As you girls already know I am a very bad mama to Standing Cypress. I have tried many times and even though I love that flower I have never really succeeded growing them.
Our friend Jameso from east Texas even went as far as sending me two potted plants via UPS.
I couldn't believe it,they were beautiful, imagine his kindness, but one promptly expired and the other one was doing well and them we had a hail storm and the hail broke it when it was almost ready to bloom.
I told him what happened, and he said that if some of his plants don't behave he will threaten them with sending them to me.
I hope you girls have better luck with it.
Josephine.
Gardening with Texas Native Plants & Wildflowers, part 17
LOL Josephine... you have become a "reference point". How prestigeous!
That is just too funny!
ROFLOL!!!! Too funny!
Hi everyone! I am new here and I have been reading all of your posts and admiring all of your beautiful TX natives! I am in north Arlington and am very interested in native plants. My eccentric front yard has no lawn lol, is all organic, luckily full of blooms at the moment and a constant work in progress! I have a large portion of natives and soon my back yard will begin a transformation equal to the front, hopefully! Just wanted to say "hi" and introduce myself as the newbie I am! I look forward to learning from you guys and seeing more of your lovely photos!
Welcome Viola, I hope we cam meet since I live in Arlington too. Your yard sounds great, I am thinking of converting my front yard to no grass but it will have to be done one piece at a time, since it is such a big job, I am looking forward to seeing what you have done,
Josephine.
Oh Viola!
Are you ever in the right place. Since rubbing elbows with all of these great people I have no want for plants, some rare and progressivly more native...
...maybe just a little more room, LOL!
Debnes
Welcome Viola!....
We have a lot of DG members in the DFW area and get together several times a year to eat, greet, and swap plants. Maybe next time you can join in.
Sheila_FW
Welcome Viola! Good to have another DG'er in the group! You'll be surprised at how many friends you'll meet in the coming days-months-yrs? :~) Lee
I am so overjoyed!
In Fall 2006 I recieved seeds from various people at an Arlington Swap
I planted the seeds that fall/winter and these dwarfy little plants came up, so I put them in a pot with a pair of some hardy Cassias. Finally I see a bud on one of them and guess what it is....
Thanks for reminding me where we were discussing this plant Linda, but I thought I should post about it over here.
So cool! It's a Desert Fairy Duster, Calliandra eriophylla
Waited a long time to see what this plant was..:-)
One more a bit closer...
Oh joy!!
Way to go! From seed, yet! I started with a plant myself. And it seems like mine never makes good seed. Maybe they need another plant to pollinate.
That is really neat Deb, I have a plant very similar to it, that Trois gave me, but he said it was a different kind of mesquite, we will have to compare them and see.
Congratulations.
Thanks y'all... I am tickled *pink*, LOL!
I tracked down where and when I got the seeds.... amazing huh?
This thread
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=2928485
I got them from Melanie, TXTurquoise
Here is the post she showed the pic
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=2928485
and you can read me begging for the seeds, LOL! Well I got em and planted them that fall, and now look at them,, :-)
I am beaming!
Mystery totally solved
My parents would have been totally flabbergasted by your excitement over the mimosa. We had one in the front yard (in Garland) for a long time (;it was a GREAT climbing tree when we were kids,) and they never liked the mess it made, and the volunteers that came up in the flowerbeds, so Daddy finally had it removed. They're both gone now, but it still looks so strange to go by their house and not see their mimosa in the front yard.
Irwells, lol!
This one isn't the typical Mimosa.. I believe the ones you are talking about aren't TX native plants. They are everywhere, and I agree, a big mess!
This partircular one is pretty special imho, ;-)
Oh, Melanie...haven't seen her post in a long time. I hope she didn't leave DG! I went by the store she worked at recently and didn't see her there. Of course, that doesn't mean she doesn't still work there.
Yes, I haven't heard from her for a long time, such a nice girl.
Yeah she's precious... I miss her being around. :-.
Maybe we need to bombard her with dmails, lol!
I remember reading some of her posts. Great information. I checked and she isn't a subscriber now only registered. Hope she signs up again.
I wonder if she can recieve the dmail I sent her...
Yes, all members can use dmail. Just hope she gets on DG now.
Doesn't DG notify people by their regular email if they have d-mails that haven't been opened for a while? I kind of thought they did that.
Love the beautiful Desert Fairy duster debnes, how cool!
Thanks for the welcomes! I'd love to join in on any get togethers. Josephine, anytime would be great to meet up, I'd love to see your plants and meet you, neighbor!
I am really excited because I saw a yellow swallowtail butterfly (?) a couple of Monarch's and lots of cute little grey butterflies! The large yellow butterfly was all over my crazy prairie verbena which is truly trying to take over my yard, lol! I had just planted some Milkweed and not a full day later, Monarchs found it. I also just planted a pipevine, having lots of fun.
Anyone have something called Texas Bird of Paradise? I saw it recently and I love it, just curious about it.
My family has a ranch in Callahan county, I am hoping to look for "new to me" natives next time I trek out there. Anyone have suggestions on what I could look for? I remember as a child these huge seed pods that looked like big dark claws, I am wondering what it is called and what part of the terrain it might be? After rare heavy rains, it looks like a fairy tale there with all of the wildflowers that spring to life. There are high and low areas, natural springs, gullies, etc.. There is a patch of native gourds that I am hoping to find, they are pretty neat. I am happy to bring seeds etc back if there is anything that is of interest to yall.
Anyway, have a great day!
Texas Viola
The claws might be Devil's Claw.
Viola, The Big yellow swallowtail you mentioned could be this one...
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/3425/
or the one pictured below
Here is Josephine's Desert Bird of Paradise (I took this pic at her house last week)...
I have one, and I am hoping to see it bloom this year, :-) . Beautiful plant!
Viola, right now the plate is pretty full, but we girls in the DFW area usually get together sometime during late spring or early summer and go touring a little bit, so we can do that, and include you as well.
As far as the Bird of Paradise, I think I have some seeds that I can give you. Looking forward to it.
Those are neat pictures Deb.
Josephine.
Oh my goodness how exciting to see ALL of the above!!!
I am a little bummed right now........the lawnmower (driven by my dh) went thru and mowed everything down. It looks nice and groomed like a park (I guess) but I was waiting for some wildflowers still to bloom :(
Guess I can look at all the beautiful flowers here. I sure hope to see a picture of that Standing Cypress when it blooms too!!
I found some Pale spike lobelia, lobelia spicata near the edge of the pond that made it thru LOL.
That is really pretty.
I looked at the standing cypress this afternoon. It has grown about 6 inches over my head now. But looking up I can see it putting out some different stems at the top so if the rain will hold off a few days more maybe it will bloom for me!!
I couldn't find a picture of the "claw" of Devil's Claw, but here is a small plant I had blooming a few years ago.
Here is one ....I did a search.
http://mason.gmu.edu/~rnichol3/projects/plant/devilsclaw.htm
Mom and I used to make crafts out of them, a friend had a bush on her property. They made a cool TX size mosquito, complete with cowboy hat! LOL!
Really neat Sheila and Linda.
Hi all, I had just composed a long and personalized reply but it just went "poof" on my computer. My pugs sent my macbook tumbling to the hard floor recently, so I am on an ancient iffy computer with the horrid built in mouse. Anyway, I wanted to say thanks for the pics of butterfly/bird of paradise/devil'sclaw and offers, and to lol at the mosquito w/cowboy hat Devil's claw project -- love it! Beautiful lobelia, glad it survived the mow! Anyway, because this computer is so old and is frustrating, I will be absent until my macbook is repaired in a week or so. I had intended the original message to be sent, but this will have to do. Thanks all and have a great day!
I am sorry about the computer, I hust can't seem to get along well without mine, hope yours gets fixed soon.
Josephine.
I was looking at some seeds that I'm planting in the edible garden and noticed the Martynia, proboscidea parviflora is also called Devil's Claw. I am planting it as a companion to tomatoes and okra and others - it's supposed to deter pests and wildlife because of the smell it gives off. It's also edible and is said to have an okra flavor with a hint of morel mushroom. The pods are a good candidate for pickling, which I hope to do if and when they grow.
As I walked by this plant, the scent was so sweet that I had to try and find out it's name, Common Elderberry I believe. What do you think the chances of rooting some clippings would be?
Usually cuttings will work O.K. but I have had better luck with with a small shoot with a little piece of root, those work very well.
This Maypop, Passiflora incarnata, was blooming today. Some years it doesn't get to bloom before the butterfly caterpillars get it eaten up too much. Mostly the Gulf Fritillary use it as a host plant, but sometimes Variegated Fritillary or Zebra Longwing will also use it.
This message was edited May 20, 2009 10:32 AM
