the plant files, http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/754/index.html
My favorite is the Peony. My mom had several bushes in the yard and I always thought they were the best. Minus the ants. The other one I like is the wild honeysuckle. Ya just can't beat the smell of it.
Which honeysuckle was it, the Japanese? or the native.
I have some japanese honeysuckle and I think the scent is heavenly, but I am considering taking it out because they tell us that it is very invasive in the wild.
If I do take it out it will really hurt, because I really love it.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1641/index.html
Gardenia.... I have one next to my deck that I dug up out of Mom's yard.. It is one that she rooted off her mothers...
Oh and Brugs...This is my second year with them so I have a love/hate thing going on....
I love to see them bloom but hate it when I can't get one to root...
I love peonies but I never have had any luck getting them to live..I am getting closer... I did get a peony looking Poppy to bloom this year...
Ronda
Frostweed:
GREAT picture of the bluebonnet. You know, the county that Bryan/College Station area is it does a GREAT job landscaping. They use a ton of crepe myrtals there AND they seed with wildflowers every year I was told...including the bluebonnet. Of all the places I've been and lived in Texas it was the best area for the flowers. I moved to San Antonio and was disappointed that there isn't as much interest in city landscaping. Maybe it'll catch on.
Aimee
Frostweed,
It was the native. It grew in the woods behind our house right up to the yard. I'm a transplant from West Virginia.
The first thing that comes to mind is the heralder of spring - snowflakes (Leucojum) - followed by the Louisiana irises and the tiny blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium). Oh! The bridal wreath Spirea! And that's just the beginning.....
Aimee, I really love the Texas wildflowers, they are all so beautiful.
Scoolie, Welcome to Texas and to Dave's Garden, both are wonderful places, I think you will have a good time here. I love Peonies too, so soft and delicate, they are beautiful. But I don't have any luck growing them, I just admire them.
Linda, you mentioned so many of my favorites, you know I love native plants.
Rhonda, you mentioned Gardenias, oh my! I adore their scent, and the waxy perfection of their white petals. And on top of that, yours has a very special meaning.
Ceejay, the snowflakes are so lovely and so early in the spring, and the iris, and the little blue- eyed grass, I love them all.
I guess...if MADE to choose one, it would be impatiens. They are sooo easy to grow and just bloom their hearts out all summer and up until a freeze gets them. Of course in our hot summers they need watering at LEAST once a day, so ther're a bit of trouble.
I love salvias. Of the salvias my favorites are cedar sage, regal sage, and guaranitica, but I haven't met a salvia that I don't like, lol.
Here's a pic of the wild native Honeysuckle that I found on a roadside. Lonicera alba...I just love it! Not much bloom there this year.
When I was young, I would go spend the summer with my grandmother and we would garden together. I cherish those memories and everytime I see the following plants I am reminded of our times. Sunflowers, elephant ears, honeysuckle, Indian paintbrushes.
I personally have not grown any of them, but plan to try a sunflower bed next year from seed. In my own gardening, I have come to love caladiums.
One?!? Oh my, that's hard. I guess I will start with Dogwood (C. Florida) flowers. They remind me of my grandmother. There was one planted in front of her bedroom window at the house in Garland that my mom grew up in and I spent so much time at the first 10 years of my life. And as much of us know, dogwoods do not like our clay soil, but my grandmother really wanted that tree and it lived. They sold the house when I was 10, but the tree is still there though. The grass has been restored to the yard and her many garden beds are gone, but that dogwood tree still stands. What I would not give to have her here to talk about her gardens. She passed away 9 years ago next month, before I started gardening.
Wow, now I am a blubbering mess. Didn't expect that.
You know Stacy, I feel the same way about another flower, the Madonna lily.
My dear Aunt used to grow them and she would bring them into the house and make a great bouquet, and the scent was amazing, that was probably 55 years ago, but I have never forgotten it, and I still love the scent.
I do have 3 bulbs in one of my flower beds and they always remind me of my Aunt.
Here is the link to the plant files http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1024/index.html
and a picture of mine.
Thanks Josephine. I love the Madonna Lilies. They are beautiful flowers. My neighbor across from the last house had them and was the encouragement for me looking into Lilies since I thought they could not be grown here. Now I have a couple different types of lilies on my want list and bought a few Asiatic bulbs this spring.
Now that I have recovered from my unexpected wave of emotion, I can finish with the whole "One???" comment. Of course, I now see I read the subject wrong. It says "which flowers". :)
I do love Calla Lilies. There is something about that perfect white slender cup on the long green stem. I carried them when I got married because I do love them so. I planted some bulbs at the old house and they never bloomed in the 3 years - just foliage. I planted a couple bulbs at the new house back in March and a bloom opened on Thursday. It is a perfect little white flower with just the tiniest bit of pink on the edge.
I also love Mophead Hydrangea flowers. I just love the way the flowers last and last, through multiple stages of colors and shapes.
Like Linda, I like all the blooms. I guess I like salvias best because I seldom see salvias in bloom that don't have either bees, butterflies, or hummers on the bush somewhere.
could anything be more beautiful for Texas in May than our natives?
Not my favorite flower (its not blooming yet) but you have to admire theTexas Star. Anything that will grow 8' tall without needing staking or trellising and make you stand on tippee-toes to take a pic can't be a bad plant.
Now our native asters are my favorite flower closely followed by my crinadonnas (also not blooming, yet).
Ohhhhhhh this is a Texas beauty, blooming now in the meadow, note the little black butterflies
maybe Josephine will know the name for this one....I don't...but it's really beautiful in the fields right now
or a field of the little wild daiseys
Too many flowers to name one or even a handful; in marriage I have been able to be faithful, but not when it comes to flowers! LOL.
Jackieshar...what IS it??? I'm "into" orange flowers...
asclepias tuberosa........not sure i spelled it right.....butterfly weed
Jackie it looks like you are having a great year with your wildflowers.
The lovely pink ones are Indigofera miniata, Texas indigo, but I am not totally sure.
All of them are lovely, including the cactus flowers, aren't they great?
Are the little "wild daisies" fleabane? There are so many flowers that look like that, and all beautiful.
But there's NOTHING prettier than a field of Indian blanket, unless it's a field of primroses... or a field of bluebonnets.. or a field of any flowers! Y'all are right -- there's no picking a favorite. I adore narcissus and wisteria, but they're only around a couple of weeks. So it must be roses... unless it's gardenias. Or maybe...
Hey Frostweed, I am not from Texas but here in Ohio we have an awful time with the japanese honeysuckle. it springs up everywhere and is harder than the dickens to get rid of! They really like to grow up in the middle of a desired bush.. like a lilac and before you know it, half the bush is honeysuckle.. argh
I have several of the native honeysuckles - such a great plant on the whole - I just weed wack it a little to keep it where I want it.. three years old and they might be 4 or 5 foot tall... Mitch
I know, there are many plants that can make a nuisance of themselves, but that doesn't mean that they donn't have some good points.
I try to stay after mine and it is much under control, and I don't let it set seed.
Josephine.
And they are taking over natural areas. I really hate walking through places like the Heard Nature Center trails and the trails at the Spring Creek Forest Preserve and seeing Japanese Honeysuckle rambling over brush piles, logs, and native bushes. Wherever it grows, something native is not growing. There are so many beautiful natives that are losing their habitats.
I feel the same way about the nandina and privet growing in these places. It makes me think twice about planting or keeping any of these plants since the birds eat the berries and "deposit" them in the forests.
brigidtlily....same heart....my favorites are always in the fields and meadows. I think these shorter daisy are the ox-eyed....I believe the fleabane are taller..I have trouble differing between chamomile, feverfew, and fleabane...I have fields of the tall ones also......I am no expert, just the appreciator
frostweed......can always count on your knowledge for the ids...(Texas Indigo). I always thought the indigo referred to blues.......thanks.....
the fields and meadows are not as beautiful as in the years when we have good fall rainfalls, but something always seems to toughen it out and come peeking its head thru the dry hot sands..looks like the black eyed susans and the tall yellow primroses will be blooming here next...I"ll be sharing the photos
Sweezle.....nothing much lovlier than our native coral honeysuckle loaded with the first hummingbirds of the season and it doesn't invade.........even the bad honeysuckles make great wildlife habitat, everything in nature has its plus and minus..........
Another plant that I love is the Sweet Mock Orange, the scent is wonderful and the shrub blooms so heavily that it looks like snow. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2727/index.html
This is a picture of the shrub in my yard.
That Honeysucke vine takes me wayback when I was a little girl in Florida. My Granny never had a problem with it and I always felt it should be eaten its so sweet. But here in Texas its not allowed to be bought in because it so invasive. I had it all over the place. Even when they rebuilt the fence and tore it all down, there was the biggest trunk .. root system I ever see on a vine, it was big as some trees.That was about three or four years ago. Now that you mention it, I recognize it coming up everywhere again. But Josephine as you said every plant has its purpose and for me and my Clemitis it was awsome ... now my clemitis has nothing to climb on ... its was a really wonderful sighr to behold.
jackieshar, the only tip I have on the muddle is that if you bruise it and it smells of apples, it's chamomile. But it's all pretty, and that's what counts.
I have wonderful memories of honeysuckle blooms and the giant vines growing around the neighborhood as a kid. I remember collecting handfuls of blooms off the vines. I would find a nice cool spot in the yard, take each one and pinch off the end just right, pull out the stamen and enjoy the sweet nectar. We had honeysuckle on the fence of the house my husband and I lived in 4 years ago. I even tried it again then. :)
