Wildflower Wednesday...er, Thursday

I have a distressing habit of forgetting to participate in Gail of Clay and Limestone's excellent Wildflower Wednesday meme each month. I always seem to remember it a day or two too late.

Well, it happened again this month. After all, it is Wildflower WEDNESDAY and here it is Thursday already, but I decided, what the heck? I'll participate anyway. Better late than never, right?

I have several wildflowers growing and blooming in my yard right now. Let me show you a few.

This is a wild allium which came up in my yard last year. It was the only one of its kind. I thought it was so attractive that I dug it and potted it up to try to encourage it to multiply. And, here it is, still in its pot and blooming for me again. When it finishes bloom this year, I'm going to plant it in one of my beds. I'm not entirely sure which allium it is. My best guess is Allium canadense, but it could be Allium drummondii. Whatever its proper name, I quite like my little pink allium.

This is another gift of Nature that has seeded itself in my garden this spring. It is Philadelphia fleabane (Eigeron philadelphicus). It's been in bloom for a couple of weeks now and, as you can see, it has several buds which promise more blooms.

This plant has been used in traditional medicines. The dried and crushed parts of the plants are used to make a tea that is beneficial for sore throats, the treatment of stomach ailments, and even for a poultice that can be applied to swelling. I'm not sure where it came from, but I think I'll dig it and plant it in my wildflower bed.

And speaking of my wildflower bed, when it's spring in Texas, it is bluebonnet time. Sometimes we get a few pink bonnets among the blue, as you see here. The bluebonnet is the state flower of Texas.

I grow purple oxalis on purpose in my garden, but its cousin, Oxalis violacea or violet wood sorrel pops up in beds all over my garden. Technically, it's a weed, of course, but it's a very pretty one and unless it is in a particularly awkward spot, I tend to ignore it and let it flower. Which is probably why it keeps popping up around my yard.

Here's wishing you joy with your wildflowers. Next month, I'll try to be on time.

Copper Canyon daisy

Copper Canyon daisy (Tagetes lemmonii)

Autumn is Copper Canyon daisy time in my garden. This tough, drought-tolerant shrubby plant has been a part of my garden for several years and this year it has been particularly floriferous.

This perennial shrub can grow to about three to four feet tall and five to six feet wide. That pretty much describes mine in its present form. It has feathery foliage which gives the plant an airy, rather blowsy appearance. At the height of its bloom (mine is a bit past that point now) the inch-wide blooms can completely cover and obscure the leaves, making the plant look like a big mound of yellow. It is quite a striking sight. This native daisy will grow in full sun or partial shade. Mine is in partial shade.

The original plant was native in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northern Mexico, but it has been introduced and naturalized in many parts of Texas and it grows extremely well even here in humid Southeast Texas. Yes, this is one tough and versatile plant!

One of the most noticeable attributes of the plant is its scent. It has a very strong "marigold" scent which some people might find objectionable, but which I actually enjoy..The scent may be one of the things that makes this plant deer-resistant, a very important trait in many areas.

Other names for this plant include Mexican bush marigold, Mt. Lemmon marigold, and mountain marigold. The plant was collected by John Gill and Sara Lemmon in southeastern Arizona in the 1880s. The Lemmons developed the plant and introduced it to the nursery trade in California. The botanical name, Tagetes lemmonii, recognizes that contribution.

As our climate changes and we have to deal with extended droughts, area gardeners search for plants that can thrive in such conditions and Copper Canyon daisy can be added to that list. Once established, it does not require any extra water and no fertilizer. It is a lazy gardener's dream plant.

This is my belated contribution to Wildflower Wednesday, sponsored by Gail of Clay and Limestone. Visit her blog to see other entries.

Wildflower Wednesday - July 2012

Along the back fence of our fairly big suburban lot is an area that we've allowed to remain wild over the years. This wasn't really planned. It just sort of happened and has evolved as things in Nature will.

The "wilderness" consists of a hedgerow of shrubs that have been planted by birds and other wildlife over the more than twenty years that we have lived here. Consequently, since the plants were selected by wildlife, they are all wildlife-friendly and are full of food for critters at certain seasons of the year.

The most prevalent plant in the hedgerow is common elderberry, Sambucus nigra canadensis. The airy white umbels that are its blooms cover the shrubs from spring until autumn.

When the flowers mature, these shiny purple berries develop. They don't last long. As you can see here, many of the berries from this bunch have already been picked. The birds love them! Our Northern Mockingbirds particularly go crazy for these berries, but other birds get their share when they can get past the sharp eyes of the territorial mockingbird. Since the shrubs have such a long bloom period, many of the berries last into the late fall and are a significant part of birds' diets when a lot of other wild foods have been exhausted. Some humans also harvest the berries to make tasty wines, jellies, candies, pies, and sauces. The plant has some medicinal uses and was utilized by Native Americans for that purpose and as a useful dye. But in my yard, the plant is strictly for the birds.

Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is another plant that is very common in our "wilderness" because it is another plant that has berries that are much loved by birds. The flowers are fairly insignificant. Most of the petals here have already fallen off, but just at the tip of the raceme, you can see a few of the blossoms hanging on. Pokeweed is a very robust plant that can grow almost ten feet tall in ideal conditions. The leaves of the newly emerged pokeweed in the spring are prized by some as greens for the table. The gourmand must beware though for those leaves are poisonous! They must be boiled twice and the first water thrown out before they can be eaten. I had an uncle who swore that the leaves were tastier than spinach and he looked forward to eating them every spring. Since he lived well into his 90s, he could be the poster boy for poke salad, or "poke salet" as he called it.

The berries of the pokeweed mature more slowly than the elderberries and so they stay on the plants longer as food for the birds. When they do mature, they have the same shiny purple-black color as the elderberries and they were used by Native Americans as a very effective dye.

Another berry planted by the birds along my back fence as well as in other favorite perching places around the yard is the beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). It is actually one of my favorite native shrubs and I use it pretty extensively in my garden, sometimes moving the small plants that have been started by the birds to my ideal (from my viewpoint) locations. Again, the flowers of the shrub are fairly insignificant but the berries, once they have matured, make a splendid display. The berries do take longer to mature than either the elderberry or the pokeweed and so they stay on the shrub longer, often even into the winter when they are much appreciated by hungry birds. There is also a cultivated variety that has white berries. I have one of those in my garden as well and, for some reason, the birds always finish off those berries before they start on the purple ones.

Thanks to Gail at Clay and Limestone for hosting Wildflower Wednesday again this month. Don't forget to visit her blog and say "hi" for me.

Wildflower Wednesday - April 2012

On our trip to Antique Rose Emporium at Brenham, Texas last Friday, we saw some lovely meadows and hillsides covered with wildflowers. Of course, I had to stop to take some pictures.

Poppies, coreopsis, thistles, black-eyed Susans, primroses, phlox and still a few bluebonnets were blooming in gay profusion, and the meadows were full of bees and butterflies. It made my heart glad to see them.

For more wildflower pleasures, visit Gail at clay and limestone for a listing of other bloggers who are participating in Wildflower Wednesday this month, and thanks to Gail for hosting the meme.