Josephine...I think you are right! I went and scrunched some of it and it smells odd and different, couldn't put my finger on it. And, in late summer, I do remember something similar...huge with white flowers, all over the sides of the roads here.
Also, it may be coming up in the same spots....I just pull it and don't think I have ever dug it out. I know I've never let it flower.
It's kind of pretty...I may have to move it and keep it. I guess a weed is in the eyes of the beholder.
Good job Josephine...thanks for looking!
Plant ID Please
You are welcome, the pictures that I put in the plant files were from the wilscape where I volunteer. I had wondered for a long time what it was. I think it is a lovely plant, so light and ferny, very pretty.
Hooray for Frostweed! Yes, I think that's it! I have a few that are in the back of the beds so I'm leaving those alone. I'll try and transplant the ones in the front of the beds. They really are pretty. I've noticed that the stem seems 'furry'.
Way to go... Josephine.. :) Beautiful photo of your cosmos, trois. I've fallen in love with this little plant. :)
Melanie
Very pretty Melanie.
Thank you Josephine.... I planted them under the Eve's Necklace in my native's garden and although they aren't native...I couldn't resist their bright faces.. :) Such a treasure.... :)
Melanie
The plant in the top of this thread photo is a fast spreading weed in FL. Here they are taking over the Osteospermum stock plants at one of the wholesale places I shop. It is a nice looking weed>
It is a nice looking weed but will quickly overtake those blooms...
I found one yesterday while weeding. Here's the little rascal
another view
Yup! That's him for certain!
thank goodness you're gonna let it grow into one big monster so we can settle the mystery once and for all, lol
Knolan....have you used Messenger? I had plants come up last summer (after spraying Mess) that I know I had thrown the seed out for....the year before with no results. Also had cleome coming up in front bed, and the only plant I had...had died a couple of years ago. The Messenger seems to wake up the dormant seeds all around my yard....some good, some bad!
Hi BB - no, no Messenger. I think the beds are just 'happy' this year.
I think it's odd that, if this is a weed, why has it never been in any of my beds until this year? I don't even see it out in the pasture next to me. I get plenty of various weeds that I can identify. But then again, everyone else seems to have this as well. I can't believe we all threw the same seeds out. Maybe it's just a new, voracious monster weed, capable of spreading faster than a speeding bullet.
We'll soon see! LOL.
I have those too! A sprig in three different pots and one in the ground. I was wondering if things blew in during RITA that were not in my yard before.
Forgot his pic.
I am SO glad this got ID'd because I have a ton of it, especially in the rose bed. I pulled up a lot just yesterday and was wondering if it was a variety of dill, because it smelled something like dill but not quite, so fennel would make sense. Would this have come from spilled birdseed? Or is it just from what turned out to be topsoil full of seeds? (grrrrr...)
I haven't seen that one in my yard but I have had weeds I have never seen before. I think that Rita hits the nail on some of the different weeds in my yard. I just can't believe how noxious some are.
And yet after several years this little pretty poked up her beautiful bloom. I don't know what it is but I sure enjoy it. I tried years ago to move it into the flower bed and no luck. But I am glad it is still here.
Now maybe someone can tell me what it is. Looks like it is in the orchid family.
I know it is beautiful.
Oh, Sandi, that is definitely a keeper. Too bad it doesn't want to live in a bed with the rest of the prettys.
:~)
It is called Propeller Flower, Herbertia lahue ; http://wildflower.utexas.edu/plants/result.php?id_plant=HELA6
Very pretty Sandy, it is a little bulb.
Josephine.
Sorry I forgot to add the link to Dave's http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/101489/
This message was edited May 8, 2007 3:47 PM
I too, am seeing more of these this year. In years past I have noticed a better crop of one specific type of plant (same is true with a certain type of bug). The growing conditions are just correct sometimes and although I am not scientific enough to prove it, I suspect this is why these are more prolific this year.
Edited to add ~ great photo of the propeller bloom. : ))
This message was edited May 8, 2007 8:16 PM
Podster, I was telling my DH a day or two ago that we didn't have as many this year as in past years. There are years when the pastures are carpeted with the Herbertia.
Josephine, I just noticed that Jeff Beck posted photos of Herbertia lahue which has darker spots with sharper delineation between color changes. I posted information and photos of the subspecies caerulea. Ilovejesus' Herbertia is of the subspecies caerulea. Did any of the seed I sent you germinate?
The Herbertia lahue var, caerulea disappear around 3:00 in the afternoon on a sunny day. It stay open hours longer on a very cloudy day. H. lahue stays open all day.
Ilovejesus, Herbertia is related to irises. This is one of my favorite wildflowers. Let it go to seed and you'll have more next year.
Veronica, I am sorry that I didn't make the distinction between the two Herbertias, I see the difference now.
The seeds you sent me, made some very tiny plants with very thin blades like fine grass. I have them in little pots waiting for them to mature.
Thank you for sending them.
Josephine.
Sandi, can I be in line if you get seeds to share?
:~)
Honey, you will be the first...
Love you, my beautiful Smockette.
Edited for a typo.
This message was edited May 9, 2007 6:54 PM
I was wishing I would be the first! hehehe
I need a new name. When people get to trying too type fast my name comes out Smokette & some how that just don't sound nice. But I can't count how many times that has happened. lol
I am so sorry I hope calling you Honey and beautiful made up for it????
Going to edit now.
I found these on a texas native website and they want 15.00 for 3 bulbs.
Maybe I have a gold mine???
I have not been able to work in my yard smockette. Remember when I went to sit at the bar sat. waiting with you and allen and cj? well when I pulled out theheavy stool and went to get on I got a pain in my back. Well since then my left hip has been killing me. I hope to get everything in the ground. It is just when?
I have even tried to find someone to mow for me and they never show up to give me a bid. Sorry I just hand to whine a little. Now I need some cheese.
Ladies, remember when you found your plant that I thought might be
Prairie Bishop, Bifora americana, well I thought you might be intersted in knowing what it looks like.
We found lots of it at Tandy Hills Prairie in Fort Worth, and it looked really nice.
Here is the flower, the white one, and you can see the fine foliage just beneath it.
Here is another patch.
And a whole field, pretty neat, isn't it?
Wow! They almost look like a pretty white verbena. Glad I didn't pull them up in the back of my beds.
Well, what you have as far as we determined earlier is Dog Fennel, Prairie Bishop is what I thought you had at first, and I thought you might like to see it.
How are your plants doing? Are they very tall and feathery?
Josephine.
Aawwww....I wish it were the one in your pictures!
The plants are doing pretty good. There are a few that are about 2 1/2' tall and I'm still finding babies popping up all over the place. I think it's so strange that I've never had them before.
Yes, that is strange. Many of my native plants have appeared at my place on the their own, but never in large numbers the first year, something must have blown those seeds in large numbers. is all I can figure.
By the way, I don't have the Dog Fennel, so if you can save me some seed it really would appreciate it.
Josephine.
I read in the local paper (Beaumont Enterprise) that Hurricane Rita set things up so that seeds that had been dormant a long time were able to sprout this spring. I don't recall quite what the process was, but had something to do with the invasion of brackish water farther north than usual. Kind of like wildfires, I guess -- keeps the natural cycles from wearing themselves out and gives variety a chance.
You are probably right Ann strange how nature works, isn't it?
Josephine,
I'll be happy to save you some seeds.
Kristi
Thank you very much, and if I can get some Prairie Bishop seed I will send you some also.
Josephine.