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

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Wildflower Wednesday 2011 Roundup!

Hypericum frondosum is still hypercolored and River Oats is still golden.
Welcome to the Wildflower Wednesday December Roundup!  There's still color in the garden and we thank the St Johns wort and River Oats for brightening the gray days.  Gardening in the Middle South is a treat, we have four seasons, but our winter is  mercifully short and spring and autumn make up for the steamy hot summer weather.  Soon the  earliest ephemerals will bud and then the gloriously long  bloom of  wildflowers will begin.

Without further ado here are the best and brightest of Clay and Limestone's 2011 wildflowers.

January~The Toothworts

Cardamine concatenata~ Cutleaf Toothwort
 I love this charming member of the mustard family! All flowers of this family have 4  petals and the fruit is often in a capsule form.

February~The Cliff Dwellers:Heucheras

Heuchera americana
Heucheras are an international favorite thanks to a exciting new cultivars  that have been introduced  during the last 15 or so years. If you garden in the south you might want to look for any with H villosa in the parentage, they can take heat and humidity.  The key to success with any coral bell is drainage. They can be grown in almost anywhere, just give them good drainage and they'll be in your garden for a long time.


March~Yellowroot 

Xanthorhiza simplicissima
I love the tiny, delicate purplish flowers that bloom in the spring and the foliage that has been described as resembling both astilbes and celery. But, good looks was only one of the reasons it came to live in my garden.  It has high wildlife value and can take the difficult conditions.

 April~A Week Long Wildflower Celebration April is a happy blooming month. My garden is alive with so many wildflowers, bulbs and a few well chosen exotics. Cumberland Rosemary,  Geranium maculatum 'Espresso', Senecio aureus,  Phlox divaricata are a few of the ones I highlighted this past year. .

Hypoxis hirsuta
  May~Favorite Colonizing Wildflowers
Oenothera fruticosa is just one of the many colonizing wildflowers
 Colonizing wildflowers are just what I love.  If you aren't afraid of ground covering beauties than try a few from this post.

June~Pollinators and Their Friends
Doesn't this picture say it all! For more bees and butterflies  follow the link.

July~Phloxy Ladies and Gents (Summer Phlox)

It's possible that there may be a photo of PPPP in this one!


August~Partridge Pea
I did find a seed source for this colonizer!Hoping it will get established here!  I've got a few  places that need dramatic foliage and bright flowers.

September~Plant More Natives
Salvia azurea with a bee-lining carpenter bee
 That's my rallying cry!

October~Porteranthus stipulatus

Porteranthus stipulatus
One of my favorite of the fall pretties!


 November~A Week Long Celebration
Hamamelis virginiana
Thank goodness for the last of the ex-asters, the native grasses and witch hazels or our fall gardens would be pretty shades of brown!


My dear friends, Thank you for planting more wildflowers, thank you for taking care of the bees and all the  pollinators, thank you for tolerating pesky wildlife,  and thank you for another year of your friendship, visits, comments and joining me in celebrating wildflowers all over this great big wonderful world. You are the best and having you in my life has enriched it beyond measure.


xxoogail


Please comment and add your link to Mr Linky.


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone."

16 comments:

  1. Gail, I love the round up...great wildflower memories...I'll have to remember that for next year. Hope you enjoy some natives from a recent trip...here's to a New Year of more wildflowers in 2012!

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  2. You are most welcome. I want to thank you for all the great information about wildflowers and the pollinators that visit our gardens. I am sure it has enriched many gardens including mine. My PPPP is still green! Happy New Year. I will look forward to reading more.

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  3. Your garden looks so inviting still, Gail. I know it invites you to go out and discover hidden treasures during the rare dry moments this winter. Thanks for bringing the wildflowers to the forefront of our awareness!
    xxxooo
    Frances

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  4. A Year in Review of Wildflowers is a beautiful post indeed.

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  5. Hi, Happy New Year! Your wildflower roundup makes for a real fabulous representatives for the next year's calendar. They are so vivid and beautiful, although I am not familiar with them as we don't have them in the tropics. I wish you the best for 2012!

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  6. I'm amazed at the color still in your garden, Gail--the Hypericum and River oats look beautiful! Thank you so much for hosting this every month, Gail. I've learned so much about wildflowers from these posts and have learned to appreciate natives even more. I know the pollinators appreciate you even more for spreading the word!

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  7. Hi Gail,
    I forgot about Wildflower Wednesday this month. It's warm enough to go see if anything looks like it wants its photo taken.

    I enjoyed your reflections of the year with wildflowers.

    Happy New Year!

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  8. Dear Gail, Beautiful photographs of some of your wildflowers! Thank you for 'rounding up' all of us too . . . for sharing our wildflowers that is. Again, thank you so much for all you do for preserving our wild nature. Here is to another great year for 'Wildflower Wednesday!' Hugs, Carol

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  9. Wonderful wrap-up Gail! Thanks for all you do in advocating for pollinators and native plants and increasing awareness of their beauty and usefulness in our gardens. :)

    I was given a 'bouquet' of river oats this fall . . . still considering whether to scatter some of the seeds. I do love them, just a little concerned about how much they can spread.

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  10. My favourite meme, and it has been a delightful way of recording the changing seasons of flowers in our gardens.

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  11. what a beautiful meme! i follow you ♥

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  12. Dear Gail, Beautiful posting! I resolve to join your wonderful meme in 2012. P. x

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  13. You're so fortunate to have 12 months of lovely native blooms! Thank you so much for hosting this great meme, and I'm sorry I don't have much to contribute this month. But I look forward to sharing Midwestern natives again soon!

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  14. Gail, I have finally put up my post for WW ~ very very late! I love this meme. It was a brilliant idea and this year you have prompted me to try some new natives. Happy New Year!

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  15. What an impression your overview makes. Somewhat belatedly I am posting on wildflowers at the moment - the post should appear today still. Have a great 2012, Gail! ;) Jack

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