Hi Jo,...thanks! Yeah,...I was gone for a while but missed my DG friends and needed to return! I'm surprised to read some of the threads concerning reduced participation in the Texas forum....Surely, it's been due to end of the year activities and normal winter doldrums?
(or as is the case with this year...not so normal! )
Gardening with Texas Native Plants & Wildflowers, part 16.
Well it seems that many Texans have been busy in other forums, but thats o.k. they will be back. I have surely been doing my part.
Josephine.
Is there anyone out there that knows what the proper name is for the purple flower that seems to grow everywhere on the sides of the road.
The bloom looks like a lite purple version of the mexican ruella and its very popular with the sulfphur butterfly.
jameso
It could be Wild Petunia, Ruellia nudiflora, here is a link;
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RUNU
Josephine.
Josephine
It does look like the bloom but the description says that it stands errect and the ones I've seen don't get very high and seem to spread low on the ground maybe less than a foot and seem more viney. I gathered seeds and the particular plant I got them from was on the top of a wire fence and the stems were spreading along the top of the fence.
jameso
Then it seems to be a vining plant, maybe another Wild Petunia Ruellia humilis;
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RUHU
I have this one in a hanging basket and it does trail although not quite a vine.
My earliest anemone, the Two-Flower Anemone, Anemone edwardsiana. A cute Hill Country wildflower I rescued from Leon Springs. Good soil and watering optional.
Oh Linda how adorable, it is so neat when you can find things that, they are little treasures.
Thank you for remembering this thread too, you are a sweetheart.
Josephine.
I have those here - but they never bloom this early, and they really hate to be moved.. I have been able to seed some into new places but not even very many that way at all. Dont you just love them - the way they look and stand like that? Charming - really very charming.
If someone can do me a favor I'd be most grateful.
I'm down to one Hinkley's yellow columbine, they are rather short lived down here (3-4 yrs usually max if I can get them thru the first summer). It did not seed at all last spring, despite my efforts. I assume its not self fertile. I was just out looking around and see it has returned. This one has been in full sun its whole life of 3 years but I'm getting progressively shadier conditions down here since the trees in the back are finally getting larger. I would like to increase my numbers on this plant--can someone save me about 25-30 seeds? I would be most happy to trade for something or pay postage or send a bubble mailer or come haul in groceries for you or send you some native rain lilies.....
Linda, if you can get seeds from that Anemone edwardsiana I'd sure like to add that to my native bulb collection.
Debbie
Debbie, I'll try to get some seed from that anemone for you. I have it growing in a fairly sunny area. I have some seeds for the columbine also.
Thank you so much Linda. Anything you are looking for I might have?
Debbie, i don't have the Aquilegia hinkleayana, i have the chrysantha, and I have already used all the seeds, but i can save you some this year, or bring a plant.
This is the one i have.
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=AQCH
Josephine--I'm pretty sure I have the A hinleayana. I guess I will have to measure "spur lengths" next year to be sure.
=)
My Agarita is saying it's spring already....oh, I hope so!
Oh! that is lovely Linda, I hope mine will be like that some day.
Bluebonnets have been blooming for a little while now. The roadsides don't have as many wildflowers as they did last year, unfortunately.
Okay, here's the photo.
That is really neat Linda, I haven't seen much evidence of bluebonnets around here yet. I will have to go looking after Easter.
Thank you for posting the picture and remembering this thread.
Josephine.
Herbertia lahue
Prairie Nymphs
Prairie Nymphs are an iris relative native to Texas and are lovely violet subtropical spring-flowering bulbs with a white flower eyes. This petite species has narrow green foliage less than 6” in height making it an excellent candidate for container gardening. Prairie Nymphs like medium moisture levels (and as I've learned the hard way--need some summer moisture), are best grown in full sun to partial shade, and is blooming right now, just in time for Easter. When given adequate moisture, they prove to be easy and reliable naturalizing bulbs that reward their owners by reproducing remarkably easily from seed and offsets. Recommended for growing in zones 8-9.
Its also pretty easy to tell the native Texas form from its South American cousin--the South American form is blue and blooms later in the season. I also grow it so will post a picture of it when it blooms so you can compare them.
I also have 3 of the native Texas Alliums which should bloom in April (if the force is with me); Allium canadense var fraseri, another really nice pinkish form of Allium canadense, and Allium texanum which is a nice large white form that blooms late April or May and is called the 'White King'. It has large, glaucous blue-green leaves.
This message was edited Mar 23, 2008 10:54 AM
I know this is all over my lower yard but there are a few in the flower beds that haven't gotten mowed. They have a nice little blue flower. Can someone please give me an id?
It's bound to be one of the speedwells...unfortunately most of them aren't natives. Check out these two:
Persian Speedwell
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/verpe.htm
Corn Speedwell
http://www.missouriplants.com/Blueopp/Veronica_arvensis_page.html
Well, I was excited today. Something bloomed in the yard...so pretty and I had no idea what it was! My memory is really bad, but I have a feeling it might be a plant I rescued a year or so ago thinking it was something else. It just had those strappy-looking Liliaceae-type leaves and then it hasn't bloomed since it's been here. Once in a while I'd wonder...you know, what IS that thing? Well, now that I've seen it bloom...I looked in my Enquist book and I think it's Death Camas, Zigadenus Nuttallii! This isn't really something I'm familiar with...something new. I'm so happy!
This message was edited Mar 23, 2008 10:50 PM
nice native Tx bulb there Linda; that's one I haven't gotten around to--yet
=)
LindaTX8
My wife and I went to Kerrville the first week of March for birthdays and I left for the Rio Grand Valley from there and I detoured to the Medina Garden Nursery you told me about. You were right, that guy is pretty talkative. Most of is stuff is pretty hard to tell much about at this time of the year so I do plan on going back. I did get a couple of mock orange plants and a couple of amorpha fruit somthing (false indigo.) He's going to dig up some wild mustard plants for me so I'd classify him as a good guy. I apprecite the tip.
Jameso
Wow! I went off for the day and a lot happened in the meantime.
I hope everyone had had a happy Easter, we spent a lot time in church and went to visit friends, so it was a good day.
Thank you everybody for showing your pretty flowers, the Herbertia lahue, Veronica and Death camas, all very interesting flowers.
I have been pretty busy with all the things I am volunteering for, lots of work, but lots of fun too.
Josephine.
Thanks for the ID Linda.
Jameso, so glad you got a chance to go by there! Aren't native nurseries amazing? And I'm glad I could help, Sheila, on that plant.
BTW, while looking up the Death Camas online, I discovered that there's a related plant that is blue and it's edible...used to be an important food for the native americans. Camus Lily, Camassia quamash. Wouldn't mind if I found that one somewhere, either.
Meant to put this on a day or two ago.....our BB's started blooming about a week & ago. Spreading nicely.....hope to have the whole front covered by next year. I collect the seed and spread where there are none. Peach & Nectarines in the background.
shot from same spot today
Wow Lee, you are putting me to shame, that is gorgeous!!! I am so happy for you!
Bluebonnet is another flower that doesn't like my place, i have my token 1 bluebonnet
blooming on the slope, and that is it.
Josephine.
Thanks Josephine! We have great conditions for BB to grow well here
Lee
Ooh lala~looks like one of those roadsides where people stop and take pictures!
Beautiful! I saw some on the side of the highway this week.
I went to an outing on a ranch in Frio Co. and it had tons of these! Guayacan, Guaiacum angustifolium, in bloom.
Another view of Guayacan....one of my favorite plants and also a wildlife favorite. Deer browse the foliage and the seed capsules are popular also.
This lovely flower was on the road leading to the ranch. Does anybody know if it's a different species than the White Prickly Poppy I'm more familiar with?
Linda, I think it is the Rose Prickly Poppy, Argemony saniguinea,
http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=21376
See if you agree.
Very pretty on both of them, I have never seen a Guayacan, although i have read about it.
Linda--I was able to get your seeds off in the mail today--1/2 fencing project complete, 1/2 to go.
Herbertia lahue everywhere today--must be "peak" bloom day for them--lol
=)
Thanks, Debbie! What a coincidence. I didn't get a chance to get your anemone seeds in the mail until yesterday, so they should go out today also. So much going on this time of year! I think this might be Dahlberg Daisy/Bristleleaf Dogweed...I'm just going by memory of what someone was saying it was at the ranch (if I remember right) and it looks like the right plant, so I'll go with that.
Nice color of phlox...maybe Drummond Phlox? I know they do well in sandy soil like that ranch area and there is different colors.
