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.

If you want a native that offers a long season of bloom and more than a season of interest, Anemone virginiana will be worth a second look. It was for me. It's a charming native that has year round interest, starting with that good leaf shape that many Buttercup family members bring to a garden. I love the lobed leaves and so appreciate them during the "green time" in my habitat. It's an added bonus that they're evergreen in my Zone 6b/7a garden during a "normal winter". 

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)

Anemone virginiana is another one of those excellent native plants that happily grows in sun or shade. It pops up all over my garden, and that's fine, but it looks best in a larger planting where the cool flowers and great looking seed heads really pop. Fully grown the plant is about 3 foot tall in bloom with a 20 inch spread.

source

Not long after flowering, green, thimble-like fruit replaces the flowers.

The prickly thimbles last a long time and eventually change to cottony tufts. The seeds are wind born and you can expect to see plants growing near and far from the mother plant. Plants are easily transplanted if you don't like where they've planted themselves.

January 25, 2016  cottony seedheads still have seed for winter interest

Tall Thimbleweed seems to be happy in  both sun and semi shade in my habitat garden. Wildflower experts recommend that you plant it in a loamy soil that retains moisture, but, it is drought tolerant here at Clay and Limestone. You can collect seeds and direct sow them in the fall (they need moist, cold stratification) or let the wind carry them around your garden.

To sum up its charms:

• This charming native Anemone can be found in dry rocky areas, on wooded slopes and in open woodlands across Canada and the eastern US (Zone 3 to 8). 
• It blooms late spring to early summer and has small green-white flowers atop tall stems. 
• It will tolerate full sun to light shade. 
• While it is drought tolerant that does not mean xeric. 
• To be happiest it needs well drained and moist soil. 
• Although, it's not a super high wildlife value plant, it attracts small bees, hoverflies and it has been said that birds eat the seeds. Not a deer or mammal food.
• Expect to be charmed by the flowers, but, astonished by the thimble-shaped seed heads that remain intact from fall through late winter and sometimes into the spring. Now that's talking about year round interest.
     

Are you charmed by Tall Thimbleweed or unimpressed? What's your experience with this unique wildflowering native?  

xoxogail

The Particulars

Botanical name: Anemone virginiana

Common Name: Tall thimbleweed

Type: Herbaceous perennial

Family: Ranunculaceae

Native Range: Range extends throughout Central and Eastern portions of the United States and into Canada. Scattered populations exist further south in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Habitat: This native is found in moist meadows and prairies, savannas, moist open woodlands an along the edges of woods and thickets. 

 Zone: 2 to 8 

Height: 1.00 to 2.00 feet 

Spread: 1.00 to 1.50 feet 

Bloom Time: April to May Bloom 

Description: White, greenish white flower. Thimble shaped seedhead

Sun: Full sun to part shade 

Water: Dry to medium 

Maintenance: Medium, prefers moist but can take dry times

Flower: Showy 

Tolerate: Deer, resistant; Drought, Heavy Shade, Dry Soil, Shallow-Rocky Soil

Wildlife value: attracting pollinators, providing food for birds, and supporting biodiversity. The leaves are a host plant for the larvae of veiled ear moth and one-lined sparganothis

Comments: Poisonous to humans and may cause dermatitis.

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.

January 2025: First Wednesday Taking Care of Nature 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.

May this be the start of a hope filled year for all of us. Happy New Year.

xoxogail

The First Wednesday Nature Challenge:

The first part of this challenge is to do something or even lots of things each month that supports nature. Be it for the critters living or visiting our gardens, volunteering at a nature center or joining an advocacy group. Adding native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that make sense for our ecoregion is a good place to start or continue (as the case may be). Activities that increase our knowledge of the natural world are equally as valuable. Helping others learn about nature is included. Golly gee whiz, there are so many things you can do. In fact, there's an incomplete list in this very post!

The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. Share your activities with everyone. Wouldn't an article in the local paper be a coup for nature!  

Why post it? Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners/citizens can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us. 

Why now? Our neighborhoods are changing. Every day an older home along with many (if not all) of the mature oak, hickory, maple, Eastern cedar, hackberry and other trees are cut down. Insects, birds, even mammals lose their home site and food supplies when trees are lost. During construction soil is compacted by bulldozers, trucks and piles of debris causing runoff; surface runoff that can carry pollution to streams and rivers. It's extremely important that information about the role trees play in our ecosystem is shared. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.

The "bee lawns" in my neighborhood that are composed of Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses  and sedges are disappearing. Instead, they're sodded with non-native grasses. These monoculture turf lawns contribute nothing environmentally.  Here's what we lose when our diverse lawns are replaced with pristine turf grass:

• Gone are the lightening bugs.
• Gone are the ground dwelling/nesting native bees.
• Gone is the habitat for insects, spiders and other critters. 
• Gone is plant diversity. 
• Gone are trees that provided for hundreds of moths, butterflies and other insects.
• Gone are the nesting sites for woodpeckers, hummingbirds, Chickadees and other birds. 
• Gone is a healthy foodweb.
  

 It breaks my heart. 

We can't stop the progmess, but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help all our neighbors, new and old, see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment.

A gardener can hope! 

xoxoGail

 

Here's an incomplete list of things you might consider doing or changing in your garden, and things you can do for and/or in your community. But don't limit yourself to my list, make your own list or check out the internet for ideas.

 

Looking for ways to get involved go here for a list of environmental advocacy groups.

Buy the best wildflower, butterfly and bird id books for your state.

Read nature books to your children and grandchildren. Buy them nature books.

Get in the garden with your children and grandchildren. 

Give nature books as baby shower gifts (Nature books for infants and toddlers)

Shrink your lawn and make your planting beds larger.

Plant your favorite native perennials and shrubs. Leave them standing after they've gone to seed to continue to provide for wildlife. What you plant in your yard makes a difference to wildlife. I garden for wildlife so every tree, shrub and plant is chosen with wildlife in mind.

 

Plant more natives and then consider planting even more. "A typical suburban landscape contains only 20-30% native plant species. Try reversing that trend in your own landscape by using 70-80% native species." (source) 

Plant for bloom from late spring to early winter. Bees are most active from February to November (longer in mild climates) late winter blooming Hamamelis vernalis and the earliest spring ephemerals (like the toothworts, hepaticas, spring beauties, and False rue-anemeone) are perfect plants for a variety of pollinators.

Commit to never, ever, ever, ever using pesticides in the garden.

Stay away from native plant hybrids and cultivars that are double flowered. They are sterile and have no pollen or nectar for insects and no seeds for the birds. If possible plant “true open-pollinated native wildflowers”

If you want to garden for wildlife and pollinators, don't let lack of space stop you! Plant your favorite wildflowers in large containers. You just might have the prairie or woodland garden you've always wanted...in a pot!
 
Create a water feature. Provide water year round that is accessible to birds, bees and other critters.

Make a rain garden in low spots to collect and mitigate runoff.

Show some soil! Our native ground nesting bees nest in bare soil, so don't mulch every square inch of your garden. 

Get rid of the plastic weed barriers in your garden, it's not good for anything.

Invite bugs into your garden. Plant annuals that attract beneficial bugs.

 

Learn to tolerate damaged plants. Imperfection is the new perfect.

Don't be in a rush to clean up the fall garden. Leave plant stalks and seed heads standing all winter. Leave those fallen leaves or as many as you can tolerate! Insects over winter in the fallen and decaying leaves. Leave a layer of leaves as a soft landing material under trees for moths and butterflies to over winter. Many caterpillars drop to the ground from the trees in the fall and need a soft landing site and a place to live over the winter.

Allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden. Limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects.

Make a brush pile. Stack fallen brush, cut tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs". Bugs are also good bird, toad and small critter food. 

Rethink what you consider a pest. Lots of good bugs eat aphids. Spiders are important predators and they're great bird food!

Add nesting boxes for birds. 

Turn off your yard up-lighting, eave lights and porch lights after 11pm. This is important for nocturnal critters including mammals, snakes, insects, bats, birds (especially during migration). (Birdcast suggestions)

Plant shrubs and small trees that provide berries and nuts.

Keep a nature journal: You can observe visitors to your water feature, make note of when they visit. Notice which flowers attract the most pollinators and which ones are just pretty faces. 

Join your state native plant society (Tennessee Native Plant Society)

Join WildOnes even if there's no local group you can join the national organization.  (Middle Tennessee WildOnes)

Support your local native plant sellers. (GroWild in middle Tennessee, Overhill Gardens in east Tennessee,  Resource Guide TN Native Plant Society)

Encourage your local garden clubs to offer native plant talks.

If your garden club has a plant sale encourage them to sell more native plants.

Get trained as a naturalist (Tennessee Naturalist Program. Almost every state has their own Master Naturalist training program

Take an online course on tree, fungi and wildflower id. 

Take an online course on designing with native plants.

Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe nature. To quote Joanna Brichetto in Sidewalk Nature "Look Around. Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our baseboards, parks, and parking lots."

Read! There are hundreds of books on gardening for wildlife, the environment, and rewilding our world. There are delightful blogs with wonderful and informative articles.

If you are already gardening with wildlife in mind then add a few signs that help educate your neighbors. (Xerces Society, Pollinator Partnership)

Join the Xerces Society.

Set up an information station where neighbors can pick up brochures about your garden and other info. 

Get certified (National Wildlife Federation, check to see what your state offers)

Support trees by joining the effort to make sure developers don't remove more trees than are necessary for their project. Work to make sure there are tree removal permits and that they are actually enforced in your community.

 

 

 

 

 

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. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday 2024 Year in Review

 December 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Parade of Stars

There's still color in the garden thanks to the Hypercolored Hypericum's December color and while I'm here I want to thank the beige colored stalks of wildflowers, grasses and shrubs for brightening the gray days. Because everyone knows that browns are beautiful. Also present are our brightly colored winter garden residents~Cardinals, Robins, Titmice, Chickadees, Nuthatches, house finches, Goldfinches, and woodpeckers....Many feasting on seedheads left standing just for them. 

 

One thing we do here in winter is make sure there is water for visiting creatures. Which means on days when it's below freezing we've turned on our pond heaters. I totally recommend this for all folks who garden with critters in mind; water is essential for their health and survival.

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 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 glorious wildflowers. Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year. xoxogail 

 

January 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Winter Sowing

 I've been a toss the seeds on the soil in the fall and see if they germinate kind of gardener. But, honestly, I've not had the best success from direct sowing in my sloped garden. Winter rains either rot the seeds or wash them away. Then there are the rough and tumble wildflowers like Verbesina virginica, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae and Solidago, that reproduce on their own just fine and have a habit of crowding the garden space making it tough for some plants to get a toe hold in the soil. So, I am going to experiment with winter sowing a few wildflowers and planting them in the spring. I may even transplant them to larger containers for fall planting.  

Most perennial wildflower seeds need some kind of stratification to germinate. Stratification happens naturally over the winter when seeds ripen on the plants and then fall to the ground where they are covered with leaves or decaying plant matter all winter long. Seeds remain dormant until conditions are favorable for germination. Winter exposure to cold temperatures (cold/moist stratification occurs around 35-40F.) and moist conditions breaks dormancy and the seeds germinate (the embryo's cells start to enlarge) when temperatures increase in the spring.

milkweed fluff caught on Goldenrod

Winter sowing is the process of planting seeds outdoors in a container during the winter months. The containers get rained on, snowed on and the seeds get both the cold treatment and moisture they need to make them ready to germinate when it gets warm. I use a variety of containers to winter sow, including tall skinny nursery pots (for some trees) and clear plastic gallon jugs, which I am using for this post. In early spring I will sow annuals and perennials that don't need a cold treatment to germinate in seed trays.

 

February 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Necklace Gladecress

Leavenworthias, generally known as gladecresses, are late winter rosette-forming annuals with the sweetest little flowers. Our Wildflower Wednesday star is Leavenworthia torulosa and could easily be mistaken for another of the Leavenworthia  found in middle Tennessee. What made identifying this species from the others was the necklace/chain of beads' pod holding the seeds.

Gladecresses are members of the Brassicaceae/Mustard family and have a few iconic features.

• Usually herbaceous plants    
• 4 petals form a cross     
• Fruit: a pod or a capsule that is either a long and slender pod (silique) or short and broad pod (silicle)
• Flowers usually have 6 stamens (male flower parts), 4 tall and 2 short 
• Flowers are usually yellow, white, orange and lavender
  

 

 March 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Enemion biternatum

Welcome to  Clay and Limestone and the Wildflower Wednesday celebration of a sweet little spring ephemeral wildflower.

Enemion biternatum is lovely with delicate columbine like leaves and small white flowers. Small bees collect the pollen  and flies feed on it, but, they would search fruitlessly for nectar. It hasn't any nectaries.

 Eastern False Rue-anemone, False Rue Anemone or Enemion biternatum is a sweet little Spring ephemeral in the Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). It's native to shady rich or calcereous woods & thickets; floodplain woods and limestone ledges (slightly alkaline soil) and is native to Middle Tennessee. The delicate looking foliage of False Rue Anemone emerges in late winter and makes a beautiful leafy mat that grows about 6 inches high. The flowers, scattered here and there,  emerge as the days warm and the bloom period is at least a month long. It would make a lovely ground cover, but, like all Spring ephemerals, grows, blooms, gets pollinated, sets seed in a short period of time before it fades and retreats back underground.

April 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Krigia biflora  

Krigia biflora, aka, two-flowered Cynthia, is one of my favorite wildflowers. Those of you who shy away from vibrant golden yellow or luminous orange flowers may be asking yourself, "What ever does she see in that flower? It looks like a dandelion."

It does resemble a dandelion and that doesn't bother me! In fact, it looks so similar to Taraxacum that one of its common names is two-flowered dwarf dandelion.

What's special:

• It's an early blooming native that could replace dandelions in your garden
  
• Its color is more orange than yellow
• That blue-green foliage
  
• The flower is lovely
• Fairly long bloom time
  
• It doesn't spread all over your garden like a dandelion will. Although, I wouldn't mind if it did. 
• It will grow in almost any soil (except water logged)

 

May 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Thermopsis villosa, Another Fabulous Fabaceae

If you're looking for a beautiful accent plant that's attractive to bumblebees and butterfly I think you'll be happy with Carolina lupine. Itslong spikes of butter yellow pea-like flowers are beautiful.This upright beauty resembles lupines and is related to Baptisia. 

Thermopsis villosa  grows happily from Maine to Georgia and west to Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. Plants are indigenous to the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina, but have been introduced into other states. In the wild you'll find it in woodland clearings, open meadows, prairies, road banks and disturbed fields. (source) It is adaptable to rich garden soils throughout the eastern United States. Although, it's described as drought tolerant, that  doesn't apply to our extended southern droughty months, you will probably need to water it.

June 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Liatris spicata  

Liatris spicata is a delightful exclamation point in my June meadowish habitat. Bumblebees, butterfly and hoverflies are the most frequent visitors to the purple flower wands.

 It has grass-like foliage and blooms in June at Clay and Limestone for about 3 weeks. The common name blazing star or even dense blazing star makes sense when you look closely at the clusters of tiny purple to pink, star shaped flowers atop the wands/terminal spikes. Blazing star is often described as low maintenance and if you have average to moist, well-drained soils then you're in luck. Blazing star's natural habitat is wet depressions in prairies and meadows. Long time readers know the conditions in this garden do not meet that description.

The soil at Clay and Limestone is shallow and sits over limestone rocks and boulders. It dries out fast  when the summer temps arrive and drains slowly during the winter. I've had the best luck growing L spicata in a container. 

Why containers? They're perfect for any plants that need good drainage or consistently moist soil. Winter loss is a huge problem with Blazing Stars because too much moisture over winter will rot the corms. Planting in containers with well draining soils has been a good solution for stopping winter rot and keeping blazing star happy.

 

 July 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Path Rush

 I found Juncus tenuis/Path rush growing at Clay and Limestone.

Despite the common name of Path Rush it wasn't found on a path. The paths through my garden are neither sunny or damp enough to please this rush plant. Instead, it has found a home in the cracks in the asphalt driveway. In fact, the only time I've ever seen this plant growing has been in cracks in asphalt driveways.

Juncus tenuis is a rhizomatous cool season perennial rush. It's a common species of rush that can be found throughout North America. 

Plants in the rush family typically have      

• Basal leaves (a)
  
• Round and solid stems (b)
  
• With 3 sepals and 3 sepal-like petals  (e) 
  
• Many-seeded capsules that split open lengthwise into 3 sections. (f)
  

 

 August 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Dicliptera brachiate 

Some of my favorite wildflowers are those I've chanced upon while I was out walking in my neighborhood, the greenway or a local park. Unknown plants in flower are magnets for me! I need to get close and try to id them. That's how I met our Wildflower Wednesday star. A  tiny pink/lavender flower tempted me to stop and check out the massed greenery were it was growing in a weedy ditch. I had never seen it before, but there was something familiar about the plant that made me think of Ruellia strepens/smooth wild petunia. Although the flowers are very different, the almost square stems, opposite leaves and position of the flowers were a great help in starting my search in the Acanthaceae family.

Unless you are like me, a ditch watching naturalist looking for plant treasures, you might have assumed that the mass of plants were just weeds. When I say mass, I really mean it. There was a dense stand along the bank of the ditch/small creek with Phytolacca americana/pokeweed, non native Asian dayflower, smartweed and other moisture loving plants. What a treasure trove of plants!

 September 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Verbesina virginica 

It's rough and tumble wildflower time in my garden and that makes me happy. The take care of themselves Autumn beauties are shining.

Rough and tumble wildflowers are simple wildflowers that bloom their hearts out and require the easiest of care. Verbesina virginica is one of the best and it deserves to be a Wildflower Wednesday star every fall, but, especially this year, because it has survived to bloom beautifully despite our severe drought.

And when it blooms, it's a magnet for all kinds of insects. Especially bumblebees. They're out every morning and will be there every day until the flowers have gone to seed. But, going to seed is not the end of all this flower has to offer. The Goldfinches and other seed hungry birds descend upon this plant before the seeds are even fully ripe.

Verbesina virginica has a lot going for it:

• It blooms exactly when bees are provisioning a nest for the winter. 
• It has a long bloom time (late July to October) 
• Pollinators love it, especially bumblebees
  
• Provides seed for migrating birds
• It's a feeding station for over-wintering birds
• It's a  host plant for the caterpillars of Summer Azure, Bordered Patch, and the Silvery Checkerspot butterfly
• Great architectural appeal (6 feet tall)
  
• The Chelsea chop in June will keep it shorter
  
• Drought tolerant when established
• Not particular about soils
• Not eaten by deer or rabbits
• Frostweed flowers are a winter bonus!

 

October 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Clinopodium arkansanum  

I have a new wildflower that I'm excited to share with you. 

Courtesy of Illinois Wildflowers: Flowers two upper lobes and three lower lobes

It's common name is Limestone calamint and I already love it. It's just so darn cute.

katherinebaird source

A cute flowering plant with a lot to offer:

• It's a mint family member 
• It thrives in a neutral to slightly alkaline or limestone soil. 
• The leaves are fragrant, too. 
• Typical tubular lipped flowers that attract bees to the nectar and pollen
• Square stems and opposite leaves
  
• Mints spread, this one is a rhizomatous perennial 
• It forms a dense, low-growing foliage mat 
• The flowers are large for such a tiny plant
• It has upright, leafy flowering stems rising to 12” tall. 
• A pennyroyal-flavored tea can be made from them. 
  

 

November 2024 Wildflower Wednesday: Appreciative and Thankful For My Garden/Habitat 

It's Thanksgiving week and I am feeling appreciative and thankful about the good people, good things, good wildflowers and good garden critters in my life. The last two years have been especially challenging for me as a gardener, so I am working extra hard at appreciating what is revealed to me every day in my garden. This Wildflower Wednesday post is in celebration of the wildflower and native plant beauty in the garden. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have had in putting it together.

But first a little history to remind myself and long time readers of what this journey has been like! xoxogail

 Long before there was a Clay and Limestone this sloped land was a rocky forest of native trees, shrubs, perennials and ephemerals. When my house was built on this rocky soil almost 70 years ago this neighborhood was not part of Nashville. Metro Nashville didn't exist until 1962 when the citizens voted to consolidate the competing and duplicative city and county governments into one. Metro Nashville has thrived and grown ever since, so much so, that many groups are working to make sure that there are some protections for the tree canopy, for pollinators, for birds and for other critters.

To create this suburban neighborhood developer's bulldozers cut streets through the woodland. They built brick ranch houses that had deep backyards and grassy front yards. They left a few canopy trees, primarily the oaks, hickories and hackberry, but took out most of the understory and planted non native lawns, so that boys and girls could play baseball, kickball and reach for the sky on their backyard swings.

The rocky, shallow soil was not so good at supporting turf grasses, but, it was excellent at supporting bee friendly lawns that were populated with native plants like Danthonia spicata Poverty Oat Grasses, panic grasses, Ruellia humilis, Viola spp., Sisyrinchium angustifolium/Blue-eyed grass, Nothoscordum bivalve/False garlic, Claytonia virginica/Spring beauty, Downy woodmint, Erythronium americanum/trout lily, fleabane, toothworts, Lyre-leaf sage, Western Daisy and sedges.

Today, I look around and celebrate those wildflowers. They have brought me so much joy. When I stop and think about its those wildflowers that I have to thank for helping me gain new knowledge, for great adventures and for meeting new people. Without wildflowers I might never have realized the possibilities for a garden with difficult growing conditions like I have here at Clay and Limestone. I would surely never have met the unique plants and trees that grow in middle Tennessee, I wouldn't have begun blogging and I wouldn't have met wonderful friends like you dear readers or my dear friends from Garden Bloggers Flings. Nor would I have become a Tennessee Naturalist. My love for wildflowers opened my eyes to many things, especially to pollinators and their importance to our gardens, to agriculture and to the earth.

I am grateful that so many plants happily grow in my shallow, clay soil and that they survive what nature throws at them. Thanks so much for stopping by and helping me celebrate November Wildflower Wednesday with a tour through my habitat and a look at a little of its history.

 

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 2025 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 and therapist 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.