The last few weeks have been a bit chaotic. Nonetheless, Briar says it’s important to take time to smell the inland sea oats!The yellow flowerThe flower on its giant plantsMy mystery soft growing plants have turned out to be GIANT Heterotheca subaxillaris. the flowers are regular size but the plants are 2-4 feet tall!
The sea oats that came up a few years ago from purchased seeds. They finally bloomed!There are three surprise amaryllis in the yard! They are all this shade of pink. Not native, but obviously tough, and not spreading so it can stay for now. The Texas mallows have begun to bloom! I love how bright they are in the shade. Rudbeckia lacinata from Abby is very happy this wet summer and has started to bloom. Helianthus petiolaris from seeds are starting to bloom! There is a crab spider hiding behind one petal that you can just see their legs.
I put out two of our three pots of Inland Sea Oats! I also moved the all-red prairie coneflower (Ratibida columnifera) out front to the rain garden and a bunch of Strophostyles (fuzzybeans) everywhere. Culinary sage is at peak bloom in the rainbow garden!Missouri Fluttermill Primrose is very happy after that rain a few days ago!This mystery plant is in the rock garden. I’m hoping it might be a Scutellaria. Penstemon grandiflorus, planted last year from Prairie moon nursery, looks like it wants to bloom this year!
Briar helpfully alerted me to a potential friend carefully crossing the back fence today! What a magnificent neighbor. Turns out a few peach flowers survived. The ones with dropped petals are quite striking with pale tips over maroon backgrounds!I believe this is the annual (?) Cardamine sp from nearby seeded into the prickly pear planter. Abby has kindly identified this as a human-introduced species Armeria serpyllifolia, thyme-leaved sandwort. It isn’t from North American originally but doesn’t seem to dramatically disturb the landscape. This one may be an introduced chickweed. But a fuzzy one, not Stellaria media. More baby inland sea oat seedlings in a second pot!myMultiple baby native Rosa sp from Fannin Co TX. Thanks Mom!This seems big enough to be the persimmon I actually planted??Seedlings in false gaura pot, but not sure they look right. Oklahoma penstemon given to me by a kind fellow Norman citizen!Maybe smartweed amongst the Chenopodium. We shall see. A Datura maybe?? The label fell out of this pot. Anybody recognize this seed?I am informed the mustard leaf garnish is from garden and that the soup contains poblanos from last year from the freezer.
A winecup from two summers ago came back.This true bug was relatively long and thin, and is standing on greeneyes. It flew away before I got a better picture.Bee fly at woodland edge!I’m hoping this could be inland sea oats that I seeded two years ago. Edit: Abby agrees.There’s a passionvine label here but this could also be butterfly pea?? We’ll find out!!Across the fence from mystery seedling is a known passionvine.Showy milkweed has survived its planting.I think these are the Mexican sage from Judy.A small bee on coreopsis.Mystery grass. I will note here when I hear back from the grass expert! (Then I can check here next year when I forget haha.). Edit: Mom says is the native little barley again. This one is a volunteer so I’m glad it does well here! Doesn’t get taller than the buffalo grass too so it can stay in the “lawn”.Close up.A small native legume whose name I’ve forgotten. There are quite a few growing in the rainbow beds and in the backyard at the edge of the patio.A lightning bug on a rain barrel.A leaf miner in the native coral honeysuckle!I think this dark spot is the larva, visible on underside of leaf. So tiny!Overall the coral honeysuckle is beginning to get going. This one was from Judy! Thanks Judy!A wild grape that we dug from the front to make room for strawberries. Joke’s on us because there was root left up front and it’s now taking over the rain barrel stand too.Another black nightshade. I think their tiny flowers are so pretty.Elderberry just starting.I think a mealy bug? On ironweed stem.Liatris mucronata from home from last summer.Dicanthelium grass that came along with Liatris.A tiny insect on ironweed.Purple coneflower working its way towards blooming.A mystery leaf.The mystery leaf above came along with the transplanted wedge leaf Euphorbia.