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| PPPP! |
My friends, it's Wildflower Wednesday and I've been pondering what to share with you from Clay and Limestone. I usually talk about one plant and if at all possible share a new one with you~But, not today.
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| Tradescantia virginiana |
Today, I'm sharing flowers that are the mainstays of my Spring garden.
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| Astranthium integrifolium/Entireleaf Western Daisy |
Some of them bloom all summer
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| Penstemon calycosus |
Others for too short a period of time.
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| Amsonia 'Seaford Skies' |
Like my rough and tumble wildflower favorites of late summer and fall, these Spring lovelies are dear old friends and I cannot imagine gardening without them.
They are never fail beauties! Native plants that you can count on to bloom, year after year, providing nectar and pollen for all the resident pollinators.
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| Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight' |
Even the cultivars.
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| Aquilegia canadensis |
But, especially the species plants.
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| Oenothera speciosa with Agastache |
I don't even mind that some of them are...shall we say, a bit thuggish!**
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| Oenothera speciosa |
In fact, I like a plant that makes it easy for me to create large drifts or to repeat color and texture elsewhere. To borrow someone else's tag line~It's a good thing!
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| Phlox pilosa |
I love these rough and tumble, take care of themselves wildflowers. My love affair with native plants has been going on for so long that they seem more beautiful to me than many classic garden flowers.
Part of their charm is their good wildlife value, but, their real charm is that they are absolutely perfect for Clay and Limestone!
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| Practically Perfect Pink Phlox pilosa! |
You know, you can't ask for more from a plant.
xxoogail
**Please don't use invasive to describe their behavior. That is a powerful word and should be used for exotics that are on the state noxious and invasive species list. Instead, you can refer to them as colonizers, aggressive natives or just plain thugs.
Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. 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. Please leave a comment when you add your url 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." She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.
You have some beauties, Gail! I didn't know about that daisy. I like it. I had to laugh about what you said about the term invasive. I did use it in my post about a plant that is labeled that. I also used the word, "spready", even though I get the red squiggles showing me that is not a spelling for a word. I kind of like having that be my own word. I do have some spreaders. I hope my phlox spreads around.
ReplyDeletePPPP is going strong in my garden too. I finally have some self scattered plants coming up. FUN. Happy WW.
ReplyDeleteAnother wonderful selection of wildflowers all beautifully photographed. You have the gift of being able to portray the delicay of your native flora to convey their refined elegance.
ReplyDeleteI have 2 posts about my wildflowers up already this month. Don't want to spam your Mr Linky with 3 posts. April flowers and Plectranthus neochilus are up. Malgas lily will be coming on Friday.
ReplyDeleteMalgas lily is published.
DeleteI love that you shared a whole bouquet of wildflowers that grow in your garden, dear Gail, rather than only one. The more the merrier! This is a banner year for several, especially the Salvia lyrata. It covers the interstate grassy areas on the sides and in the median with a pale blue magic carpet around here.
ReplyDeletexoxoxo
F
I like this 'wildflower Wednesday' thing, so I joined in. Thanks for the shots of the Amsonia and Baptisia, which I also have, but had not peeked though the ground last time I looked!
ReplyDeleteI working on drifts, one plant at a time. I've planted some new wildflowers in my garden and hope they take over a bit, in a good way.
ReplyDeleteLove all your wildflowers. Inspirational!
Love them all! Not sure if my post is actually a wildflower, but this is the first year I've seen the flowers on the native pawpaw tree on my property :)
ReplyDeleteI like Sue's word, 'spready!' I use that one a lot, and aggressive. Like you, I don't use 'invasive' to describe natives. To me, it's a misnomer when it comes to describing anything (or anyone!) native. The natives belong here, whether exuberant or demure. It's we, and what we do, sometimes just because we can, that too often becomes invasive.
ReplyDeleteYou have a beautiful selection of wildflowers, Gail. Thanks for hosting, and good to be back for WW!
Me too! I don't know how I'd live without them, and you've made me realize how important they are to the environment. Thanks!~~Dee
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing all your favorite lovelies with us, Gail. Thank you, too, for being such an inspiration to "go native"--my garden now has many more natives than it once did, due to your encouragement.
ReplyDeleteI plan to join in this month, but a busy schedule has kept me from blogging--it might be Wildflower Thursday or Friday at my house:)
That's fine Rose, I will be leaving this post up all week...xogail
DeleteI keep trying to persuade evening primrose to turn thuggish for me but it just won't play! Yours are fabulously beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHello fellow wildflower lovers. This is my first time to participate in Wildflower Wednesday. I hope it won't be my last. Wildflowers and native plants are my favorites. I use many of them in my habitat garden and look forward to sharing them with you.
ReplyDeleteGail, my PPP, Phlox pilosa 'Eco Happy Traveler' started blooming two days ago! I wish I had enough property to share your enthusiasm for thugs, some of them are such wonderful plants.
ReplyDeleteThey really are...Congrats on the PPP blooming. I love the fragrance in the garden when they are i full bloom mode. g
DeleteCarolina Moonlight is my favorite Baptisia ever. Mine comes out a month before the others and is one of the first real show-stoppers in the garden.
ReplyDeleteFinally made it to join your wonderful Wildflower Wednesday - Lucky number 13. I love reading about all your native plants
ReplyDeleteGail, once again I want to thank you for hosting this fun tribute to wildflowers. I love the photos you shared with this post. TRULY LOVELY!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lucy! I am glad you participate and love wildflowers!
DeleteI hope my phlox pilosa looks nearly as nice as yours does!
ReplyDeleteI hope so, too!
DeleteI love to learn about your natives. Most of them are different than mine, and the ones that are the same, always bloom earlier for you.
ReplyDeleteI was working on posts all day, Gail...but ended up shortening this to just include one type of plant. At first, I uploaded photos of all of my spring natives. That was one long post, and I never did finish it! I will have to make it into separate posts. At least it got me 'started'; it is quite a project documenting everything. Your spring natives are beautiful, I have a few of them but they aren't all in bloom right now. Penstemon isn't yet blooming, nor is Baptisia; Aquilegia is almost finished, and Amsonia is in bud. Happy WW:-)
ReplyDeleteDear Gail, You can certainly inspire anyone to want to grow more wildflowers! Beautiful portraits of yours and especially the Oenothera speciosa . . . I can just imagine the way that must look to the butterflies and bees. Carol
ReplyDeleteGail, such a lovely assemblage. Oenothera blooms much later this far north (a summer bloomer for sure). I have both spring and late summer phlox but none are even budded yet. But our columbine has blessed us with color.
ReplyDeleteAs for the word invasive.... like you, I prefer something more complimentary and usually refer to our "spreaders" as "enthusiastic".
So many lovely blooms in your garden! I am posting for the first time - thanks for hosting.
ReplyDeleteLovely flowers already, Gail, I can see why the east coast has so many more native flowers than here. It takes a long time for things to get going here. The natives that remain in my yard are stalwart and not delicate flowers like you are able to grow. But at least they take care of themselves. And some are even edible.:P
ReplyDeleteSorry about the double links, I forget it will put one in that is not right if I don't paste the right one in.
DeleteI'm SURE wishing for some PPPP for myself. Mine is up and it looks promising but no flower buds yet. Patience, patience.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful post. It has really cheered me up on a dark Friday in England... now I know to look on a Wednesday in future. Thank you for making me think about the word 'invasive'.
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks a lot for sharing this very interesting page. Lovely photos!
ReplyDeleteWhat gorgeous blossoms! My Baptisia is still probably a few years from being blooming size, so, of course, I'm super-jealous of yours!!! Love the pink Oenothera...such a great change from the typical yellow.
ReplyDeleteI have the yellow, too, Scott, but, I do like the pink. If you don't mind an assertive plant (!) I can recommend the pink. g
DeleteGreat photos! I just planted another amsonia that I purchased last week at the Huntsville plant sale. For some reason, they usually die on me. I am determined to keep one growing!
ReplyDeletePhillip, I finally have had good luck with them...Try locating A 'Seaford Skies' it's a naturally occurring cross that seems less temperamental. g
DeleteI had to do another post, Gail, just have SOOOO many natives now...and am currently planting a bunch of native tree/shrub seedlings so wanted to include those too;-)
ReplyDeleteYou're the best! xog
DeleteBetter late than never?! :) I have been too busy wrangling my monster garden to blog. Often I think I should more often take a page out of your book.
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing 'Starlight Twilight Blues' on your blog I think I must have it. Your mainstay natives are beautiful.
Hi Gail you asked about the mockorange -- I'm not sure which one mine is, since it's a passalong. It's fragrant and likes a spot of moisture when the weather is hot and dry. There's a native mockorange that's lovely. I've seen it at the NC Botanical Garden. Not fragrant though. If you're interested I can root a start of the one I have and send it this fall.
ReplyDeleteGail - I don't really have any wildflowers in the garden yet, but I have been enjoying the trillums, double bloodroot and jack in the pulpits on our local Bridge of Flowers. Maybe as a member of the committee I can take some credit for these even if I didn't post about them.
ReplyDelete