Texas Native Plant Week in the garden

Texas Native Plant Week is sponsored each year by The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center.  For 2016 it's October 16-22.   They'll have activities all week at the center, but I always start where any native plant fan would and that's right in my own garden with mostly native plants.  In our heat and dry-challenged climate it's so important to add native plants to the garden.  In Central Texas we are fortunate to have a wonderful variety of flowering and foliage native plants to choose from as in my tank garden photo below.  There are few non-natives but not many and even those are from nearby Mexico.

Throughout the week I'll post on some of my favorite native plants.  Today I'm highlighting Palafoxia, the delicate pink blooms in the foreground  I think this is probably Palafoxia callosa  or Small Palafox which I thought was too weedy to stay in the tank garden when it first appeared several years ago.

As a fall bloomer it doesn't look that great much of the summer.  All attempts to seed this fleeting annual to more natural parts of my garden have been unsuccessful and this year the Palafoxia has filled in enough to look less weedy.



Like many native plants Palafoxia needs little attention from the gardener and it gives back so much.  Butterflies and bees love it.  A Queen Butterfly (above and below) had to endure some buzzing bees to nectar on the delicate pink flowers.

Extremely heat and drought tolerant it adds so much to the fall garden.  Besides it has "fox" in the name so how could I go wrong?

Wildflower Wednesday: Texas Native Plant Week

Wildflower Wednesday hosted by Gail at Clay and Limestone on the fourth Wednesday of each month also happens to fall in the middle of Texas Native Plant Week.  This makes it fun to post about both at the same time by taking a tour of the Texas native wildflowers in my garden.

We'll start with Clammy Weed (Polanisia dodecandra).  These native annuals provide a succession of blooms through our hot summers.  As one group fades and goes to seed another takes its place.  They are prolific reseeders and I look forward to having them in the garden for years to come.

Texas Native Plant Week: Madrone Nursery

It's Texas Native Plant Week and my posts this week will reflect that theme.  First up is a visit to Madrone Nursery which doesn't just specialize in Texas native plants--it's the only kind of plant they grow.

Madrone Nursery is located in San Marcos an hour's drive northeast of San Antonio and half way to Austin.  Founded by native plant expert Dan Hosage, it is open by appointment only.

Last March I joined a field trip with friends to Madrone Nursery and enjoyed a day of shopping for native plants.  The Texas Bluebonnets were just beginning to bloom around the sign along the road when we arrived.

Wildflower Wednesday October 2013: Texas Native Plant Week

Since last spring I've joined Gail of Clay and Limestone for Wildflower Wednesday to celebrate wildflowers in the garden on the fourth Wednesday of each month.  It's also Texas Native Plant Week so I'm celebrating both with a tour of native plants currently blooming in my garden.  Collecting and growing native plants in my garden has become a bit of a quest for me since they do best in our challenging climate.  October is when many plants look their best here after having recovered from the long hot summer and with several fall rains to help them along.

Helenium amarum reseeded in this location from last year and should continue to grow along the gravel path in the circle garden.

Medina Garden Nursery for Texas Native Plant Week

During the month of October I'm joining Pam at Digging for Support Your Independent Nursery Month. Independent nurseries are the best resource for plants which work well in our climate.  It's also Texas Native Plant Week and I'm featuring my favorite native plant nursery.  I recently re-visited Medina Garden Nursery just over an hour west of San Antonio with a group of gardening friends.  Besides being a beautiful drive, it's well worth the trip just to spend time with native and butterfly plant expert Ernesto Carino.  Ismael Espinoza, who usually works with him, was at his other job on this day so we missed him.  We spent over two hours touring the nursery and gardens surrounding Ernesto's home.

As I wrote in my previous post on Medina Garden Nursery, it's all about the plants.  Texas natives and plants adapted to our tough Texas climate--they know what grows best where we live.  They collect cuttings in the wild and trade with native plant enthusiasts from all over.  Ernesto says he often receives seeds or cutting in the mail from those who just want to preserve native plants for future generations.