We have one plot in our garden that has radishes growing but otherwise we have filled it with bluebonnets we bought at a garden center and bluebonnets we seeded, along with a few other non-edible flowering plants. I like having a small section dedicated to flowers, especially since we aren’t focusing on collecting plants right […]
Texas Wildflowers | Erythronium albidum, Trout Lily
Trout lilies are wonderful and beautiful native wildflowers, blooming early in the spring, really late winter. The last two years we’ve ventured out to Tandy Hills to check them out. The first year we found many blooms, but last year not so much. This year I ventured out with with my brother to show him […]
Adiantum capillus-veneris | Southern maidenhair fern
A few weekends ago, New Years Eve weekend to be exact, we stopped by Westcave Preserve on our way home. We’d been by there a year before but did not have time to go in. I will have more on Westcave itself in two later posts, but this one is specifically about the beautiful maidenhair […]
Texas Wildflowers | Vernonia missurica, Missouri ironweed
While we were doing our field work in the Big Thicket this late spring and early summer we kept coming across this plant in its pre-blooming stage. No one could figure it out until finally it was identified by Ron Lance. And not much later the plant started blooming and it was beautiful! The tell-tale […]
Texas Wildflowers | Eustoma exaltatum ssp. russellianum, Texas bluebells
This annual Texas native is not very common, though we did see the ones shown above at Tandy Hills. The subtle blue-purple flower deserves more respect than it gets, being out shown by other grand Texas natives like the bluebonnet. You may know this genus as also Lisianthus, which can be found at garden centers. […]
Texas Wildflowers | Campsis radicans, trumpet creeper
This beautiful vine can sometimes be mistaken for Bignonia capreoleta, or cross vine. While the similar red flowers might fool you, taking a look at the leaves will change the story as the trumpet creeper vine has pinnately compound leaves. While this is a native plant, it is also quite weedy and can be invasive. […]
Texas Wildflowers | Asclepias tuberosa
This widespread milkweed species is a larval host to monarch butterflies in addition to queen’s and the gray hairstreak. It has has the similar long seed pod with silky hairs that other milkweeds use to propagate. Preferring full sun to light shade, once established these plants can handle mesic to xeric conditions comfortably. These species […]
Texas Wildflowers | Rhynchospora latifolia, sandswamp whitetop
This little plant is actually a sedge but the unique white top turns it into a beautiful and unique wetland plant. A similar but smaller species, Rhyncospora colorata might throw you off at first but the latifolia species is significantly larger. Sandswamp whitetop sedge grows in wet areas and would make a great pond plant […]
Texas Wildflowers | Calopogon tuberosus, grass pink orchid
This orchid is a familiar orchid as we saw it often in Florida. It’s always nice to see familiar plants back here in Texas. This beautiful orchid, according to Wildflower.org gets it’s genus name from a Greek word meaning beautiful beard. You can definitely see that beautiful beard in the photos above! Calopogon tuberosus is […]
Texas Wildflowers | Rosa bracteata, McCartney Rose
We initially saw these roses growing along Texas Point NWR and later discovered they are an invasive rose. Originally from China they join a host of other roses that have naturalized across the south, including the Cherokee rose and prairie rose. While they are beautiful, they are like other invasives and smother out native vegetation. […]
