r/TexasNativePlants

I have to admit I’m not the biggest fan of the wild sunflowers (helianthus annus) in my garden but this week has reminded me why I keep them. We are absolutely swimming in bordered patches that started their lifecycle by defoliating the sunflowers! Plus bonus blue guy.

Part 6 and links to previous parts (many of these plants are still setting seed so it is not too late): https://www.reddit.com/r/TexasNativePlants/s/dR9IEs64If

We have a couple of great new annuals/short lived perennials going over in Central TX this week if you’re out looking for some seeds!

1. Pink ladies, Oenothera speciosa. These spread FAST. They are actually edible too and I use the leaves as a spinach replacement in early spring before the flowers get going and the plants turn more bitter. Host plant for certain hummingbird moths. Watch out though because this (early summer) is also grapeleaf skeletonizer moth caterpillar season (they’re all over my half dried up pink ladies right now) and those little shits STING.

2. Blue curls, Phacelia congesta. Hugely important to native bees and just a fun shape. Seeds are ready when the pods are brown, and there’s a ton of them. Once you have one plant, next year you’ll have 50. These do surprisingly well in part shade too.

3. Annual helenium, Helenium amarum (I think). I actually tried growing some kind of bare root cultivar helenium last year and it was a miserable disappointment so I’m excited to see if I can get these little tiny guys going. This is a new discovery to me so we’ll see!

I planted this Carolina Buckthorn last fall. I made sure to plant with root flare exposed. It’s planted on East side of house wall so gets only morning and midday sun. This spring it’s been extremely slow to leaf out, while all my other trees have leafed out. I see some leaves on the tips but the remainder of the tree has made little to no progress. The soil is clay but I amended it somewhat to allow for better drainage. Location is SE Texas. Anyone have experience with these?

Spring plant sale/swap season is winding down and I wanna see what you scored! What are you excited about snagging? Anything new or fun? For me it was:

1. Rattlesnake master, Eryngium yuccifolium. I’ve failed at growing this from seed for years and I’m jealous of how it is all over British gardening magazines. That’s ours!!
2. Pincushion daisy, Gaillardia suavis (it doesn’t look like much but it smells so good!)
3. Prairie sage, Artemisia ludoviciana (I got the last ones and am already trying to get cuttings going). Love a silver queen.

A few years ago a bunch of my ratibidas came up with this weird mutation where the petals grew all the way up the cone. They disappeared or grew normally for a while but this year one’s back!

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/TexasNativePlants/s/2x96s3hs92

Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/TexasNativePlants/s/q5WAAUX8vn

Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/TexasNativePlants/s/c4yOArclJA

Part 4: https://www.reddit.com/r/TexasNativePlants/s/Cwg7pzYYf5

Part 5: https://www.reddit.com/r/TexasNativePlants/s/3OhqkWyuoc

Things are going nuts! Remember to follow sustainability practices when collecting and stay safe, especially if you’re doing something like collecting bluebonnet seeds that are in a gutter on their way to a storm drain on a semi-busy road, as a completely hypothetical example and something I have definitely never done!

1. Prairie verbena, glandularia bipinnatifida. Seed pods near the bottom of the stalk are older as this just keeps continually flowering. They fall off fast when they are ready, though. The pods should be good if they come off in your fingers at a touch even if they are still green.
2. Prairie flax, linum berlandieri. This one volunteered in my yard and it is such a beautiful plant. I’m working on expanding the patch as much as I can. Seeds are ready when the capsules turn brown.
3. Texas sage, salvia texana. This one is new to me! Because it is so low to the ground I’ve never noticed it until I stopped to get a better look at what turned out to be the carolina woolywhite. Another one where it seems like the seed pods at the bottom of the stem are ready even if they are closed because the seeds are hard and full brown. I’m excited to try growing a handful.
4. Carolina woolywhite, hymenopappus scabioseaus. I see this one along back roads everywhere and finally stopped to get a closer look and figure out an ID (shout out to Seek and iNaturalist). I’m kind of in love. The riper ones have little black seeds that come off in the hand very easily.
5. Cowpen daisy, verbesina encelioides. Was surprised to find a big population of this one in fairly heavy shade so I’m going to see if it works in a shadier bit of my garden. Ready when brown.
6. Rain lily, zephyranthes sp. The ones that popped up after the earliest of the rains in March are splitting open now. I always collect one seed head’s worth after big rains and put it in my garden but so far my attempts to naturalize these little bastards has been completely unsuccessful. I also have a ditch!! It is only a couple of blocks away from your ditch! It should be just as good!!!

This should probably be tagged nsfw.

This area is north facing and I feel like 100% clay. My kid loves making mud pies out of it.

We use the walkway but not not use the concrete area next to the built in kitchen.

Our gutters go into a drain.

My plan is to dig down 12 inches and mix in expanded shale and compost, then Plant Texas sedge. But is that going to be the best options? Should I embrace it and treat the whole thing as a flower bed? Coneflowers, black food daisys?

I also plan to replace the boxwood with something that will attract pollinators and hummingbirds (for my bird dog to watch- you can see him if you look close). Doing some kind of trellis plant flanking the windows.

We have (optional) user flairs now! Texas is obviously huge so now you have the option to indicate which Level 3 ecoregion you're located in to potentially get advice more tailored to where you're growing (or get real wild with it and go down to Level 4 or your county or add your USDA grow zone or whatever, they're editable (or should be)). You can set your flair by clicking on your username when you're in the sub (web) or on the three dots by the sub header (mobile).

Also last reminder that spring native plant sale season is definitely winding to a close but there are still a few sales and events going on this weekend if you're in the DFW area or Northeast Texas.