Wildflower Wednesday 2025 Posts in Review

I was worried that this might have been the first year that the Hypericums weren't going to put on their hypercolored show for the Wildflower Wednesday Posts in Review Roundup! At the last minute and after two inches of much needed rain their brilliant colors began to brighten my garden. Each fall when I see Hypericum frondosum's brilliant color I wonder why more American gardeners haven't planted them. It's a wonderful Southeastern US native shrub with four seasons of interest and good wildlife value. It's going to have be the first WW star of 2026!

 

 

Gardening in the Middle South is mostly a treat, we have four seasons, but our winter is mercifully short and spring and late autumn make up for the steamy hot summer weather. The last several years have been especially rough with weather extremes of incredible cold, incredible droughts and incredible rains...But we gardeners remain positive knowing that before long the earliest spring ephemerals will break dormancy and the gloriously long bloom of wildflowers will begin.

Here's the Wildflower Wednesday Parade of Stars.  Please follow the links to read about our fabulous wildflowers. 

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year. xoxogail  

January Wildflower Wednesday: Anemone virginiana

I love this photo of its winter curls...before it goes all fluffy.

I have had a love-hate relationship with a few plants over the years and Tall Thimbleweed was once one of them. It's been so long since I felt that way that I am having trouble remembering exactly why. Perhaps it was its tendency to spread too easily like other Ranunculous/Buttercup family members. But, these days I appreciate all its fine qualities, including its self sowing.

Anemone virginiana aka Tall Thimbleweed has a long flowering period from early to mid-summer. In summer the buds are displayed on slender stems above clusters of attractive lobed leaves that are clustered in a whorl halfway up the stem. The small white spring blooming flowers  have five petal-like sepals and greenish-yellow central stamens around a central dome. Mining bees, small carpenter bees, sweat bees, green sweat bees and yellow faced bee will be found visiting the unique flower. (source)

 

February Wildflower Wednesday: A Winter Blooming Treasure-Hamamelis vernalis

 I am not shy about sharing photos of my blooming Ozark witch hazel. Nor do I shy away from making it a Wildflower Wednesday star every few years. It it deserves the attention. I wish more people grew this beauty instead of the non-native hybrids that most nurseries sell; especially when you consider that it's a host plant to 69 moths and butterflies. 

You'll love its sweet fragrance wafting toward you on a warm winter day (in the 50s). You'll delight in the yellow/orange crepe paper streaming petals that unfurl as the day warms and furl back up when the temperature drops. Walking by this plant in full bloom is a treat with the cool flowers, the wonderful scent and visiting pollinators.

 Hamamelis vernalis is a lovely native shrub/small tree that blooms when you have just about given up hope that winter will end and warmth will return to the world. In my Middle Tennessee garden it often begins blooming in mid January and it's not unusual for it to continue blooming all through February and often into March. 

 

March Wildflower Wednesday: Sweet Betsy Time in the Woodland Garden

I love Trillium cuneatum and revel in its spring emergence every year. It's been years since I showcased this beauty and I think it's a perfect little Wildflower Wednesday star.

It was one of the first native plants that I discovered when we moved here many years ago. Long time readers might remember that I built this garden around the native beauties I found all over the wooded edges of my yard. Sweet Betsy was hiding in the wayback backyard under the oak trees and I transplanted it to my new woodland garden. I remember carefully digging around it to get all the rhizome and roots and gently placing it in the garden. They survived and thrived despite my gardening ignorance.

Trillium cuneatum typically flowers from early March to mid April. It can be found in rich, mostly upland woods, but, it is especially happy growing on Middle Tennessee's Ordovician limestone soils (neutral to basic soil).  Trillium will be happy in your garden, if you give it a rich, moist soil, shade, protect it from browsing critters and keep aggressive perennials from crowding it. They can live for a long time and usually do not flower until they are several years old. It's found growing across Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Sweet Betsy is a great selection for your shade garden. Plants are hardy, drought-resistant (although they prefer moist soil), somewhat deer proof, and extremely long-lived.  

April Wildflower Wednesday: Maianthemum racemosum 

Maianthemum racemosum (formerly known as Smilacina racemosa) is a colonizer that is spreading very slowly beneath Viburnum rafidulum in my habitat. It mingles delightfully with Green and Gold, Christmas ferns and Purple phacelia. I am very fond of it and appreciate that it is attractive in the garden from early spring to winter frost.

The crooked arching stems and large leaves of early spring are attention grabbers with their slightly zigzag hairy, reddish or green stems between the leaves. The leaves (ovate and alternate) are produced on 1-3 foot, unbranched arching stems that usually last through the summer.

May Wildflower Wednesday: Scutellaria parvula — Small skullcap 

Dear readers,  There are far too many lovely native wildflowers that are underappreciated or overlooked and Scutellaria parvula is one of them. Even its species name "parvula" means very small and insignificant! It may be small but, it's not insignificant. It's a lovely flower and I hope you are as excited about meeting it as I am to introduce you to our Wildflower Wednesday star.

The flowers of this diminutive beauty are best seen and appreciated close up and that means you gotta get down on your knees to see it's pretty flower face. Trust me when I say, it was so worth the dirty pants to get a close look at this sweet flower. While there I could clearly see the square stems and opposite leaves that are hallmarks of a mint family member.

Photo Source 

It stands less than a foot high and its tiny flowers are about 1/3 inch long and are located in the leaf axils in the upper third of the plant. The blue/violet tubular corolla flower has fuse petals that form upper and lower lips. The lower lip with its white patch and blue dots is a perfect landing pad for bees.  

 June Wildflower Wednesday: Dichanthelium clandestinum 

When  I walk the rolling hills of this neighborhood I can still see pollinator friendly lawns in front of the 1950s ranch houses and the woodland remnants in the hills that surround the neighborhood. The lawns come alive in March when Claytonia virginica/Spring beauties bloom, followed by Salvia lyrata/Lyre leaf sage, Ruellia humilis/wild petunia, Carex/sedges, Danthonia spicata/poverty oat grass and other native witch grasses. I hope that enough of these lawns will be safe from the developers who are bull dozing the trees and the 1950 suburban ranches to the ground in order to build houses that fill almost the entire lot. They have replaced the pollinator friendly lawns with sod...Gone are the spring beauties, gone are the other pollinator plants and gone are the lightening bugs. Ignorance of the value of saving native, trees, grasses and plants are destroying the habitat of pollinators, birds, insects and mammals. That breaks my heart.

But, in my wild garden you will find many of those plants, along with our Wildflower Wednesday Star, Dichanthelium clandestinum. Deer-tongue grass is one of the witch/panic grasses that I've discovered happily growing  in damp spots in the garden. The unbranched leaves of early spring caught my eye and made identifying it easier.

Most of the various panic or witch grasses  are members of the Panicum or Dichanthelium genus. Many are hard to identify by this author. Deer-tongue grass is easily identified by its attractive silver flower heads that shimmer in the slightest breeze. The clasping leaves give the plant a bamboo like appearance and the foliage turns yellow-brown in autumn.  After a hard frost kills the fall stems and leaves, they are replaced by low winter rosettes of basal leaves. The winter rosettes of this plant make a good evergreen groundcover. The root system is rhizomatous and can form colonies. It's attractive and has good wildlife value....so it's a keeper! 

 July Wildflower Wednesday Anglepod

 For years I thought the name of this plant was angelpod!  

 

Although angelpod is not its name, I think you'll agree with me that our Wildflower wednesday star,  Gonolobus suberosus, is a cool plant. 

It's called anglepod because it's milkweed like fruiting body has sharp angled edges. Gonolobus suberosus is it's botanical name but it has many common names: anglepod milkvine, anglepod milkweed or angular-fruit milkvine. It has leaves that are heart shaped  and opposite. The stems, petioles and leaf veins may show purplish shading that fades as the plant ages. The greenish-yellow star shaped flowers occur in a cluster near the top of the plant.  It is naturally occurring throughout the southeastern U.S. from Texas to southeastern Kansas to southern Illinois and Indiana to Maryland and southward to Florida. It's a perennial herbaceous vine that prefers habitats like borders, thickets, and open areas within forests. It's native to middle Tennessee and I am not sure how it got in to my garden, but I am glad it's here and gladly accept the gift.

 August Wildflower Wednesday: We celebrate a butterfly and its hostplant, Ptelea trifoliata 

A dozen years ago I saw my first Giant Swallowtail butterfly when it stopped by to nectar on the wildflowers. It superficially resembled an Eastern Swallowtail while gliding about, but once it settled on the Asclepias tuberosa, it was clear that it was not one of my regular garden visitors. The coloring was wrong and it had an unusually large wing span. I was pretty sure it was a Giant Swallowtail and just as I've read, that first sighting was dazzling! 

What a beauty and the 6.3 inch (16cm) wing span makes it the largest North American butterfly.  

Forewing with diagonal band of yellow spots. Tails are edged with black and filled with yellow

The Giant Swallowtail Butterfly/Papilio cresphontes' flight is a graceful series of strong flaps and long glides. It spends its time on the wing, nectaring or patrolling for mates (if male). I waited patiently for it to stop flitting and pose prettily with wings fully spread, but, it was feasting madly. 

It's welcome in most gardens, but, is considered a pest in Florida's citrus growing regions where citrus trees are its chosen host plant. Fortunately there are plenty of parts of the US  and Canada where it is welcome, including here in my garden in middle Tennessee.

Back then I wasn't growing its host plant, but several years ago I bought two Hop Tree/Ptelea trifoliata hoping that the next Giant Swallowtail that visited would find a place to lay eggs.

 They eat and poop and eat and poop ...a lot!

 September: Wildflower Wednesday: Goldenrods

 Fall's best landing pads of deliciousness.

 Goldenrod is a genus of over 120 species of herbaceous perennials in the daisy family (Asteraceae). There are at least 75 native to North America. They thrive in open areas like prairies, meadows, and savannas while some species prefer woodland edges or moist conditions.

 

Goldenrods are luminous with small, bright yellow flowers in dense clusters on top of tall stems. They begin blooming in mid September in my middle Tennessee garden and continue to bloom throughout October. They put on a beautiful flower show and any insect that needs pollen and/or nectar is sure to be found visiting.You can't ask for a better fall blooming wildlife valuable plant and when you combine them with the ex-asters, you get beauty and happy critters.

 

 

Yet gardeners are reluctant to plant them, so let's get the objections over with first! 

Goldenrods have a bad reputation for two reasons.
 

• They have been misidentified as the cause of hayfever suffering. They are not responsible for any allergy symptoms you or I are having this fall. The tiny grains of wind blown pollen from ragweed is the culprit. Goldenrod is insect pollinated and the pollen grains are too big to be blown about. Pass that along please!
   
• Their tendency to colonize might be one of the main reasons so many gardeners don't plant them in their gardens. Long time readers know I have a love affair with rough and tumble, take care of themselves, colonizing wildflowers and goldenrods are the champion of colonizing wildflowers. Yes, they can be aggressive spreaders, but they are rugged and adaptable. They grow were many wildflowers cannot survive and they can spread quickly where there is no other native plant competition. Those that have been problematic propagate by a rhizomatous/spreading root system that can quickly take over a small garden. So avoid Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis) and Late Goldenrod (Solidago gigantea)  two goldenrod species known for their aggressive spread by rhizomes.  If you want to plant a goldenrod but fear their nature, look for clump forming cultivated beauties like Solidago 'Solar Cascade', Solidago caesia/Bluestem Goldenrod, Solidago odora, Solidago rugosa 'Fireworks'. My favorite clump former for shade is Solidago flexicaulis/Zigzag Goldenrod.

 

October Wildflower Wednesday: There Are Wildflowers That Like to Challenge the Boundaries!

At Clay and Limestone we call several of them good friends and Conoclinium coelestinum is one of the best!

Conoclinium coelestinum

This rough and tumble wildflower makes gardening on my shallow, too often dry garden soil worth the effort! It's an enthusiastic growers but, I decided years ago that a plant with lovely fuzzy lilac flowers that attracts bumbles, small bees, skippers and was a host plant to several moths was worth my having to pull out a few errant plants.

Yes, given the right conditions it can be an enthusiastic colonizer. It begins blooming in late August (Middle South) and continues through early fall and into October. The fuzzy appearing lilac-blue flowers add a softness to my late summer and fall garden when the Susans, Goldenrods, Cup Plant, Verbesinas, Joe-Pye weeds and Ironweeds are making a large and loud scene. It's especially beautiful when allowed to naturalize and make its own big statement.

November: Wildflower Wednesday: Hamamelis virginiana

 Today I am thankful for family, friends and my wildflower garden. I am thankful for time I spend outdoors, for the critters that live and visit my garden, for the last blooming flowers and for the gnats, flies, moths and bees that are out and about on warm days. 

 I am grateful for all of you who read my Wildflower Wednesday posts and don't mind that I am posting this one on Thanksgiving Day instead of on the fourth Wednesday! 

unfurled crepe papery petals on a very warm November afternoon. 

Today, I celebrate Hamamelis virginiana our Wildflower Wednesday star. Witch-hazel is a fall flowering understory tree with sweetly fragrant small yellow flowers. It is native to woodlands, forest margins and stream banks in eastern North America (including OK and TX)  where it's found growing in moist well drained soil in sunny to partial shade conditions.

That's where it's found in nature and it's a darn shame that it is overlooked by most nurseries in favor of selling the flashier non-native witch-hazels. Dear readers, step away from those Chinese witch-hazels and ask for Hamamelis virginiana! You won't be disappointed and that's a promise.* If you can't find it locally there are good online nurseries that sell seedlings.

Hamamelis virginiana starts blooming in October at Clay and Limestone and blooms for at least a month. In outstanding weather you can expect to find a few flowers in early December! Every branch is covered with fragrant spidery crepe paper flowers that never fail to charm as they furl on cold days and unfurl on warm ones!

 

 

There are so many wonderful wildflowers to celebrate, I hope you have a list of your favorites. Here's my secret, all the plants in my habitat are my favorites, but, these wildflowers are incredible plants and if you can give them the growing conditions they need, then consider adding them to your garden. If you garden in middle Tennessee they may be perfect for yours.

I love when you visit and leave comments, especially when you share something about your garden. I hope to see you in 2026 and may your garden give you the joy that mine has given me. 

xoxogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. On the fourth Wednesday of each month I share information about wildflowers and other native plants. Please join in if you like. You can write a blog post or share your favorite wildflower on social media. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not, and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge Roundup of the 2025 Posts

Dear Readers,

I believe gardeners have a key role in improving the health of our communities, especially when we practice environmentally conscious gardening. That includes protecting our irreplaceable and threatened biodiversity; supporting pollinators; replacing or reducing lawns; composting; avoiding chemical use; planting natives; supporting birds and other wildlife by dimming lights; leaving the leaves; spending time outdoors; and getting kids outdoors...That's just to name a few. 

 

I started the Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge meme several years ago. Taking care of wildlife in our gardens is a huge part of environmentally conscious gardening and something that I wish my neighbors would embrace. The challenge is simply to do one thing or even lots of things each month that supports nature. Then share what you've done with others on social media, the newspaper or your neighborhood listserv. Information like this when shared helps others take action.

Why now? Because things are changing drastically around us. Development is just one of the many human activities that has contributed to habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation. When an ecosystem has been dramatically changed by human activities it may no longer be able to provide the food, water, cover, and places to raise young that wildlife need to survive. Every day there are fewer places left that wildlife can call home. We might not be able to stop the development/destruction but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help others see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment. 

I've included links and a brief summary of each 2025 Challenge. Just follow the links to each post. I hope you find them helpful. Writing them helped me learn even more about living environmentally conscious. 

If you have any suggestions for future post, please share them in the comments.

xoxogail

 The Posts:

January: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge

Dear Clay and Limestone readers, I've been assessing whether to keep posting the monthly nature challenge. The overarching theme of this blog for a very long time has been about taking care of nature. It's what I do as a gardener, it's what I write about and it's what I encourage all of you to do. January 2025 will be the start of the fourth year of the taking care of nature challenges and it's still relevant in the midst of the many challenges facing wildlife today, so I've decided to keep on keeping on.

As a reader, I want your feedback and input.  I'll be asking questions in each post. I want to know if enjoyed the post? Was it helpful? What did you find most insightful about it? What questions do you still have about this topic? What topics would you like me to cover? Any other input/feedback you have will be appreciated. I hope you comment and share your thoughts, your frustrations, your successes in your garden or within your community.

I hope you know you are important to this blogger. You are after all a big reason why I continue to blog.

February: First Wednesday Wildlife Challenge: Soil is More Than Dirt

 Soil is a dynamic, living environment that supports and feeds life. Soil is the earthy material that plants grow in. It is composed of a matrix of minerals, organic matter, air and water. Each component is important for supporting plant growth, microbial communities and chemical decomposition. The soil ecosystem can be defined as an interdependent life-support system. Some scientists refer to soil as Earth's living skin.

Soil after 30+ years of leaving the leaves and top dressing with compost

 This post is intended to be an introduction to soils and is not a deep dive into a very complex topic. The purpose of this post is to give you a starting point in case you want to dive deeper. I do hope you're encouraged to learn more about the soils in your part of the world and that you get engaged in activities that promote soil health.

 

March: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: It's Time to Plan for Spring Migration, Birds Need a Few Things  

 

 

Spring migration is starting. The numbers are increasing quickly from thousands a night flying over to millions when it peaks later this spring. It's not too early, in fact it's time for us to think about how we can protect birds as they migrate over our cities and states.

 Migration:

Millions of birds will be returning north to their breeding grounds where abundant food and nesting sites await them. Migration is a natural phenomena that happens every fall and spring. Their journey is physically taxing and the lack of adequate food supplies along the way, bad weather, exposure to predators and the ever increasing danger from colliding into lit up buildings all add to making this journey hazardous.

 April: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Immerse Yourself in Spring

Spring is popping out all over and this is a great time to challenge you to get outside and enjoy it all.

Our health and well-being are directly affected by the amount of time we spend in nature. In a review of the research, Gregory Bratman, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, and colleagues shared evidence that being out in nature is associated with increases in happiness, subjective well-being, positive affect, positive social interactions and a sense of meaning and purpose in life, as well as decreases in mental distress (Science Advances, Vol. 5, No. 7, 2019).

May: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Acting Locally Thinking Globally

I don't know about you, but I am overwhelmed from all the disturbing news about the environment. Air pollution, insect decline, bird losses, deforestation, proliferation of invasive plant and animal species, habitat loss, loss of bio-diversity, water scarcity, over-fishing, ocean degradation, soil degradation, and chemical pollution. Unfortunately, the list goes on and on. It's both terrifying and exhausting and it's completely understandable that we often feel that there's nothing we personally can do to stop the avalanche of destruction.

We can't do it all, but we can do somethings. We have to pick our battles and I've chosen to garden for wildlife and fight for the critters that visit and live in my habitat. It's why I continue to blog and post on social media about native plant gardens and taking care of wildlife. I believe that positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us.  

I am borrowing from the thinking globally and acting locally environmental movement. "Think globally, act locally" urges people to consider the health of the entire planet and to take action in their own communities and cities. Now that so many environmental  regulations are being erased, it is even more important that individuals come together to protect habitats and the organisms that live within them. It is incredibly important that we become active. You decide what's important to you and at on it.

 June: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: The Rodenticide Effects

I don't use pesticides in my garden and wouldn't begin to think about using a rodenticide for a mouse problem in my home. So when a friend told me she was having trouble with mice in her hobby room and that her pest control company set out rat bait I couldn't stop myself from sharing my concerns about rodenticides and what the unintended consequences of trying to kill a few mice has on wildlife outside her home.

I explained to her that rodenticides work by preventing a rodent's blood from clotting causing them to bleed internally. Although these poisons target rodents- raptors and other animals, both tame and wild that eat those rodents may be harmed or killed via secondary poisoning, known as relay toxicosis. This happens when the poisoned mice/prey animals leave one's home and wander outside where they attract the attention of hunting raptors and mammals (foxes and bobcats).

Rodenticide poisons are designed to smell and taste good to rodents to entice them to eat them, but they can be just as appealing to wild mammals, including squirrels, opossums, skunks, raccoons, and foxes if the pellets are somehow spilled outside. 

Studies have shown that rodenticide poisoning from eating poisoned rodents is more widespread than was thought. Follow this link to this study: A review: poisoning by anticoagulant rodenticides in non-target animals globally to see the serious and widespread nature of this problem. A recent study showed nearly 80% of raptors and other rodent consuming wildlife tested by WildCare were found positive for secondary rodenticide poisoning. (source)

July: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Recomendations For Your Reading and Listening Pleasure

I am taking a July break, but didn't want to leave you without a few good listens and reads. Please feel free to add any of your recommendations in the comments on this post or in social media where this will be posted. xo

 

 I often listen to gardening podcasts while gardening and sometimes on walks. Here are a few I have enjoyed and I hope you will, too. Just follow the highlighted links. 

Here's a list of a few of my favorite native plant garden blogs and websites.

Sidewalk Nature: Joanna Brichetto's blog/website and her tag line says it all~ Look Around. Nature is us, our yards, sidewalks, parks, and parking lots.

Humane Gardener : Nancy Lawson's tag line is Cultivating compassion for all creatures great and small.

WildOnes:  Wild Ones promotes native landscapes through education, advocacy and collaborative action. The link will take you to the Middle Tennessee chapter

Home Grown National Park : Join the native plant homegrown garden movement. The website has links to keystone plants in your eco-region.

Nuts For Natives:  A self taught gardener (like many of us) who loves native plants.

Have a safe and wonderful July. xoxogail

 August: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: When Noise is Harmful

Yesterday, I hollered for Michael at the top of my voice and he couldn't hear me over the noise of 2 mowers and a leaf blower in the yard next door. To top that off, just as the new house construction across the street was nearing completion, I heard the sounds of a house being bulldozed. More noise on the way.

I really miss the quiet. I can go inside to get a break from the noise, but, I worry about the effects all that noise has on the critters that live and visit my garden.

Noise pollution is serious. 

Noise pollution in my neighborhood has had significant negative impacts on my well-being. I no longer spend a lot of time outside because the construction noise is so unpleasant. 

Noise is the second largest environmental cause of health problems, just after the impact of air pollution. Approximately 10 million persons in the US have permanent hearing loss from environmental noise or noise related trauma.  Scientists measure sound in decibels using scales to determine harmful sounds. Sound levels above 85 decibels are potentially harmful to a person’s ears. See the chart below to see how many sound sources in our lives are impacting our well being and our hearing.

Research (source) has shown that it can also significantly harm wildlife by interfering with their ability to communicate, navigate, find food, care for their offspring and avoid predators. This can lead to stress, reduced breeding success, and even population declines. In birds, alterations in foraging, vocalizations and nests were noted; laboratory studies, on the other hand, carried out on small mammals, highlighted spatio-temporal cognitive alterations and memory loss. Researchers concluded that greater attention to all ecosystems should be given as soon as possible so as to try to achieve a balance between human activity and the well-being of terrestrial fauna. (source)

September: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Fall Migration is Happening and You Know What To Do

 

First things first, turn off your outdoor lights at night. We do this every night but it's especially important now.

We can expect millions of birds to fly over many of our cities. 

Birds migrate south as winter approaches because insects and other foods are dwindling. They're traveling to areas that have food and nesting. Some birds stay put because they can find adequate food and water, others are traveling anywhere from a hundred miles to several hundred. The birds that are being monitored by Bird Cast are long-distance migrators. "They typically move from breeding ranges in the United States and Canada to wintering grounds in Central and South America. It's an arduous journey and over 350 different species of North American birds are long distance migrators." (source)

October: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Take Your Troubles To Your Garden

 

It has a great big heart and arms that envelope a troubled spirit. 

 

That's what I did this morning. I was feeling frustrated, exhausted and sad, but, sitting in my garden I noticed that my heart stopped racing, my breathing slowed down and my thoughts were filled with peace instead of worries. I decided to focus on what was happening around me.  

 November: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge I Challenge You To Leave The Leaves

 

It's autumn in Nashville. The temperature is cooler, there's been more rain, the sky is an intense blue and the trees in my garden are a turning a delightful golden color. 

As wonderful as fall is there's also the infuriating, obnoxious and ear damaging noise of leaf blowers. Every fall my neighbors pay lawn service contractors to haul away one of our most valuable ecological resources-fallen leaves. 

We don't have to have our leaves hauled away! We can Leave the Leaves for Wildlife! I am challenging you to think differently about fall cleanup and take the challenge to leave your leaves.

Why? Because fallen leaves are one of our most valuable resources for the health of our gardens and our environment.

 

So very glad you stopped by.

Gailxoxo 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Hamamelis virginiana

Today I am thankful for family, friends and my wildflower garden. I am thankful for time I spend outdoors, for the critters that live and visit my garden, for the last blooming flowers and for the gnats, flies, moths and bees that are out and about on warm days. 

 I am grateful for all of you who read my Wildflower Wednesday posts and don't mind that I am posting this one on Thanksgiving Day instead of on the fourth Wednesday! 

unfurled crepe papery petals on a very warm November afternoon. 

Today, I celebrate Hamamelis virginiana our Wildflower Wednesday star. Witch-hazel is a fall flowering understory tree with sweetly fragrant small yellow flowers. It is native to woodlands, forest margins and stream banks in eastern North America (including OK and TX)  where it's found growing in moist well drained soil in sunny to partial shade conditions.

That's where it's found in natureand it's a darn shame that it is overlooked by most nurseries in favor of selling the flashier non-native witch-hazels. Dear readers, step away from those Chinese witch-hazels and ask for Hamamelis virginiana! You won't be disappointed and that's a promise.* If you can't find it locally there are good online nurseries that sell seedlings.

Hamamelis virginiana starts blooming in October at Clay and Limestone and blooms for at least a month. In outstanding weather you can expect to find a few flowers in early December! Every branch is covered with fragrant spidery crepe paper flowers that never fail to charm as they furl on cold days and unfurl on warm ones!

 

 

I can't imagine gardening without a few witch hazels trees in my garden. On warm days its honey scent wafts around the garden on the slightest breeze.

 

It's growing in a small woodland garden beneath the swaying branches of a shagbark hickory and The Dancing Tree/Ostrya virginiana that I rescued from the strangling wisteria when we first moved here. It's perfect for woodland gardens and generously shares the ground beneath with woodland favorites like Christmas ferns, wild ginger, Phacelia bipinnatifida, Trilliums, Dutchman's Breeches and other spring ephemerals.

 

 I love the  textured deep green leaves that turn a golden yellow in the fall.  Sometimes the flowers bloom before the leaves drop and the stem-hugging clusters of bright yellow flowers are hidden.

Pollinator visiting the last blooms of the year

But, that gives me an opportunity to get a close look at each flower and at any pollinators who happen to stop by for a bit of nectar.  Witch-hazel is also known to attract robins, juncos, titmice and cardinals. I love having a tree with pretty flowers, a sweet scent and  with good wildlife value.

stem-huggin

 H virginiana is a great all around small tree/shrub for most gardens. Those of you who garden for wildlife might consider planting it for the good wildlife value it adds to a shady garden.

In case you are still thinking non-native because it's easy to find. Check this list out!

• A tough, adaptable plant suitable for a variety of garden settings (Hardiness Zones: 4-9)
• Tolerates clay soil and poor drainage  
• Since it's often the last blooming plant found in most woodlands it's invaluable for providing nectar to late visiting pollinators
• It's upright spreading branches are good nesting sites for birds. 
• Some moth caterpillars predate on it
• The dispersed seeds are eaten by birds and small rodents. Now don't turn your nose up at the mere mention of rodents, yes, they are pesty, but, they are also extremely important critters for hungry owls and hawks.
• Lovely fragrant, bright yellow flowers that bloom from October through November.
• Great fall foliage color 
• It's native to eastern North American, including Louisiana and Texas. 

Except for a few native ex-aster that might have survived a killing frost, witch-hazel is probably the last blooming plant found in most woodlands.  I treasure it for providing one last stop for nectar gathering pollinators and for all those characteristic listed above. It's a wonderful specimen plant, but because it colonizes, it does make a wonderful screening plant or hedge. Spring ephemerals, native sedges, ferns and shade tolerant perennials are great companions.

fruit and exploded seed capsule

 

Ooh, ooh, ooh~One more cool factoid!  The seeds are expelled with a loud pop that sends them yards away from the parent plant. I've been looking for offspring but, so far none. The seeds must be tasty to my garden critters. 

 The Particulars:

Botanical name: Hamamelis virginiana

Common Name: common witch hazel  

Type: Deciduous shrub 

Family: Hamamelidaceae 

Native Range: Eastern North America 

Zone: 3 to 8

 Height: 15.00 to 20.00 feet 

Spread: 15.00 to 20.00 feet 

Bloom Time: October to December 

Bloom Description: Golden yellow centers tinged a light red

Sun: Full sun to part shade 

Water: Medium 

Maintenance: Low Suggested

Cultivation: Light shade to partial sun, mesic conditions, and sandy or loamy soil. More flowers are produced in response to greater amounts of sunlight. 

Comments: Useful as a hedge, let it naturalize in a woodland garden, useful in a rain garden and it has lovely fall color.

Wildlife value: Birds, pollinators and mammals (Illinois Wildflowers to see moth table)

Tolerate: Deer, Erosion, Clay Soil

 

How any one could think this tree unlovely or unworthy of a place in their garden is beyond my understanding! The crepe papery blooms look especially enchanting with a backdrop of golden Shagbark hickory and Hophornbeam leaves and the Autumn blue sky!

 

For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving...I wish you a joy filled day with loved ones and calorie free foods!

Warmest thoughts of you.

xoxoGail

*If you want this lovely tree you'll need to check with a native plant nursery. We are fortunate that we have several native plant nurseries not too far away that carry beautiful native trees, shrubs and perennials. Check with Joy at Wonder Gifts and Gardens and Terri at GroWild 

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. I am so glad you stopped by. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers.

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.