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

Shagbark hickory

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.

crinkle root (Cardamine diphylla

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.

Western Daisy is a fabulous native annual and still blooming

But in 1985 when we moved into this house and yard, I had no idea that there were native plant treasures waiting for me to discover. I envisioned a Cottage Garden filled with the palest blues, pinks and whites just like I saw in every book and magazine. I failed at everything I tried until I realized that the shallow clay soil was already home to wonderful native wildflowers!

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.

Here's the garden/habitat in November colors.

Right now the garden looks quite flowerless! Most  of the late blooming flowers are gone, except a few of the last to bloom Willowleaf asters. They are a must have plant for me and I recommend that you add them to your garden, too. You need a plant that survives several frosts and deep freezes and this one does. If the temperatures were to rebound to warmer than 60˚ in the next weeks the bees would be back. They aren't so happy with drought, but other than that, they're pretty perfect.

Hamamelis virginiana is also still blooming. The flowers furl when it's cold and unfurl when the day warms up. I can't imagine gardening without this understory tree. On warm days its honey scent wafts around the garden on the slightest breeze. It's been a Wildflower Wednesday star several times, because I love it so. 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. It's perfect for woodland gardens and generously shares the ground beneath with woodland favorites like Christmas ferns, wild ginger, Phacelia, Trilliums, Dutchman's Breeches and other spring ephemerals.

Of course when I speak of my garden and wildlife value I include shrubs and trees. Now tell me what you think of the  Ostrya virginiana in her fall yellows? Undistinguished yellow in autumn is how MOBOT describes this beauty. I beg to disagree.

Cotinus 'Grace' and Cercis canadensis

 Color in the garden at this time of year is in many shades of yellow, brown and some reds. I believe that this Redbud looks fabulous with Cotinus 'Grace'.

 

Hypericum frondosum

 I love native plants that offer year round beauty and Hypericum frondosum fits the bill. Gorgeous exfoliating winter bark gives way to incredible blue green foliage topped with gorgeous flowers in June. It doesn't stop there...The seedheads are fabulous and then the pièce de ré·sis·tance of late fall and winter is its spectacular hypercolored leaves.

 

Porteranthus stipulatus

 

 

 

 

 

Another fall beauty with equally lovely summer flowers is Western Indian Physic. I am not sure why this plant isn't in more gardens, after all, who needs big showy blooms on every plant when subtle beauty and charm can be found on this lovely native in the summer and when the flowers fade you get leaves that are a golden orange color in the fall.

I love my garden habitat in the fall. There's enough color to make me smile, even after all the damage done by browsing deer and an impossibly long drought. Looking down I notice that the spring blooming biennials and annuals have germinated. Fallen leaves never smother them and I have a lot of leaves.

Phacelia bipinnatifida

The garden becomes a sea of browning leaves and seedheads after the flowers fade. I think they're beautiful. 

Not only are they beautiful in shades of brown, the promise of spring and summer is in every one of those seeds. Those promises are everywhere if you look carefully. Take a close look at your native shrubs and small trees for buds. I remember the first time I saw the little green buds on spice bush.

the buds line the stems of Lindera benzoin

 Understory trees and shrubs like Hydrangeas, witch-hazel, Hypericums add a lot of color to the late fall garden. All have been chosen for their excellent wildlife value.

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 the November Wildflower Wednesday with a tour through my habitat and a look at a little of its history.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. xoxogail

 

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 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: Penstemon calycosus

 As I walked the garden this month and watched Penstemon calycosus go from bud to full bloom I was reminded of when we first met. It was love at first sight, but, it took me years to find it. Here's the story.

Finding new wildflowers is still a joy, but, back then, I was recovering from feeling like a complete garden failure. I was terribly inexperienced and it hadn't occurred to me that the plants that I saw growing so happily in other gardens wouldn't grow in mine. I had no idea that my garden conditions were not like my friend's yards. I assumed they were because we were gardening in the same neighborhood. It took a bit of research to figure out that this yard used to be part of a woodland of native trees, shrubs, perennials and ephemerals before developers bulldozed it to create new housing for a growing middle class in the post war 50s. They built brick houses that had deep backyards and bare front yards. They left a few trees, but took out the understory and planted lawn grasses, so that boys and girls could play baseball, kickball and reach for the sky on their backyard swings. There was one owner of our property before we bought it. Lawn was sparse when we moved here in 1985 and it's obvious to me now that it must have always struggled, but, shagbark hickories, elms, ashes, oaks, junipers and rough leaved dogwoods kicked butt and thrived. So did the wildflowers which were growing in the woodland remnants on the edges and corners of the garden.

The turning point of my education as a gardener came from reading Thomas E Hemmerly's book, Wildflowers of the Central South. The pieces all fell together and it finally made sense why my yard was so difficult.

He introduced me to concepts that were important to know if I were to have any success at gardening here. I learned about Middle Tennessee microclimates and about the unique wildflowers that grew only in the cedar glades. I was able to figure out that my garden was a xeric oak-hickory forest plant community with areas of shallow soil and limestone bedrock very near the surface. The shallow, nearly neutral clay soil was hard as concrete during our dry summers and wet and sticky during our rainy winters.

Conditions like that needed special plants. Plants that were waiting in the garden wings for me to notice. I mulled over what I learned from his book and found myself thinking: "Gail, your garden isn't a failure, but, trying to make it something that it isn't is the true failure. Take a look at what's already growing here. Appreciate and celebrate what you have."

The Garden of Benign Neglect when it was at its best

The following spring I was able to identify columbines, Spring beauties, false rue anemone, rue anemone, toothwort, false garlic, golden ragwort, Phlox divaricata, blue-eyed grass, Western Daisy,  downy mint, lyre-leaf sage, and sedges were living in the lawn. Crawling about I discovered trout-lily, Dutchman's Breeches and Trilliums were hiding under the shrubs.

How lucky could a gardener get!

Then, in May, I found dozens of Penstemon calycosus growing in the wayback backyard. Not only was it growing in the dry shade, it was thriving in a soggy, wet area with mosses. I fell instantly in love.

Penstemon calycosus became a foundation plant for my late spring garden. I transplanted it to the front garden where it began to set seed and spread. I still delight in the buds and blooms and wait impatiently for the first Bumblebees to visit it in May. It's a major food source for bumbles and hummingbirds. I miss the activity when bloom time passes, but other beauties move in to provide for them.

Penstemon calycosus is a fantastic plant for moist sunny garden beds or woodland edges. I like the lance-shaped, semi-glossy, medium green, finely saw-toothed edged foliage that is semi-evergreen in my garden. The snapdragon like flowers are produced on terminal panicles that bloom for at least a month, especially if the spring is cooler. Folks further north might have a longer bloom time than here.

small carpenter bee

It's a plant I would love to see showcased in more gardens. I have never seen P calycosus offered for sale in a garden center or big box store. What's offered are cultivars of P digitalis or the many western Penstemons that act as annuals in most gardens east of the Mississippi River. If you want to try this beauty check with a native plant nursery.

It's a disease resistant plant that grows in almost any conditions. The literature says it's partial to full sun and moist, well-drained to dry soils, but, folks, remember, that it was found growing on wet weather seeps that are anything but well draining; so, it can take wet feet for a while. It has survived droughty summers and wet winters and blooms beautifully every spring. What it cannot tolerate is a xeric type garden.

As I said earlier, it's been planting itself around my garden for years, but, last fall I transplanted several dozen plants in two different locations to create a big display. I am happy to say that not only do I like them, but the bees seem to love being able to move from plant to plant.

nectar guides and fuzzy "tongue" in each open bloom

I will continue to mass it and let it romp to its heart's content. Yes, it does romp, but, not with abandon. This take care of itself, rough and tumble beauty is a successful self seeder. It seems to look good with almost any other wildflower or shrub. It's planted itself near Baptisias, Tradescantia, Zizia aurea, purple leaved Heucheras, bluestar, Blephilia subnuda, Aquilegia canadensis, Chasmanthium latifolium and Hypericum frondosum.  

I've even found it growing in cracks and crevices. I like that in a plant, but if you don't just cut the seed heads off. Just don't call this native invasive, it's a highly successful seeder and very easy to transplant.

Seriously, what's not to like about a plant that has a long bloom season, is semi evergreen, turns a lovely burgundy in the winter, grows easily from seed, brings on the pollinators and makes you smile?

xoxogail

The Particulars

Common Name: beardtongue
Family: Plantaginaceae (they used to be in the fig wort family)
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Native Range: Eastern and southeastern United States
Native plant community: Mesic prairie, woodland, Savannah
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 3.00 to 5.00 feet Spread: 1.50 to 2.00 feet
Plant structure: Leaves are bright green and arranged opposite from each other along the stems. Blades are lanceolate and glossy with serrate edges and pointed tips. The leaves are up to 5” long and 2” across.
Bloom Time: April to June
Bloom Description: Pale lavender to deep purple. Each tubular flower is about 1" long, with 2 upper lobes and 3 lower lobes; the lower lobes do not project outward any further than the upper lobes. On the outer surface, the corolla is light violet or purple and covered with fine hairs, while the inner surface is white. The lower inner surface of the corolla is smooth and lacks ridges. The anthers and style are inserted within the corolla. There are nectar guides for bees.
Sun: Full sun, part sun, shade, filtered shade
Soil: Plants tolerate clay, alkaline pH and heat.
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Medium
Propagation: Florets are followed by small capsules containing many tiny seed that self seed wonderfully.
Suggested Use: Naturalize, Rain Garden, Wildlife Garden, Cut Flower Garden, or Meadow. Plants are also used as Butterfly Nectar Plants or as part of a Groundcover, Grouping or Mass Planting.   Showy Blooms and is appropriate for Cottage Gardens, Deer Resistant Plantings, Water-wise Landscapes, Low Maintenance Plantings, Rain Gardens, Shade Gardens and Perennial Borders.

Wildlife value:  Long tongued bees, butterflies, sphinx moths and hummingbirds sip nectar from the flowers.  Caterpillars of several moth species feed on the foliage.
Tolerate: Deer, Drought, Clay Soil, Dry Soil
Botanical history: John Mitchell, an 18th century American botanist, recorded the first botanical description of this plant genus; Carl Linnaeus included it in his landmark publication Species Plantarum in 1753. According to legend, Native Americans once used this plant as a versatile medicinal remedy. Its unusual common name comes from a fuzzy "tongue" in each open bloom, which gives a slight resemblance to a mouth and a tongue. The genus name "Penstemon" comes from Greek words for "five threads," referring to the stamens of each blossom.(source)

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday.  Thank you all for joining me as we celebrate and share our marvelous and beautiful wildflowers. I hope 2020 is the year we all plant more native wildflowers for the many critters that live in and visit our gardens. Let's be sure we celebrate them every day, not just WW. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not, you can still share them. Please leave a comment and add your name to Mr Linky so others can pop over to see your Wildflower Wednesday post.



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: Lanceleaf fogfruit

I've recently discovered Phyla lanceolata, a cutie pie relative of Verbena growing on the other side of Hedge near the street. I'm very excited since the only other time I've seen it was while hiking at Owls Hill. Seeing it so close to Clay and Limestone's shallow, dry soil was a great surprise.

It might form a large mat, but, I can deal with these rough and tumble wildflowers!

Finding new to my garden wildflowers makes my day and I can't find any reason to not like this flower. It's a seriously cute little Verbena cousin that ought to be in more native plant gardens and considering that it's native to almost all of the US (except for the dryer NW states), it's amazing to me that it's not readily available. If I had a pond or stream in my garden it would have a place of honor.

If happy it will carpet the ground with attractive foliage that is accented in the summer with small clusters of pale lavender-pink flowers that attract bees and butterflies.  It's semi-evergreen (depending upon the zone you're gardening in) and can tolerate heat and humidity, as well as cold winters.  It is native to southeastern Canada, most of the United States southward into Mexico.

The sprawling stems can root on the ground (that's how it develops a mat) and the lance-shaped leaves that have tiny teeth on their edges and turn a reddish color in late fall or early winter. It blooms from late spring into early fall. The top of the cluster is purplish disc with the flowers whorling around the bottom. The individual flowers drop off leaving an attractive cluster of orange-brown fruits.

It's not surprising to find natives around this neighborhood. Seventy years ago this was a woodland/forest on the edge of the city and roads were bulldozed to build one of the city's first planned communities for the growing post war population.

When the developer's bulldozers were carving out roads they drove around big trees and left pockets of woodland/forest. It's in those forest remnants that I discovered beautiful wildflowers that have become my soulmates: False Soloman's Seal, Spring Beauties, Rue Anemone, Trout-lily, False Garlic, Blue-eyed Grass, Wild Sweet William and Sweet Betsy. We've been lucky that they have never completely disappeared and each spring delight residents with their arrival.

Now I can add Fogfruit to the collection.

The flowers start blooming at the bottom of the head, and progressively bloom up the head as the season progresses

Today and there are still many wildflowers popping up in the verges and edges of many yards. I hope they stay safe from the developers who are now bull dozing the suburban ranches to built houses that fill almost the entire lot. Lawns that have to be maintained by weed and feed every year are replacing the freedom lawn with their Spring Beauties, wild Petunias, Fleabanes, Lyreleaf Sages and clover.

Ignorance is killing the wildflowers.

The flowers are arranged in whorls around the spike.

There's no weed and feed in my garden so wildflowers like Phyla lanceolata/Fogfruit are safe. It's blooming its cute little head off and I proclaim it the June Wildflower Wednesday star.

The inflorescence is a tight head, although, technically it's referred to as a spike

Let the celebration begin!
xoxogail

Photo: Ron Thomas

The Particulars

Botanical name: Phyla lanceolata
Genus: Verbenaceae (Verbena)
 
Common native: Northern Fog Fruit, Lanceleaf fogfruit, some call it frogfruit

Perennial

Native: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, WV 

Hardiness zone: 5 to 11 (yes 11)

Habitat: sun; moist soil; along shores, floodplains, muddy flats

Bloom season: June - September

Plant height: short, but stems stand up about 12 inches

Wetland Indicator Status: OBL/Obligate wetland, almost always occurs in wetlands.  FACW/Facultative wetland, usually occurs in wetlands, but occasionally found in non-wetlands.

Flower Color: The flowers are white to lavender, with two lips. The outer lip is lobed to appear as three petals.

Cultural Information: Cuttings, taken in late spring through the summer, root readily at the nodes.

Wildlife value: The nectar of the flowers attracts various insects, including bumblebees, leaf-cutting bees, Epeoline cuckoo bees, long-horned bees, green metallic bees and other Halictid bees, Syrphid flies, bee flies, thick-headed flies, Tachinid flies, small butterflies, and skippers. Some of the Halictid bees also collect pollen. The foliage and seedheads are eaten by Canada Geese.Doesn't appear to be grazed by deer or bunnies. Source: Illinois Wildflowers

Comments: Use it as a mass planting in a difficult, moist spot in the garden. The plant has attractive foliage and cute flowers. Appears to be deer proof, although water fowl will eat the seeds.

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday.  This day is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants. How they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most.

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.

2017 Wildflower Wednesday Roundup

Welcome to the Wildflower Wednesday December 2017 Roundup! There's still color in the garden and we thank the St Johns wort and beige colored stalks of wildflowers and grasses 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 spring ephemerals will break dormancy and the gloriously long bloom of wildflowers will begin.

Without further ado here are the best and brightest of Clay and Limestone's 2017 wildflowers.

January 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Chasmanthium latifolium (River Oats)

 clump-forming, upright

There aren't nearly enough grasses in my garden. Shallow soil and shady conditions limit them at Clay and Limestone, but, one that is quite happy here and makes a gorgeous big impression is Chasmanthium latifolium (River Oats).

I think it's important to tell the truth about plants I showcase and the truth is that I love this one. Way back when Clay and Limestone was just becoming a garden, a more experienced gardening friend exclaimed, "Oh my, why did you plant that?" when she spied a large clump of river oats. She knew what many of us learn from experience, that river oats can be a bit thuggish in some gardens. Each and everyone of those spikelets can make a new plant, it especially loves moist soil. It does spread in dry soil, too!

I love it anyway! But, then, I am a huge fan of colonizing, rough and tumble, take care of themselves native plants. This one has more pluses than minuses, but, plant it only if you don't mind a plant that vigorously reseeds.


February 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: A Fine Native Hydrangea

the sterile flowers stay attached after flowering has finished

It's hard for me to believe that I've never written about Hydrangea arborescens, it's my favorite hydrangea and the first shrub I planted in this garden 30 years ago. I first saw wild hydrangea while hiking a ridge not too far from my house and thought it was charming and just what was needed in my garden. It was clinging to the side of a slope and towering above it were hardwood trees like the ones at Clay and Limestone.

Hydrangea arborescens, commonly known as smooth hydrangea or wild hydrangea is a gangly limbed deciduous shrub with large, opposite, toothed leaves and grayish stems. It is native to woodland slopes, hillsides and stream banks in the Eastern US from New York to Florida, west to Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana and as I shared earlier in middle Tennessee woodlands. Some maps show it growing as far west as New Mexico and Arizona, but, I can't corroborate that information. In warmer climates it's happiest in dappled shade with moist soil, but, it is tolerant of damp soil, dry soil and even rocky soil. The fact that it grows so well on slopes indicates to this gardener that drainage is important! So keep that in mind when you plant it. Adequate moisture is an ongoing issue in a middle Tennessee garden all summer long, be prepared to give this plant a big gulp of water every now and then, it can tolerate some dry spells, but don't expect it to flourish if it's dry all the time.

March 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Trillium cuneatum

 My garden has taken a beating the last two winters and it wasn't from the weather. It's been decimated by voles. Native wildflowers have disappeared. Gone are Trilliums, Erythronium albidum (white trout lily), Hepatica, Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman’s breeches), Camassias and several other ephemeral beauties.

Trillium cuneatum was one of the first native plants that I discovered when we moved here, so it was placed at the top of my list to be replaced. The garden wouldn't be the same without that dramatic mottled foliage and those twirling sessile flowers!

It's extremely frustrating to discover that a healthy practice I advocate~using leaf mold to mulch wildflowers~ was the very one that made it easy for voles to feast on the plant crowns, roots, and bulbs/rhizomes. I found their shallow runs when I pulled the mulch away to look for emerging plants. I was heartbroken to see depressions in the soil where my beautiful spring ephemerals ought to have been. Of course I did a mad search to see what other gardeners were using to deter voles. I decided to use expanded shale/PermaTill in the bottom of the hole and also as a mulch. Voles have been described as a cross between a mouse and a mole. They're about five inches long and covered in brownish fur. The mole part of them makes them great diggers, but, they are supposed to dislike the rough shale and thus avoid the protected plants. I will let you know how well it works.

April 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Golden Alexander

 Golden Alexander is a lovely wildflower and should have been a Wildflower Wednesday star years ago, but, it has always been over shadowed by the showier early blooming Aquilegias, Baptisias and Phloxes. That is until this year, when I noticed how nicely it had seeded around the garden.

I don't understand why they are so rarely planted. It's a stellar plant for early season color and the small flowers are an important and easily accessible food for tiny pollinators. There's a lot of other flowers in bloom when the Zizia flower in my garden, but, colder climate gardeners, this will bloom earlier than some showier wildflowers and could be a must have plant for your wildflower garden!

May 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Spiderwort

I love my garden in the early morning. Once the sun has made it past the trees, it begins to spot light the shadier garden nooks. Spiderworts do look their best in that cool morning sun. The sun light makes its feathery violet hairs glow. Later in the day they're washed out by the hot, bright light, but that is the case for many delicate flowers.

Tradescantia  virginiana like all members of the dayflower/Commelinaceae family is ephemeral - its flowers stay open only one day (half day if sited in full sun), but, it continues blooming for a long time. The leaves are strappy, with pointed tips. Each has a channel (which looks like the perfect place to fold it) and is bright green with a dark green midvein and visible parallel veins.

In my garden, spiderwort's arching stems are usually 2 to 3 foot tall and the clumps are never wider than 2 feet. The plant hasn't spread aggressively beyond their original plantings, but then C and L doesn't have rich, moist soil, which would encourage it to misbehave. They are known to spread by seed and if any seeds sprout where you don't want them, they're best dug out when young, before a thick, fibrous root can develop in the middle of one of your prize ornamental plants.


June 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Deer-tongue Grass

Panicled seedheads

I have an abundance of several lesser known native grasses growing in my garden. Until recently they've been considered weeds and even now you can find articles on how to rid your lawn of them.

Our unusual and lesser known star of Wildflower Wednesday is Dichanthelium clandestinum. Deer-tongue Grass is one of the various panic or witch grasses that I've discovered growing in damp spots in the garden. The unbranched leaves of early spring caught my eye and I was determined to identify it.

What I discovered was that most of the witch grasses/panic grasses are members of the Panicum or Dichanthelium genus and impossible for me to tell apart. Their panicled seedheads make them easily identifiable as panic grasses, but that's as far as I have gotten with most of them. Deer-tongue grass is a native grass that occurs in the eastern half of the US. It prefers damp soil, so look for it in marshy ground, thickets, woody edges, stream banks, roadsides, and even near the shore.

It's most attractive in the early spring when the silver flower heads shimmer in the slightest breeze. The clasping leaves give the plant a bamboo like appearance and the foliage turns yellow-brown in autumn. It's attractive and has good wildlife value....so it's a keeper!  Under the right conditions it can be an aggressive spreader, but, so far, that hasn't happened here. 


July 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Partridge Pea makes a stand

It's been half a dozen years since Partridge Pea/Chamaecrista fasciculata was a Wildflower Wednesday star. That's way too long for such a fabulous Fabaceae to sit on the sidelines. Chamaecrista fasciculata is an annual that grows in poor sandy or gravely soil. It forms large stands if happy and you can count on blooms for several months. It has attractive blue-green pinnate leaves and showy flowers that are a brilliant yellow with a red blotch at the base and dark red anthers. The flowers grow in the leaf axils all along the sprawling stem.

Here's what I love about it!

• long bloom season
• pollinator magnet
• pretty flowers
• ferny leaves that add texture to a garden bed
• host plant for butterfly caterpillars. Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars will feed on both the Partridge Pea’s leaves and its flowers. You can tell which the caterpillar concentrated on by its color, which may be yellow or green.
• ecologically valuable 

August 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Euphorbia corollata

Euphorbia corollata, is looking particularly lovely in the midst of the other late summer flowers. It's almost unnoticeable in the garden at most other times of the year. I often forget it's there until the tiny white blooms grab my attention in early August. You won't be surprised to hear that this is another underappreciated wildflower seen on the sides of roads. In fact, I had driven by a large patch for years before someone pointed it out to me. Of course, I made a point of stopping to get a closer look and it wasn't long after that I located and purchased three for my garden.

September 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Desmodium paniculatum

Panicledleaf Tick trefoil, another fab Fabaceae, is a sprawling native to most of Eastern North America. It's truly a plant of the woodlands or wilder areas in our gardens. Somehow, it has comfortably established itself in my garden. It's especially happy in the wayback Garden of Benign Neglect. Honestly, it's taken awhile for me to open my heart to them, but, after a half dozen years, we are getting along fine.

October 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Wild Poinsettia

Wild poinsettia is happy in a container in my wildflower garden. I'm happy it's contained, too. Not because I wanted to keep it in check, quite the opposite, I wanted to make sure it survived. It's dry under Clay and Limestone's canopy of shagbark hickories and oaks and containers are one of the best ways I know to take care of special need plants. In my dry shady garden this is a special need plant.

I like Euphorbias. There are at least a dozen species in my neck of the woods. Some have more ornamental appeal like Euphorbia corollata, our Wildflower Wednesday star last August,  many of the natives we find in our lawns or garden beds are considered weeds.  Plants like Wooly Croton, Spotted Sandmat, Prairie Tea, Toothed Spurge and Cumberland Spurge, aren't without their charms, but, try convincing most gardeners to embrace them! I do encourage others to consider our native wild poinsettia. It's a delightful annual that has distinctive coloring that resembles the Christmas poinsettia, but, it is a wildlife friendly plant and worthy of garden consideration.

I don't know if you'll want to invite wild poinsettia into your garden, but, I hope you'll consider it a wildflower and not a weedy plant.

November 2017 Wildflower Wednesday: Polystichum acrostichoides

The flowers are gone from the garden, except for a few of the last to bloom ex-asters and two tiny fleabanes that are protected by fallen leaves. There is still color in the trees and shrubs and stalwart blooms on the native witch-hazel, but, we're quickly moving toward the season of gray and brown in my part of the gardening world.

The graceful arching fronds of evergreen Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) are especially appreciated this time of year.  It's wonderful to have a fern presence in the midst of a hot and humid Nashville summer, but, this fern shines in winter when the dark, leathery fronds pop against the decaying leaves or poke up through a light snow.

Ferns are ancient plants (350 million years on this planet) and scientific research almost always focuses on tropical ferns, but, that doesn't mean our Christmas fern has no ecological value. It's not a host plant for any insects and mammals don't browse it, but, as stated above the decaying plant provides habitat for birds, while also stabilizing the soil. But, we gardeners know that their value is beyond measure. We want plants that are easy to care for, lovely to look at, require very little fuss, can survive our hot humid summers and our long cold winters and are not eaten by pests, like deer and rodents.  I think you'll find that Christmas fern more than meets those qualifications. 

My dear friends, Thank you for planting more wildflowers. Thank you for taking care of the bees and other pollinators. Thank you for tolerating pesky wildlife that too often eat your favorite flowering plants. 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.


xoxogail

Most of you have been very busy with the holidays, but, if you have the time to join this Wildflower Wednesday, just add your link to Mr. Linky and leave a comment.




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.