National Wildflower Week 2020

National Wildflower Week is always the first full week in May and usually ends on Mother's Day.  The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center used to celebrate with a wonderful tour of Austin gardens which focused on native plants and wildflowers but they discontinued the tour a few years ago and I couldn't find much information out there.  I did find the following quote on a holiday calendar website.

"...commemorates the colorful blossoms that bring our landscapes to life. Whether they are on mountainsides, pastures or our own back yards, wildflowers create habitat, help conserve water and reduce erosion."

I'll celebrate with a tour of the colorful blossoms that bring my "own back yard" to life each spring.

We've had a bit of everything during our spring wildflower season in South Texas.

This week Greenthreads (Thelesperma filifolium) hit their peak so we'll start in the front garden.  Their seeds originally blew in on the wind or floated down the street on rainwater and I just let them grow.  We never water or cultivate them in any way.  A combination of annual and perennial, they will fade in the summer and return in the fall.

Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) are amazingly resilient even after they were hit by a light frost in late February.

They weren't slowed down a bit and bloomed beautifully on schedule.

I've been pulling their spent stems and spreading the last of the seeds this week.

While we're on the subject of blue flowers, Heartleaf Skullcap (Scutellaria ovata) are pretty blue flowers which only show up in the spring.  The gray foliage will soon die back and the roots bide their time underground until next spring.  If I accidentally dig them up when dormant I just tuck the roots back under the soil and no harm done.

A recent addition are Texas Bluebonnets in the front yard, mostly around the Yucca Rostrata.  We pull these as soon as they scatter most of their seeds.  Bluebonnets for all their blooming beauty are ugly seed setters.  Bright yellow Damianita is a native wildflower as well though this plant seeded over from a purchased plant so it is cultivated.

Our May wildflowers had a close call with a neighbor's lawn service.  I found this note on my door one recent afternoon.  He was obviously at the wrong house; actually, the wrong street entirely.  There has always been confusion over street names and numbers here because the street name changes on a curve which is not so obvious and the numbers start over.  You can see the curve in the Yucca photo above.   All the houses in the background are on a different street.  The intended recipient's house has the same number and is just up the hill about a block away.



When I called they advised me that he did not spray anything on my yard.  Our security video confirmed that he did not spray.  An App 3 mix has weed killer and fertilizer both of which could kill our native Buffalo Grass "lawn."   

Weeds?

Let's see what he saw that day.

Gaillardia pulchella or Blanket Flower

Monarda citriodora or Beebalm

On video the lawn guy was seen scratching his head and looking confused by this scene. 

We've had ongoing problems with burnout streaks in our Buffalo Grass and now we think it's possible weedkiller is flowing downhill through our yard to the creek during rains.

I mentioned Bluebonnets are ugly seeders and the brown spots in the photo below are Bluebonnets going to seed.  Not something we want to leave in the front landscape for weeks.

The cat prefers wildflowers to a perfect lawn too.

Happy Wildflower Week and Happy Mother's Day too.

National Wildflower Week 2019

National Wildflower Week (May 5-12) celebrates our native flowering species and I'm thinking about the "wildflowers" in my garden based on a common definition:

"A wildflower is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted."

With such a narrow definition I wonder if the flowers in my garden qualify as wildflowers.  We'll take a tour while I share my thoughts.

These bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) were intentionally seeded from seeds I collected in an undeveloped area just over my back fence.

We started with a small patch that struggled during our drought years but has been spreading quickly recently.  Some reseed naturally while we help others along to make sure the patch grows where we can enjoy them.



Then they are not wildflowers?  Not so fast, that also would mean bluebonnets at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center are not technically wildflowers.  As the Texas state flower bluebonnets are intentionally seeded along highways and public areas throughout the state so I think bluebonnets always qualify as wildflowers no matter where they are or how they arrived.



Purple Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida) and bright yellow-orange Greenthreads (Thelesperma filifolum) arrived as volunteers so they qualify as wildflowers.



Or not?  They started out wherever they chose to grow but then I intentionally seed them where I would like more.



The same with Firewheel or Indian Blanket flowers (Gaillardia pulchella).  Here again I intervene by pulling about half of these out each year to keep them under control.



Are these wildflowers or not?

That original narrow definition would indicate this is not a patch of wildflowers even though they are clearly going wild.

Their parents volunteered the garden years ago but then I intentionally seeded them across the path.

Eventually wildflowers will take over the entire back slope with the exception of shady spots.

Wildflowers are filling in the opposite corner where I scattered seeds over the last few years.  Looks like wildflowers to me.

What would I say is not a wildflower?  I'm undecided on larkspur.  While there are a few native larkspur in North America these are likely not.  So even though they grow among my native wildflowers and  Larkspur is a favorite in my garden they don't qualify.  I sure do enjoy them though.

No question about Horsemint (Monarda citriodora), another volunteer and a bee favorite.  No surprise since one of its common names in Bee Balm. 

Bee Balm goes through color stages starting pale then going to deep purple.

Damianita (Chrysactinia mexicana) grows as a wildflower in open areas but these were purchased as landscape plants at a local nursery.  

Texas Gold Columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha ‘Hinckleyana’) is a native wildflower now growing in a garden bed since it was shared by a friend.

Wildflowers by definition or not, I enjoy them all in my landscape.



Just one note.  To have wildflowers you have to be prepared for the browning state.  Those pretty bluebonnets going to seed turn brown (as seen on the lower right) and are not so pretty for a while.  Fortunately, the golds and oranges take over and help out.  If you want flowers next year, there's no getting around the seedy phase which is why most of my wildflowers are in the back yard.

So enjoy the wildflowers and even try a few in your garden since so many have crossed over into landscape favorites.

Flinging with National Wildflower Week

It was a dark and stormy morning at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center when 90+ garden bloggers from the USA, Canada and UK arrived for the first stop on our Austin Garden Bloggers Fling.  We had just enough time to grab a few photos before the skies opened up and rain poured down.  I had a great time last weekend meeting so many bloggers I previously knew only from their writings and photos.  Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, it was easy to recognize and get to know many bloggers quickly since I already knew a lot about them from their blogs.

It's National Wildflower Week, so I'll begin by sharing wildflower photos from three days of Fling tours.  I think I took the photo below while on a full run back to the Visitor's Center because thunder and lightning were on the horizon and I didn't want to get caught out in the open.  So different from the bright sunny visits I'm used to, it pretty much captures our first Fling day.

A few more from photos from the wildflower center when it was a little brighter at first.  

I love the deep magenta color of Wine Cups which refuse to grow in my garden.



These do grow in my garden - blue Salvia Farinacea and Firewheel.

A nice, if slightly soggy way to celebrate wildflowers.  After a rainy stop at Diana Kirby's garden we toured the Mirador Garden with blooming Yucca rostrata.

Firewheel and other wildflowers lined Mirador's drive in front of a tall Cor-ten steel wall.

Still raining, we next toured Rock Rose blogger Jenny Stocker's wildflower filled garden.

Poppies by the pool at Jenny Stocker's garden.

Lavishly filled to the brim with wildflowers!

Did I mention it was wet?

Typical Texas weather with just one day of pouring rain so the next day and the rest of our tours were sunny.

Saturday we saw butterfly magnet Gregg's mistflower (Conoclinium greggii) planted in the median across from Colleen Jamison's Garden.  Colleen planted the median for her neighborhood to enjoy and you can see bloggers did too.

Hesperaloe parviflora blooms were just some of the wildflowers in the Fowler's garden in Hutto north of Austin.

We were greeted by Engelmann Daisy and many other wildflowers lining the driveway at the Ruthie Burrus garden on Sunday.

Mexican Hats (Ratibida columnifera) left standing in the Burrus' garden.

Masses of Firewheel or Gaillardia along the driveway.

At Tait Moring's garden we found more Gaillardia on both sides of the drive.

Gaillardia tucked in among the Mexican Feather Grass.



Not all wildflowers were planted.  Gregg's Mistflower (Conoclinium greggii) in pots awaiting installation at Tait Moring's client's garden.

Tait Moring directed us to this impressive Opuntia gomei 'Old Mexico' forest just beginning to bloom.

More bright sunshine and Firewheel.

Kylee Baumle passing Gaura (Oenothera lindheimeri) at Kirk Walden's garden.  Gaura is sometimes called "Whirling Butterflies" which brings to mind Kylee's latest book on saving the Monarch butterfly.

That incredible view enhanced with wildflowers from our last garden stop on the tour.

Just a few of the wildflowers we enjoyed on a wonderful weekend of garden tours in Austin.

I returned home to wildflowers peaking in my own garden this week.

Just the first of many posts from my weekend of flinging with garden bloggers in Austin last weekend.

Happy Wildflower Week!