Monthly Archives: November 2012

perennials , , Leave a comment

Pavonia lasiopetala – Rose Pavonia

by
Pavonia lasiopetala - rose pavonia

Pavonia lasiopetala – rose pavonia

Also known as Rock Rose and Rose Mallow, this Texas Native is an excellent alternative to hybrid roses and the like. It doesn’t require a lot  of care and feeding, is resistant to bugs and moderately unpalatable to deer. I’ve noticed deer coming off the greenbelt lately to nibble on the acorns inside the subdivision where I live – but none in my yard of native plants bordered by salvias in the front.  It is native to the Edwards Plateau, and prefers dry limestone soil locations, so this will grow best in the area of Williamson County that is west of Interstate 35.

It blooms from April through November, which is another of my criteria for choosing plants for my yard – they should be perennials and bloom for a long period of time – not just seasonal but cross-seasons.

And having come from Florida originally, I do enjoy that it so resembles a Hibiscus, as does the Turks Cap, another of my long blooming summertime favorites.

Uncategorized , , Leave a comment

Clematis drummondii – Old Man’s Beard

by
Clematis drummondi - Old Man's Beard

Clematis drummondii – Old Man’s Beard

Here is a flower that appears in the fall as a bunch of wispy cotton balls hanging over bushes and trailing all over the place. It’s fairly obvious how it gets the common name Old Man’s Beard, with its flowing white tresses of feathery seedheads. I have a slightly darker version of this photo against the sky. which remind me of something like spiders from Mars. Fortunately, lighten up the shadows and lo and behold, we have downy feathers.

Clematis drummondi - Old Man's Beard

Clematis drummondii – Old Man’s Beard

Here’s a different angle, looking like a side view of ZZ Top.  Not so feathery from this POV, a little grizzly perhaps. note: I just looked this up on the WFC’s NPIN and found out that drummondii is spelled with two i’s. Also that it’s called Texas Virgin’s Bower

Uncategorized , , , , 1 Comment

Aster oblongifolium hosting fiery nectar feeder

by
Hylephila phyleus (male) - Fiery Skipper on Fall Aster

Hylephila phyleus (male) – Fiery Skipper on Fall Aster

Here’s a busy little Fiery Skipper blending in with the similarly colored central flower blossoms of the fall aster. I’ve been busy resurrecting a different website and other such things and haven’t updated this site for some time.

Here’s another aster that has volunteered to appear in  my yard and seems to be either a Prairie Fleabane out of season (not unheard of in this year of strangely out of season bloomers.)  It looks to me to be a hierba del marranoAster subulatus possibly  or aster subulaus. The key identifier is the blush of purple … I seem to have noticed elsewhere that “baby’s breath” is another common name…

white flower 10-29-2012

white flower 10-29-2012

Aster subulatus possibly

And from October 29, and a trip to South Austin to the roadway around the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, comes this picture of an  unidentified white flower that  i haven’t been  able to identify using the WFC’s online database. I’ve asked some folks but no one else seems to know either. I will be checking The Weeds OF The West and Toxic Plants Of Texas to see if there’s a match there…and the search for knowledge goes on.

And finally, since we are displaying our ignorance and searching for knowledge, here’s another unidentified flower from the roadside next to the closed on Mondays LBJ WFC – it does appear to be some sort of mallow to me, but so far no luck in figuring out each one. Oh well… tomorrow’s another day, or, based on the time zone in which this is being written, tomorrow is here, but the world is waiting for the sun to rise and I am waiting to sleep, perhaps to dream…

unknown flower at WFC

unknown flower at WFC