Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Monday, February 23, 2009

Some Plants Are Like Old Dear Friends...

This Columbine (shown before) was found growing on the GOBN steps

You always want them in your life~~~

Blue Eyed Grass was found growing wild in the grass

These old and dear friends came into my life when I was a younger gardener and we had just moved into this garden~~Before Clay and Limestone~~



Ruellia, I have grown to love this sweet flower...bees adore it.

Some were growing in the wayback backyard, some were  hiding  among the shrubbery in the woods and a few were even growing on the steps leading to what was then the backyard, but is now my beloved Garden of Benign Neglect.

Golden Ragwort, Columbine, and trilliums were all here waiting to be discovered

They didn't mind being moved to new homes in beds around the house~~surviving my inexperience.  They quickly became  dear friends.  I look for them each spring. I'm waiting for them now.  They still make me smile.

Downy Woodmint with Zigzag GoldenRod and Plum Yew

New plants joined the old~~

Downy Wood Mint and variegated Soloman's Seal with Japanese Maple in the background

They all live harmoniously together~~

DWM was also found growing in the lawn on the edge of the woods

Although, some stand out more then others and might seem to be favorites~~



They are all  very dear old friends.


Western Daisy was also a gift in the lawn

There are a few  players who steal the show each spring when their turn to bloom comes around~~


Jack in The Pulpit

That's how it should be among good friends.


Penstemmon calycosus grows in dry or wet soil at Clay and Limestone

I can't imagine gardening without them!

Are there any plants  you can't imagine gardening without?

Gail


"Come and visit me sometime. My flowers would like to meet you." anonymous

46 comments:

  1. Good Morning Gail, what dear old friends living in your garden. No wonder you fell in love with the natives already living in your soil. I love them too and have a few of my own that were here when we bought the property. They were such a welcome surprise. There are so many plants that I can't be without, the lists take up pages and pages, for I have made these lists each time I move. But you already knew that. As for the quote, isn't that Tasha Tudor, twisted a little?
    Frances

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  2. Good morning! Quite nippy lately but soon your old friends will appear. Gonna do the tour?:) I love that DWM! Previews of what's to come soon! Can't wait.

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  3. Hi FRances,

    They are good friends and I wish they were blooming...It is stark over here! It may be a Tasha Tudor quote, I couldn't find the author anywhere. She thought we were all wrong to give up our long skirts and wear pants!

    I hope it warms up and we all get out in the garden...

    Gail

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  4. They all look so pretty. Spring will be here before you know it & your garden will be ablaze with color.

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  5. Dear Gail,
    Good Monday morning and thank you for another beautiful look at the flowers and gardens you hold dear like I know you hold your friends dear.

    I smiled so many times as I read along today. Even though I've not seen your garden with my natural eyes except by way of Clay and Limestone viewings, I feel I am becoming very familiar with your dear flowers. They are each and every one a treasure and a joy to see. Many thanks for sharing them with us.

    Yes, there are so many "dears" I wouldn't want to be without. Like you, having been in the same garden for so many years I often wonder how I would manage to take them all with me should we ever decide to move. Too much to think about... I'm reminding myself right now to stick with the moment.

    This morning my head is swirling with such a long laundry list of pruning and planting all at once that I am blogging when I had planned to already be in the garden. :-) Must get off my fanny and get to digging... again.
    Blessings for your day, my friend.
    Meems @ Hoe and Shovel

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  6. Gail ! I got here early FINALLY !!!! : ) .. OK .. enough of my morning sillies.
    Blue Eyed grass is one of my older and sweetest little plants .. I found Yellow (which isn't in my zone though) and White ! which I hope returns. Strawberry Candy and Pardon Me, day lily are old timers here and I love them .. Bleeding Hearts .. Echinacea and Rudbeckia .. well, they have all been an assorted backbone list of the perennials .. funny how we have an specific feelings attached to different plants isn't it ?

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  7. Gail,

    You keep good company! Nice to meet your friends.

    I've been surprised by the lack of native flowers in the 2+ acres of woods here. At my previous home, my woods were filled with wildflowers such as Indian Pinks, ferns, native azaleas and so many Jack-in-the-pulpit and Solomon's Seal.

    Just beautiful!

    Cameron

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  8. Lovely to meet your old friends on this snowy and very windy, frigid Monday morning, Gail.
    The wild columbine has been carried to my garden by the birds and bees after unsuccessful attemps at transplanting from our previous garden by me. I look forward to seeing it when spring finally comes.
    Wild asters and goldenrod grace us with their beauty in the fall, and countless other wildflowers delight us during the summer. I love these little gifts of nature :)
    Happy Monday to you!

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  9. Good morning, Gail; I'm pleased to meet all your old friends. How lucky you are to have had such friendly faces already waiting for you in your garden when you moved in! And it looks like they enjoy the new company as well.

    I know what you mean about thinking of them as dear friends--in the spring I am out encouraging all of them to pop up and say hello:)

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  10. Cameron,

    That is a surprise...are there a lot of honeysuckles? Scientist think they are allopathic....native wildflowers are just so beautiful!

    gail

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  11. That Penstemmon is the cutest thing and the jack in the pulpit. It would be easy to get attached to them. I have the same feeling about some plants but not others;)
    Marnie

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  12. Well the most of you have a few years on me gardening in the same place, although I do have some flower friends that I couldn't imagine life without. Purple coneflowers, Susans, Zinnia's, Lilies, well the list just goes on and on. This year I am hoping to meet some new flower friends that will hopefully decide to return for many years to come.

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  13. Old friends and unexpected visitors can be a joy can't they! I love fringed bleeding heart and Lady's mantle and cannot imagine the garden without them both.

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  14. Gail, what lovley friends! The Ruellia is stunning, and Jack in the Pulpit makes me smile – such a strong neck, 'now listen to me' kind of pose...some self esteem there.

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  15. You really can believe there are fairies living in the GOBN dancing back and forth between the soft coloured blossoms. This time of year, it is the hydrangeas I can't do without - if for no other reason that they show where all the flowers are sleeping under the snow.

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  16. Gail, you are blessed with being surrounded by such wonderful friends! They will soon arise from their long winter nap and keep you company as you play in the garden! My beloved butterfly bush, I Cannot imagine me without one in my life. They call in lots of my fluttering friends...

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  17. Gail:
    What lovely garden friends you have, and so many natives! I love the Ruellia and have a terrible soft spot for Penstemon - hirsutus is divine! Who can resist the native Arisaema - such an exotic looking 'native.'
    I couldn't live without the blue Corydalis..... I'm surprised that the rest of the plants abide the never-ending attention I heap upon it year in year out. I just want the snow to stop!

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  18. All of them? I'm having a hard time even remembering what is out there under that blanket of snow or still sleeping in the earth. If I didn't love it, I wouldn't grow it. (I pulled out a bunch of orange Daylilies last year that came with the property.) Like friends, they are each special in their own way.

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  19. Enchanting. That is the perfect word for your lovely garden. I just love woodland flowers such as the columbine you show. I love the image of your downy woodmint.I have many of the daisys as you show coming up now. Well, just leaves, butIi know they are there! Yes, old friends. I love Tiarella and all plants that make one think of , well, enchantment!
    :)

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  20. Pictures like those make me miss the growing season even more. I suppose I couldn't be without the Russian sage, salvia and catmint. I guess I'm a sucker for bluish purple in the garden. That downy woodmint is a keeper!

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  21. Funny how your treasures or favorites may not be in your finest bed or grow as well as they should...they bring comfort and memories. Everything looks lovely!

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  22. Yes, although probably too many to count. Would have to have Bearded Iris, of course... after that, plants that we've found growing on the farm.

    The picture of the Penstemon is stunning. It captures the flowers' delicate beauty perfectly.

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  23. Gail - I loved meeting your deal old friends. They are lovely and I'm sure they are happy to be in your garden. My garden wouldn't be the same without daffodils and Japanese Quince in the Spring, Blackfoot daisies, Alyssum and Morning Glories in the Summer. And daylilies, lots of daylilies.

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  24. Hi Gail, This is a good subject for a meme posting! :-) I may have to consider doing this before very long!! :-) (Say, did you take your "followers" off??)

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  25. Great friends you have there Gail. I am really liking the Downy Wood Mint ~ it reminds me of Phlomis??? Can that be? and I used to love finding Jack-in-the-Pulpits when I was little. I don't grow them in my garden now ~ it would be too much of a stretch for my climate. So MANY plants I can't imagine gardening without, it's like the desert island meme all over to pick a few so I won't. I liked seeing yours tho. Have a great week.

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  26. Hi Gail,
    I loved this post, and can see why it has so many "picks". I used to have the wild columbine, and it reseeded itself freely all around my garden.

    I let the violets in my veggie garden stay where they are and reseed some because they bring back memories of the violets that I loved in my grandma's yard.

    As far as plants I wouldn't want to garden without, I'm not sure. Amsonias, baptisias, day lilies, iris, cone flowers, verbena bon., coral bells, oh, dear, I better stop- are some I love to grow. I know there are some I'm forgetting.

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  27. Lovely post Gail. I saw some plants I think I'd like to add to my mini-woodland garden. Thanks for sharing.

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  28. Hi Gail,
    Your title made me think of plants I've received from friends - especially those that live far away or who have passed away. I love to see my Meidilland white rose from Sandy, my snowdrop anemones from Janet, and my peonies from Kathy, Jan and Cindy.
    VW

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  29. Hi Gail,
    I was about to cry thinking that you already had these blooming in your garden and everything is still frozen and bleak here! Then I realized they were from previous years.

    Still waiting on our outside bulbs to appear here ... we're getting a brief warm up and then back to the cold later this week. Arrggh! We've had way too much winter this year ... at least we have the cheery bulbs and primrose now blooming in the house to help, along with our happy little rocket puppy! :-)

    Hanna told me she'd love to come run around in the GOBN one of these days ... she'll be very polite, I promise!

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  30. Those flowers are beautiful and a lot that I've seen before. I can't stop visiting garden blogs because I'll find new flowers everyday.

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  31. blossom, I know how you feel...I see new and old ones and want them here, too! Blog visiting is dangerous to my budget!

    VW, My most ever favorite plant was a gift from a friend...Phlox pilosa~ the gifts f rom friends are very special.

    Sue, Thank you~~I always think of you and amsonia as being great friends! But like yours my list is really long.

    Gardeness, Your mini-woodland is lovely...there are a few plants you have that I would love to have here...

    gail

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  32. Tina, I think the warming trend is arriving...and with it a bit of rain later this week....how's it up there in you garden?
    gail

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  33. The list is just too many that this comments box wouldn't allow me to complete them. I love the Jack in the Pulpit - very interesting; or as a matter of fact, I love all your blooms and each and everyone deserve a separate comment, like the heavenly blue eyed grass, calm Ruellia, flaky woodmints....

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  34. Making me yearn for spring! It's about 2 months for me, nice to live through peoples post. Beautiful flowers

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  35. You have many of my dear friends, Gail, but I'm not surprised. My wildflower garden delights me each spring and your post, a beautiful reminder.

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  36. I like your old and newer friends. They all blend so well together.The Ruellia is new to me, very pretty and if it attracts bees even better. I envy you the Trilliums too. I struggle to keep them in my garden.

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  37. My camelia...it blooms so early with so much vigor that I smile just thinking about it! Kim

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  38. Kim, I've just added a camellia and hope I can keep it alive...we don't have moist, well drained acid soil...oh, my!

    gail

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  39. Shady...no, did they disappear?

    Gail

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  40. Native columbine, variegated solomon's seal and Jack in the Pulpit were once my friends, too, Gail and I never imagined a life without lilacs and peonies-but to see any of them now means travel!

    Some old friends are still friends in Austin, like iris, clematis and Purple coneflower.

    Who could resist a challenge from Gail and Frances?? There are many variations on plaques and garden signs but this might be the original quote:

    “Won't you come into the garden? I would like my roses to see you” Richard Brinsley Sheridan, born Ireland 1751, died 1816. Here's a page of his quotes.

    Love that blue-eyed grass!

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  41. Oh! The columbine is one I passed up last week at the nursery. Now I'm sorry I didn't get it!
    Brenda

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  42. Some of my old, dear friends are wrinkled, grey and drooping. :) Hee. Seriously, that's how I feel about my geraniums -- many don't care for them, but they perform so well for me that I can't imagine not seeing those familiar blooms. :) Your "old friends" are delightful standards, too.

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  43. It was nice to see green things blooming and growing in your garden. I worked outside today and found signs of life!
    Debbie
    Garden Thyme with the Creative Gardener

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  44. A wonderful post, as usual. I always think about plants that I know as 'friends' - hope your back heals quickly.
    Lisa

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  45. I just love Jacks in the spring, though I don't have any. There are SO MANY plants I love, it would be hard to narrow down the ones I absolutely couldn't imagine not having. I suppose if I pretend that all of a sudden I moved house and had to start a garden again, and money were no object, what would I start with? OK, I'd HAVE to have (in no particular order) some coral bells, tomatoes, viburnums, ninebarks, a few evergreen shrubs that aren't arborvitae, hollyhocks, pansies, a peony, crocus, delphinium, little bluestem, rattlesnake master, yucca, prickly pear cactus, sedum, hens and chicks, Canterbury bells, pulmonaria, catmint, lavender, valerian, jupiter's beard, hyacinths, Japanese anemone, mums, helenium, clematis, and heather. Whew! I need rest now. My brain is tired!

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"Insects are the little things that run the world." Dr. E O Wilson