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.

A TALE OF THREE CLEMATIS

I have three Texas clematis growing in my garden. This one is on a west facing wall. If you remember the recent hail storm came from the west but a lemon tree in front of it saved it's delicate stems from the brunt of the storm.

Texas clematis x Princess Diana.

The second one is on an east-facing wall. What is amusing about this one is that it sent up a long leggy stalk which went over the top of the wall. It thought better of its desire to go westward when the wind began to blow and promptly retreated behind the safety of the wall. I think it has decided to stay.

It has an unusual flower, more like Clematis pitcheri and a color that I cannot identify. It was purchased at a Wildflower Center sale so I am wondering if it was grown from seed. Although I was at first disappointed with its rather wishy-washy color it has grown on me. Like Clematis pitcheri its tepals don't open any more than shown in the photograph.

But sadness comes with one growing on the South facing wall. It strangely seemed to take the brunt of the hail which all but destroyed its stems.

This one was also purchased at the Wildflower Center and was sold as C. texensis x Princess Diana. Seen before the hailstorm.

This may be a good time to improve on the trellis!

IS IT BLOOM DAY AGAIN? GARDEN BLOGGERS' BLOOM DAY, MAY 2013

I can't believe the middle of the month is here again. I'm joining Carol at Maydreams garden for her special month.

Someone asked me recently what is in bloom in my garden when the early spring blooms leave. Coreopsis tinctoria is one.

A pot of one of my favorite early summer annuals, Brachyscome on the wall between the sunken garden. Is that Verbena bonariensis trying to get into the picture?

The day lilies begin to bloom. I wish I knew their name but the list is long gone. They were all grown and given to me over 10 years ago by a work associate of Ds who bred them.

This one has a little competition from the purple cone flower, Echinacea purpurea, which just started to bloom.

This one is in a more shaded location.

Love-in-a-mist, Nigella makes a big show in the Philippine violet bed, completely hiding it.

The Texas clematis, Clematis pitcheri.

Blackfoot daisies, Melampodium leucanthum, in the gravel English garden.

Creeping germander, Teucrium cossonii. I think I may add more of this plant next year because I have never watered it and it is not under irrigation and yet has survived.

Bee balm, Monarda fistulosa 'Peter's Purple" begins to bloom. Finally a bee balm that flowers in Texas!

The purple skullcap, Scutellaria wrightii.

Heart leaf skullcap, Scutellaria ovata.
What's blooming in your garden this May Bloom Day?

SHOULD I BE DISAPPOINTED?

Two years ago I bought another Texas clematis, Clematis pitcheri, at the Wildflower Center Sale. It performed poorly last year but sprang back to life this spring following the winter rain. A week ago it began to bloom.

The unopened bloom looked like a little Chinese lantern. The color a little disappointing but then maybe it would color-up in time.

It didn't. As someone who loves everything in nature I find myself rather disappointed by the underperformance of this flower.