They will bloom, don't worry, they just need to be mature enough.
Gardening with Texas Native Plants & Wildflowers, part 15.
stunning plants but got to share - I had to have the city out to check the new AC unit right? The guy saw the plants and went nuts - he really thought it was the "weed" . . . took a few minutes to take him out of it - lol
MitchF, thanks for the welcome back. Mine just started blooming this past week. Thank godness you straightened the AC guy out. I actually had the real "weed" growing in one of my flowerbeds. One summer 3 neighborhood teenagers had been hiding behind some shrubs in my yard smoking pot. It took me 3 months to catch them and its a long story. But, I found the little place that they had cleared behind the shrubs so that they could sit down, the bong and empty baggies after seeing 1 of them going to hide there after school was out one day. Any way, the next spring, I noticed a beautiful plant coming up and growing really fast in the flowerbed next to where these kids wee hiding.. After it became about 3 feet tall, I figured out what it was. I yanked it up very quickly and stashed it in the trash. The policemen/women who patrol my neighborhood always like to park on this side of my yard in the summer while they fill out paperwork or take a break because it is shady. I was thankful no one recognized it.
someone planting one of those in my garden is one of my big garden fears, I cannot fathom the horor it must have been to really find one there!
I once saw a couple of them on some land where nobody lives in the area I live. Someone was obviously taking care of them....imagine what I was thinking, you know. Was it one neighbor who plays rock music too loud? Was it some other neighbor? Nobody ever did find out.
MitchF. it was a real shock and I removed it as quickly as I could even though I felt badly about it. It was a very pretty plant. I sure didn't want to be "caught" with it and have to explain in court why an "old lady" was growing it in her garden. As an "old lady", I have been stopped by DEA twice while traveling around San Antonio. Each time my car was searched for drugs. I asked why they were searching an "old lady's" car and each time they said that a lot of "old ladies" are involved in drug smuggling. In my 20s and while 9 months pregnant, I was minding my own business when about a bunch of assorted law enforcement vehicles came out of a field of tall grass and surrounded my car. They made me get out of my car and felt of my huge abdominal area to be sure that I was pregnant and not hiding drugs there.This was scary.
They tore all the inside panels from my car doors and other areas and totally searched my car as I stood guarded by 3 DEA guys with my hands over the hood. This was so humiliating because lots people came out of their homes to watch it all. They were not kind enough to put my car back together in the same condition as they had found it. I asked them why they had stopped me. They said my car make and model along with its unique color matched a car that reportedly belonged to a high level drug dealer that they had been trying to find. I just happened to be in an area in which this person was known to visit. I felt like painting my car another color. :o)
Just a couple of years ago, a DEA undercover surveillance team called for the SWAT team to come to help them get me and my husband as we sat in our yard watching them. My car door mysteriously was open as if someone had been in my car and then was scared away. I saw a black truck with its headlights on and 2 guys in it parked in front of one of my neighbor's houses a couple of houses down from mine. She was out of town and we thought the DEA guys were burglars who had been in my car and now were going to burglarize her house. Anyway, this is a long story about what happened next as we protected our neighborhood (forgot to mention that we were now armed and I guess they thought we were "dangerous"). I found out at the end of this fiasco that they thought that we may be part of the drug gang that the guy they were watching belonged to. It is funny now, but not then.
Does anyone grow horseherb Calyptocarpus vialis? If so could you please share your experience with this plant. Is it evergreen in the Houston/Galveston area?
All information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Hazel... I cannot fathom people thinking that I was a drug dealer, or connected to them. That would just be too much for me...
So anyone out there ever collect seeds from the side of the road? There are some wonderful tall Mexican Hats near me and I would love to gather seed but did not know is this ok or not really but plant people do it anyway??
They say it is frowned upon but it isn't unlawful according to snopes
I don't "grow" Horseherb on purpose...but it invaded and I couldn't get rid of it. Don't know about the Houston area. It freezes back here. Sometimes it looks ratty in the summer if no rain or watering.
Hazel, those are really scary stories, I am glad everything ended up well, but the stress going through it must have been awful.
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Mitch, I think that picking seeds along the road is fine, they probably will mow them down anyway, and Mexican Hats are plentiful and are not about to disappear.
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Sunnytx, Horseherb, Calyptocarpus vialis, is and adapted plant that makes an excellent ground cover, especially in shady areas where other ground covers won't grow.
We use it at the wildscape in the wooded areas, and it does great.
Here is a link for some information; http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/31751
Josephine.
Just wanted to be sure before I jumped out there and started doing something... I have already rustled rose cuttings... and have several new Iris friends from some local fields... just never jumped out beside the road.
Josephine is Calyptocarpus vialis one of the plants you sent me home with last Spring?
I am not sure Mitch, but I don't think so, although it could have been, I do have it.
One of my Swan Flower (Aristolochia erecta) plants bloomed. It's looks so unusual!
That may be why I know it - I knew I had seen it... but ground covers here are ummm not needed much?
Linda that is stunning - what does it need and where did you get it at?
I'm not all that sure about what it needs, Mitch. I know it grows in the Hill Country area...just kind of blends in with the grasses unless it's blooming. Seems to go dormant sometimes. I got it at Natives of Texas near Kerrville (off-list). They don't ship and availability for that is kind of seasonal, I understand. I had a few Pipevine Swallowtails on this plant briefly after they finished off the foliage on two A. fimbriata plants. After those pupated, the plant recovered so it was able to bloom.
Very nice and stunning, I am always amazed at the plants in Hill Country. Very nice plant you should be one proud plant mama.
Very pretty Swan Flower...Linda...I've never seen one of those....
Does anyone know or have any ideas why one side of my beautiful little Senna tree would die? There are about 5 trunks that make up my tree....and just this past week...the one side of it, about 3 trunks, has died... :( Just heartbroken about it.... Leaves have shriveled up and fallen...along with all of the yellow flowers that it was showing off.....yet the other side of it looks as beautiful as ever..... *sigh* I'll have to get a photo of it when it isn't raining.....
Melanie
Melanie, it could be some kind of disease from all the rain, or maybe borers.
Sorry about that, I would cut the dead part off just in case.
Josephine.
It could be....Josephine...I'm just not sure.....just strange how the other half of it is doing just fine....lush and blooming....I've been waiting to cut the dying parts off...since I'm still seeing green wick on the main trunks...but the wee branches are crispy.... Sort of odd...but my Sumac near it did the same thing last year...and I lost half of it as well....but it has grown back quite nicely since cutting off the dead half.
Melanie
wow... do you think maybe there is something in the ground there hurting the trees?
Yes it is very strange, it is almost as if the one side got burned.
If it was the whole plant affected, I would think of cotton root rot or something, but just part? On rare occasion I see the root rot on a plant or two. Usually kills them outright.
I went ahead and cut the dying part off....*sigh* I could almost feel its pain, lol....seriously! My Vitex is right next to the Sumac....next to the Senna....and its doing absolutely wonderful, thank goodness....if I lose half of THAT...ya'll may have to wave some lavender or rosemary under my nose to revive me, lol. There is nothing like watching a beloved tree suffering.....Ya know, I just thought of something...I also lost half of my Desert Willow in the middle of the yard this Spring, about 7' from the Senna and Sumac...but I assumed it was from the ice storm....hmmm......It is growing nicely itself..and is blooming its heart out......sort of making me wonder...
Melanie
Yes those two occurrences could be connected.
Very scary.. would this be due to soil or maybe a rodent??
I am the same way - when a little tree goes the whole thing goes fast, not just half. At least you are able to save some of the tree this way even if it is harder right now.. ..
With permission, we "liberated" some clasp-leafed coneflowers and fleabane from the unmowed property of our church, and had cub scouts plant them in the elementary school pollinator garden. Here are some of the flowers hanging out in my garden while waiting for the cub scouts' meeting day.
Fort Bend master gardeners gives a series of community seminars called "green thumb" seminars; I give one of these, called "Attracting Birds & Butterflies to Your Garden." I try to explain to people why it's important to include native plants in the home landscape. Since so many people think of native plants as weedy, I show them the prairie celestial and ask them if there's really anything in the nursery prettier than this!
You are right, Dragonfly, people just don't know how to appreciate our beautiful native plants.
It is great that you were able to save those plants, maybe if we teach the kids, there will be more adults later who have learned to love our beautiful native plants.
Keep up the good work, and let us know how your project is coming along.
Josephine.
Ptdragonfly,
Thanks for posting the picture of the beautiful little prairie celestial. I had often wondered about the name. I found a small cluster at my son's place on the San Bernard River. I immediately planted rocks :) around them for protection from the mowers. Their color is gorgeous!
carol
I let a small self sown seedling of Greenthread mature last year and this year it is a small blooming machine. my husband came in from mowing the lawn and said how nice that new plant is spilling over the rocks into the dry creek bed...He laughed when I told him it is a native and you can see it along the roadsides..nancy
Isin't it great that nature gives us such wonderful gifts?
There are 11 varieties of Greenthread that are native to Texas, here is one of them.
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=THNU
Josephine.
Just a quick update on my poor Senna tree.....the other half is dying as well now... *sigh* But I did find a little seedling growing underneath it....Hopefully it will make it just fine. Josephine, my Standing Cypress is covered in seed pods now...! How exciting..... :) I've also been able to get some Acacia seeds to sprout and grow...I have a wee tree that is about 2" now....Can't wait to see what it will do..... :)
Melanie
Melanie, was yours the Senna corymbosa? I had a beautiful one of those too, and it died like yours. I think they are prone to disease. Sorry about your loss.
I hope you acacia does well, they are so pretty, and hopefully the seed from the standing cypress will give you many of them.
Josephine.
Josephine....yes it is actually......I was poking around a bit this morning, looking at the mulch underneath the tree...and noticed that alot of it had mildew and odd fungi all thru it....I guess because of the rain? Ya'll were probably onto something when mentioning the heavy rains and perhaps cotton root rot.
I'm anxious to see what these two acacia seedlings will do. I found a lovely old tree in the desert last October when we went to Big Bend. Some dried seed pods had fallen to the ground and lo and behold, I've got babies! :) My Desert Willow seedling seems to be thriving as well.... Isn't nature amazing? :):)
Melanie
Okay, this plant is called Plateau Rocktrumpet or Flor de San Juan, Macrosiphonia lanuginosa var. macrosiphon. Pinwheel-like blooms....this isn't the clearest pic...will get a better one later. The first one showed up the year after a neighbor put a fence in, so I think probably it came in on tools or something. How lucky can a person get, right? Serendipity!
Wow Linda, you get the neatest plants, that is beautiful and rare to, isn't it?
Most of those plants I get on purpose, but this one came to my property on its own. Many people think it's only in West Texas, but it's not. I know they are in the Medina Lake area and a couple of patches on Park Road 37.
Well, Congratulations on your lovely volunteer.
Josephine.
Linda,
You should add your pic and info to the plant files. They don't have anything on this plant there.