Every night Gram wants to go past Briar in the hall. Every night she waits for her chance to slobber him. This only happens at night. It is now a ritual. She smiles. As soon as he attempts it and she slobbers him, then they saunter into the room together. Photos by Paula.
Briar enjoys laying in the prairie among the primroses and englemann daisies. Some of the grass in the new prairie (we’re calling it Leon’s prairie since it’s by Leon’s blackberry bushes) has turned out to be the native wild rye we seeded! Yay!Yellow Coreopsis looking bright with the tiny purple Verbena halei and the starry pink widow’s cross sedum!Shackleton had some thoughts. Briar says “walkies please??” (We did go walkies.)The showy evening primroses are looking lovely with their pale pink between the purple winecups in the back and the magenta Salvia greggii in the front. We didn’t even plant them on purpose, they were just in the soil Paula brought from the backyard berm. Coreopsis provides a nice yellow contrast at the end of the Salvia greggii row. More seedling winecups are coming up in the newer soil where we put seeds. Gram says it’s hard to use a dichotomous key for plant identification when the only numbers you know are “hello?” And “Doggie”. Shackleton somehow turned the pages and now says “I leave the identification as a trivial exercise for the reader.”We planted one Winecup in a tall skinny planter. It has bloomed now.
This seedling is not something I recognize so I’m hoping it could be Bluehearts from Mom. I left other volunteer plants in as that species is hemiparasitic and does better with a host. Possibly a silverleaf nightshade seedling!Another possible silverleaf! Looks a lot like its congeneric cousin tomatoes’ babies. Another baby Arkansas yucca!!! This one is in a bigger pot so hopefully we can keep it watered enough. Two fern acacia seedlings from last fall came up!!The winecups are really taking off!! Super pleased. This adorable sweat bee is the first visitor I’ve seen so far to our Penstemon grandiflorus. New mystery in the prairie!Briar being innocentGuard flamingo One of our two plastic flamingos has been retired due to its new hobby of breeding mosquitoes. The remaining one has been reassigned to guard two Oklahoma penstemon that the dog keeps laying on.
I think these are the reseeding domestic ground cherries! Yay!Clumps of annual native violets going to seed and some volunteer primroses (this soil was moved from the backyard). The winecups began blooming!
Last year’s Datura is pushing up through the leaves!!This Solomon’s seal is considering blooming. The Strophostyles fuzzybeans are growing where I put them in compost pile wall blocks!These wild yellow Oxalis volunteers are really looking good this year en masse. This plantain came with the spike moss from Jeanne’s house in Nc TX. Ratidiba columifera seedlings. Top adult leavesSeed leaves remainingThis second individual isn’t growing as tall. Baptisia probably bracteata seedlings!Possibly green milkweed seedlings in that pot with the Baptisia. In the cactus tiered planter, a mystery seedling. Mystery seedlings in the rose/bluehearts planter. Still hoping for bluehearts!A brome grass. I need to key it. Not one of the common non native ones. Not sure if volunteers or I planted.
Oxalis violaceaCarrot leaf Lomatium now doneHot dog alreadyBaptisia bracteataBriar on a hillPrairie parsley bloomingSalvia azurea leavesEchinacea leavesMystery leavesOxalis violacea lives in sunnier spots than I expected!Arnoglossum species budsArnoglossum farther alongI think butterfly milkweedCalylophus primrosePenstemon cobea budsBriar enjoyed a big mud puddle then ran right towards us dripping wet.
First tepary bean up along trellis!Right in the middle of this picture is the brown coating of a green milkweed being pushed up as it takes root!This is also probably a green milkweed, and it has two tiny adult leaves starting to push out between the seed leaves!These seedlings are in the same pot so I think they are also green milkweeds. Briar finds examination of seedlings boring but at least we are outside. I’m not sure why but my hopeful globemallow suddenly died. Here is a small seedling in the globemallow container. Maybe it is one? There are a lot of Euphorbias popping up too. The prairie parsley is blooming! I saw a potter wasp on it but didn’t get a picture as I was distracted by a baby cottontail bunny running away!I planted two species in this pot – small native Hypericum and an unknown pod with tiny seeds inside from a dappled light post oak/blackjack oak forest. Maybe agalinis? It bears watching. The Venus looking-glass is blooming in the rock garden!Another plant with narrower toothed leaves, milky sap, hairs on the veins, and square stems is growing with the Venus looking glass. Not sure what it will turn out to be! Edit 05/2023: another type of Venus looking glass!
The prairie parsley dug from TX home is about to bloom!!! It is a biennial, so I hope it likes it enough to reseed here. Bluestars make it to another year! I think they must need a second individual to seed as they haven’t spread. The little grayish friends are rabbits tobacco! I think I may have finally hit critical mass with them as a few are in the tiered cactus planter too. Speaking of needing two individuals, I bought a Salvia azurea to supplement my otherwise happy one from TX. I hope they start spreading now!One of the two potted Baptisia bracteata have emerged! So excited. I haven’t had luck with them from seed.