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Monday, May 2, 2016

MY GARDEN CELEBRATES NATIONAL WILDFLOWER WEEK MAY 2-8

The week of May 2nd is National Wildflower Week and I am delighted to share some tiny Texas treasures with my readers as well as some of my more boisterous blooms.
I have always had a weakness for the more delicate of our wildflowers so I was happy to see that for the first time the violet wood sorrel,  Oxalis violacea, has appeared in my garden. I'm sure readers are saying they have this plant growing everywhere but for me it is a joy to see this one plant has found a home in my garden. I would be happy to see it growing as a carpet.


It is growing beneath the unnamed clematis which I purchased from the Wildflower Center. It is of the group of clematis that share the name leather flower, possibly Clematis viorna.


 My entry courtyard is full of yellow blooms, Engelmann's daisy, Engelmannia peristenia,  being one flower of the more boisterous.


 I always try to gather up seeds before they fall but  some always escape. They will grow out of rock crevices and in the gravel.


My gravel garden is a perfect place for Zexmenia, Wedelia texana. Another plant whose seeds need controlling.


 The square but primrose, Calylophus berlandieri, is one flower I would be happy to see seed out but it never does.


The purple skull cap,  Scutellaria wrightii, and Blackfoot daisy, Melampodium leucanthum, mass together along the edge of the dry creek.


This same skullcap can be trimmed to form a low mounding plant.


Scutellaria wrightii in the sunken garden
 I just have a few standing wine cups, possibly Callirhoe leiocarpa or C. pedata. The flowers are on a tall leafless stem.


They are quite distinct from the trailing wine cup, Callirhoe involucrata, with its heavy foliage.
 

Another member of the mallow family, rock rose Pavonia lasiopetala,


 I am always on the lookout for plants that form tidy mounds. A chance seedling of gray vervain,Verbena canescens, pruned to form a mound.


 You have to get close up to appreciate its tiny flowers. It seeded in a few places and I have moved the seedlings into other areas.



I took a walk in my meadow today and discovered several delicate blooms. The first the Colorado Venus' Looking-Glass, Triodanis coloradoensis.




and Prairie brazoria, Warnockia scutellarioides.


Now that the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush have set seed it is the time for the yellow flowers to carpet the meadow.


Antelope horn, Asclepias asperula, in the meadow.


HAPPY NATIONAL WILDLFOWER  WEEK TO ALL MY READERS.



12 comments:

  1. Your garden is a wildflower wonderland.

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  2. Beautiful blooms in your garden. I love the rolling out of all the different wild flowers throughout the seasons.

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  3. It's just so magical with all the interesting different flowers and combinations in your garden. I think my Venus Looking Glass are done for the year but I can probably find a few interesting flowers out there.

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  4. What an incredible collection of native flowers you have! I was excited just to find a self-seeded lupine in one of my beds this week as even the California poppies are largely no-shows this year. I think I'd fall over if I found a plentiful supply of natives in my garden but there's always hope - the Matilija poppy I planted a couple of months ago on my back slope seems to be thriving.

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  5. Thank you for the introduction to wildflowers from your part of the garden. They're lovely.

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  6. Very pretty. I didn't know you had a meadow. I would like to see it next time I'm there.

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    1. There is a big area between the house and the road and a small field of wild flowers. However, the cedars re closing in. I think we may remove some of them to open up the area.

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  7. Each and every one a true beauty. What a lovely selection of nativesyou've shared and huzzah for the arrival of the coveted pink oxalis. I've only got the yellow oxalis here but find it charming nonetheless. Happy Wildflower Week!

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  8. Well Jenny--great minds, huh? :) Your wildflowers are gorgeous, but then they always are! Happy Nat'l Wildflower wee to you and your pretties.

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  9. So many beauties!--I especially like the combo of skullcap with blackfoot daisy--how charming.
    I tried skullcap last year because I saw it on your blog and liked it so very much. It does not really care for
    my very long winter. I hope it pulls through--it's been a thoroughly cold and wet spring.

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  10. The Prairie brazoria, Warnockia scutellaiodes, makes me think of tiny lavender owls ready to give a hug! Beautiful. Happy Wildflower Week.

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    Replies
    1. They do have such sweet little faces, don't they. I must try to save seeds.

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