Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Wildflower Wednesday June 2013

It's Wildflower Wednesday and June 2013 brings an update on volunteer wildflowers seeding in the buffalo grass lawn.  The fourth Wednesday of each month bloggers celebrate wildflowers in their gardens by joining Gail at Clay and Limestone for Wildflower Wednesday

More flowers are finding their way into the wildflower patch and since I'm pretty sure the only ones I seeded were the Gaillardia pulchella or Indian Blanket flowers it seems the others have simply followed their friends to the party.  Due to a somewhat rainy and cool spring the purple Prairie Verbena is still blooming.  This combination of the yellow-orange and purple flowers is so pretty.



The gaillardia seeds were found on the utility easement just behind our house so they didn't travel far.  Of course I only picked a few seed pods and left many seeds there so the natural reseeding of that area will continue.   Most of the yellow flowers seen here are the native Greenthread (Thelesperma) or Navajo Tea flower and another small yellow flower which is currently unidentified.

Greenthread


The unidentified similar flower


The view below shows how beautifully the wildflowers interact with the garden at the end of the lawn.


This year horsemint has turned up in the buffalo grass.  This might be spotted horsemint.  Feel free to correct me if you recognize this.  I'm very new at this and native plants arrive untagged.



The cool, rainy spring has caused a bit of confusion.  This bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) is blooming about two months after the rest of the patch has seeded out.  I think it sprouted this spring instead of in the fall as is typical.


I am thrilled that our local wildflowers have found their way into my lawn.  You can check out how others bloggers are celebrating Wildflower Wednesday by clicking the link here.

10 comments:

  1. The wildflowers in the meadow is a wonderful look. I enjoyed seeing your garden on Pam's blog after her visit with you.

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    1. Thank you Ricki, I very much enjoyed seeing Pam's take on my garden and especially enjoyed her visit.

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  2. You are so blessed to have wonderful wildflowers pop up in your meadow, instead of a bunch of invasive weeds like mine. The yellow flower with red center looks like Plains Coreopsis, Coreopsis tinctoria. I grew it once and part were solid red and part were yellow with the red centers. The Horsemint is cute. I'm thinking the wild ones might be easier to grow than the cultivars. I just started growing some lupines this year, some from seed, I hope they will bloom next year. The plants are blooming, I'm looking forward to seeing how much they spread. I'm hoping the toxicity will keep the rabbits away from my beans.

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    1. Looks like you are right Hannah, Plains Coreopsis. That explains why no two looked exactly alike when I tried to take their portraits. The leaves are slightly thicker than the Greenthread and very similar in form so I only recently noticed there were two different plants in there.

      After several years of pulling the invasive weeds it does look like the flowers are winning the battle. The horsemint is much more drought tolerant than monarda and seems to return no matter what our weather throws at it.

      I'll bet the lupines will be beautiful in your setting.

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  3. Beautiful wildflowers!
    The orange and purple do look great together.
    Happy Wildflower Gardening!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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  4. Oh yes, the purple and orange combination is delightful! Sometime I'd love to see a field of Bluebonnets in bloom! What a beautiful color and a nifty plant!

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    1. They are stunning and a favorite childhood memory is seeing them blanket the hills in the spring.

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  5. Very beautiful. The garden blends in well with it's surroundings.

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  6. Very pretty wildflower, and beautiful photographs. I grew Coreopsis in my garden many years ago, but can't remember which variety, there are so many of them, it was certainly a garden variety and not the one you have but it looked similar.

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  7. Your meadow is a beautiful treat and I am so glad you love wildflowers and wanted to share them with us. Happiest WW! gail

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