We got another 2.8 inches of rain overnight according to the Oklahoma Mesonet. I went outside to look at the puddles and remaining sprinkles and saw the partridge pea in the caliche planter had produced a new beautiful yellow flower and the whole plant was covered in little raindrops.
One of our four new prairie larkspurs has bloomed!!I took several angles as I was excited. Three of four plants tried to bloom but their flower stalks got knocked over or snipped off by something toothy. The showy milkweed in the side yard (north of the rainbow garden) is coming up!Our three kinds of milkweed are growing!! The lower left one is a green milkweed. The two biggest plants are whorled milkweed (A. verticillata) from Abby. The one remaining viridiflora is not in the picture.
Clouds to the west before the rain arrived!The elderberry has started blooming and seems to be attracting many small pollinators, including this little beetle.
Since it was going to rain this afternoon (and did! I think we got around a quarter inch at most), I gave the culinary sage and lemon balm both haircuts to encourage bushier growth.
I’m not sure where it came from, but this young snailseed was in a pot with some rooting frogfruit. I put it in the ground by the south trellis fence since it’s about to rain.
I found a third Arkansas yucca in the green bed of the rainbow garden! I’m so excited that the stratification followed by lots of rain has worked. Or at least putting them out has worked. I don’t seem to have a lot of control over the rain??
We got even more good steady rain this morning and there’s a bit of standing water in what we are calling Leon’s prairie to distinguish it from the original prairie block. Leon is the late great gray tuxedo cat who now has been reincarnated as an aggressively thorny blackberry plant which is adjacent to this meadow.
I’m not sure if the Fluttermill Primrose is just almost done blooming or the rain has just been so heavy in the last week when it happens, but they are looking a little worse for the wear right now.
We got 2.75” in less than 24 hours!Missouri Fluttermill primrose baby survived pouring rain even under the rain barrel! Left seedling is Winecup and upper right seedling is Astragalus crassicarpus!Two possible yuccas in the green section. Not a milkweedNot a milkweed?Maybe a milkweed Known milkweed (probably viridiflora)The skinny adult leaves of known milkweed. New book The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants by Diboll and Cox mentions many milkweeds first adult leaves are skinny even if the eventual adult leaves are broad. Either that or I got the species wrong. One of two Blackfoot daisy survived earwigs and is now growing flower buds and a few new leaves!Perennial coreopsis begins!Briar was pretty miffed it rained HARD most of the day. So before our walk she curled up in disgust right on my big Liatris mucronata from home. Thanks. The Mexican Sage from Judy is up!A sedge?Partridge peaOldplainsmanMysteryCaliche planter babiesThe tomatoes have gotten a bit sunburnt from past rain with sunlight after, so this time I flicked water off and put them in a less intensely sunny spot. Trying to get them hardened off for planting. Like Briar, Shacks was disappointed by rain and not being out. Paula brought him some favorite juicy grass and he loved it.