06/11/2023 exciting backyard business

A second Ohio spiderwort is blooming!
The prairie parsley appears to be developing seeds in spite of only one plant blooming. Hopefully they are fertile (they certainly look nice and plump?) and we can have more sprouting since this is a biennial!

06/11/2023 roots

Unless you’re taking a herbarium specimen or moving stuff in the garden, we often don’t see how deep some native plant roots are. Today I helped two friends rescue plants from a remnant prairie that is about to be dozed and built on. (We dug with permission.)

A Winecup had the taproot I’ve read about but it was concentrated near the surface. This seems likely to live.
I figured this big milkweed has a very deep root so we didn’t try it.
Briar sat in the shade of encroaching cedar trees and helped check the reference book.
A cute hopper insect!
Scarlet pea had a very long root. Again we’ll see how it grows!

Spiderworts, native perennial dayflower, an all yellow Gaillardia, fleabane, western horse nettle, and Heterotheca (I think?) all came up easily with a sharpshooter shovel. Little bluestem has very deep roots but I think they are supposed to be okay to divide. Fern acacia (I think??) had a longer root (over a foot for a 6” tall plant) that may have broken.

05/19/2023 pretty flowers, mystery solved, and babies

The first of our Ohio Spiderworts from prairie moon to bloom! (That’s a dayflower leaf under it in case that’s confusing.)

04/15/2023 spring at home in person

Mystery green bit in caliche planter. Looks suspiciously like a grass but we’ll find out! Maybe something good!
The yellow irises from Judy are in full bloom now!
One of the two Camassia scilloides has TWO flower buds!
The other Camassia scilloides has a much smaller flower bud. The angusta has a similar sized bud that is on a shorter stalk as of yet.
The two leaf senna is coming back! This one got big last year and made a lot of seeds.
The other smaller two leaf senna from last year is off to a great start this season!
I put a lot of Missouri fluttermill primrose seeds in the yellow area of the rainbow garden )near the two leaf senna) and one is coming up! Yay!
The dwarf spiderwort continues to bloom! This one has two flowers now! The other individual hasn’t flowered yet.
This mystery grass has appeared in many areas under the oak tree. It seems wrong for millet but I don’t remember wheat in the bird seed mix? Any ideas are welcome. iNaturalist suggests the wheat genus but I don’t think there are any native ones here.

10-29-2022 fall things continue

We got another package of bare roots from Prairie Moon. One rattlesnake master (since we have one already, maybe they will make seeds), one Camassia angusta- they only had one left), and several Ohio spiderworts.
Up front, the pineapple sage is blooming.
Two slightly different looking seedlings in the Penstemon cobea pot. I’ll keep an eye on them.
Winter greens looking good.
The purple Salvia greggii are really blooming right now.
The showy milkweed seems to be shutting down for the fall with some yellow colors.
I had to use one of the Chef’s big food grade buckets to hold all the fruit from the 17 lb watermelon from a few weeks ago when I cut it open today.

06/05/2022 indoor/outdoor

I learned today that spiderworts are self-incompatible, so these buds didn’t have any seeds in them. Oh well. It was worth a try! Thanks Mom for sending and prompting me to look this up! It explains why we only have the one. 🙃
I repotted the aloe vera (not shown) and added some more dirt and another succulent to this pot, which lives inside in the entryway shelf.
Milkweed beetle! It’s standing on a dayflower and moving over to a nightshade, though.
Ashy Sunflower yet lives!!
Linum rigidum from home still blooming. It’s annual so I hope it seeds!
A different jumping spider.
A lightning bug resting on a native poinsettia (Euphorbia) leaf.