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Category Archives: Vines
Clematis and Milkweeds, welcome to the family…
One of my favorite “flowers” is the female Clematis drummondii which is most noticeable in the late summer as the achenes turn into cascades of clouds that give it one of its common names, Old Man’s Beard. The actual flower is shown in the first photo following, the achenes in the other two:
Another favorite plant is Matelea reticulata, commonly known as Pearl Milkweed Vine, due to the “pearl” in the middle of its flower. It, too, is native to Central Texas, where I no longer reside, having “pulled up roots” to move a bit further to the North.
I was pleasantly surprised to find, recently, a different Clematis, native to Central Oklahoma. Clematis terniflora, or Autumn Clematis, as it’s commonly known, is smaller than its Texas cousin, but still provides striking clouds of white flowers and achenes along the roadsides and in ditches. In this case, the flowers provide the show, and the achenes are less showy than those of C. drummondii, as seen in the third photo following:
Cynanchum laeve, common name Honey Milkweed Vine, has been observed in several locations around here, notably near the airport and a few miles away. As suggested by the common name, the flowers give off a strong, sweet smell attractive to humans and pollinators alike.
While they’re not the same species one has become accustomed to, the “new” species are familiar enough to provide a sense of a welcoming environment.
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Blooming in late May and Early June…
Here are a few of the flowers and other stuff I managed to capture on digital media recently.
Actually, there are a lot more items in bloom, but these were closest on hand. The front yard also has Four-nerve daisies, Wright’s skullcap, Autumn Sage, Simpson’s rosinweed, Turkscaps, Engelmann daisies, Rock Rose, and White avens in bloom, besides those pictured below.
The South side of the house has Passiflora vines, copious amounts of Gulf Fritillary and other butterflies in varied stages of development, a Texas lantana, a Datura , lots of Blue Curls, a couple of White mistflowers (not blooming until the Fall), Clematis texensis and drummondii, some Asclepias plants for the Monarchs, and that pretty much covers what’s on bloom in June.
Bignonia capreolata (Crossvine), slightly past its glory
(Achillea millifolium) Milfoil
Back in my own backyard…
Early June 2022 and the heat is in the “triple digits”as the meteorologists like to say in TV-land. or 39 ° Celsius, as we were told we would have converted to 50 or more years ago. Either system, hot to humans is hot.
But to native plants that evolved in Central Texas for more years than Crepe Myrtle has been here, even these signs of Global Warming haven’t phased them. (Granted, I do some supplemental watering, especially of small trees for the first few years, but other plants like Passiflora incarnata grow like “weeds”).
I’ll let the plants speak for themselves:
Echinacea purpurea – Purple Coneflowewr
Aster subulatus possibly
Malvaviscus arboreus – Turks Cap
Pavonia lasiopetala – rose pavonia
unknown flower at WFC
white flower 10-29-2012
Clematis drummondi – Old Man’s Beard
Allium drummondii – Wild Garlic
Malvavisus arboreus – Manzanilla
Clematis drummondi – Old Man’s Beard
Hylephila phyleus (male) – Fiery Skipper on Fall Aster
Malpighia glabra – Barbados Cherry
LILI Nothoscordum bivalve – Crow-Poison
Those are just the photos I took on June 8, 2022, mostly in my yard. The Rain Lilies were just past the back fence (the ones in my yard had bloomed and gone to seed after the previous week’s mild spattering of rain drops).
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On the road again…
This past Saturday (May 29, 2022), I went out of the house for a change, on a field trip with the Williamson County Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT-Wilco), at the Southwest Williamson County Regional Park (SWCRP). The field trip consisted of walking along the Jim Rodgers Nature Trail, 1.75 miles long, I’m told.
I managed to arrive late, but soon caught up with the group. (Usually I arrive a week early, having managed to forget the actual date and time).
Then I managed to continually fall behind and catch up, working up a sweat. Because this was an evening field trip on a fairly even path (it does need mulching to give it a little more comfort underfoot), the pace of the hike was a little closer to a real hike than the usual NPSOT or Texas Master Naturalists’ walk in the woods – where it often takes an hour to go half a mile down the trail – if that much. And yet, I was able to get some interesting shots of some of the native plants and wildflowers.
Asclepias asperula (Antelope Horns) milkweed, seed pods ripened.
Quercus marilandica (Blackjack Oak) has distinctive “duckfoot”shaped leaves.
Yucca rupicola (Twist-Leaf Yucca) was in bloom
Yucca rupicola flower detail
Prosopis glandulosa (Honey Mesquite)
Toxicodendron radicans (Poison Ivy)
Pearl Milkweed vine seed pod
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What’s been blooming?
It has been a while since I have been able to venture far from my own yard, but here’s what I got to report, mostly from my front, side, and back yards:
Phacelia congesta – Blue Curls (These, like the Bluebonnets, are mostly gone to seed by now).
Salvia farinacea – Mealy Blue Sage *These will provide nectar to native Bumble Bees and other pollinators through the Spring, Summer, and into Autumn).
Clematis texensis – Scarlet leather flower (This plant is endemic to the Edwards Plateau region of Texas. This one is cultivated in its native ecoregion).
Callirhoe involucrata var. lineariloba – White winecup or “Williamson County Winecup” (Endemic to just a few counties in Texas, the Williamson County chapter of NPSOT has adopted it and given it their own common name).
Passiflora incarnata – Purple passion flower (Like all Passiflora vines, this is home to and critical to the life cycle of Gulf and Variegated Fritillary butterflies) – (And it grows like a weed, so one can start with one and soon be giving them away as gifts with a little water and root stimulator).
“Vacant” lot – Antelope Horns galore – The future home of a children’s hospital. I have contacted the Williamson County and Austin chapters of the Native Plant Society of Texas to ask that they make contact and request a plant rescue. These milkweeds have deep tap roots, so one hopes the developer and the hospital will see the benefits to the butterflies and to the good public relations from such an effort. Typically, the plants go to the city or county for use in future projects, with volunteers allowed to take about 10%. And there are a lot more native plants than just Antelope Horns out there. (Call the number on the billboard and let them know that you think a plant rescue before bulldozing the lot bare would be a good thing).
Asclepias asperula – Antelope Horns – one of the several milkweeds that Monarch butterflies need to survive.
Chilopsis linearis – Desert Willow – saw a hummingbird hovering around this one…
Gaillardia pulchella – Indian Blankets – This the berm behind my house, after three years of removing invasive exotic grasses and Malta Star Thistle. Of course, most of the Gaillardia have gone to seed by now, and the Silver Bluestem, Mexican Hats/Prairie Coneflower will be blooming next, along with others.
Rudbeckia hirta – Black (or Brown) Eyed Susan growing out of a crack in a limestone landscaping rock. Native plants are tough.
Diospyros texana – Texas Persimmon. The fruit will eventually turn black and raccoons, among other wildlife, will take all the fruit if you’re too slow to gather enough for a tasty Texas Persimmon loaf.
Manfreda virginica – Texas False Aloe – Not actually native this far North, but it survived the Winter freezes of 2022, and with global warming,, its range may move further North anyway. Interesting stamens, and a flower that starts pale and turns red as it ages. I like it.
That’s all for this installment.
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Old man’s beard
Last September, the bulldozers came and razed a 19 acre plot of land that was for sale. Along with it went any number of wildflowers, including a healthy stand of Old Man’s Beard, aka Texas Virgin’s Bower, and other native and a few invasive plants.
recently I came upon a female C. drummondii wending its way through some planted holly (most likely a non-native variety), catching the November sun in feathery achenes.
August: the heat goes on… But if you plant it, they will come.
But not as hot here in Central Texas as it is elsewhere, and not as hot as it has been in recent years, when there were streaks of thirty or forty days of 100 plus Fahrenheit weather. This year has been hot but humid – hey, the moisture from the melting ice caps has to go somewhere, right?
And yet, “Mother Nature” continues to give us native plants that thrive in whatever kind of weather and climate she gives us. Or we make for her, given that the current climate change is driven by the Industrial Revolution, which began some two hundred years or so past.
The Conoclinium greggii (Gregg’s Mistflower) will bring Queen and Monarch butterflies to your yard. It has been interesting to watch the Queens defend their territory against the one or two Monarchs that attempt to get a pheromone enhancing boost from the mistflowers.
I’ve even seen a Gulf Fritillary take a break from the Passion Flowers and go after the mistflowers.(click on photos in the gallery to see them full size).
Passiflora icarnata infloresence, tri-lobed leaves, and tendril
Well, this didn’t start out as an orange and black butterfly identification post, but that’s where it ended up, it seems. Go figure.
As you plant more native plants, you will find that you attract more native wildlife (and, hopefully ,fewer exotic or invasive fauna).
Sitting on the steps of the deck before dinner, as I took several of thee photos, the line from Ray Bolger’s character in The Wizard of Oz came to mind: “I could while away the hours, conversing with the flowers…”
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July blooms in the native Texas “yarden”
“Yarden” of course, is a portmanteau coined by Agnes Plutino of Georgetown, TX, f Continue reading
All my weeds are wildflowers (I wish)
A couple of native plant species have begun to spread like weeds in the narrow area separating my subdivision plat from my neighbor’s house.
Passiflora incarnata, or Purple Passionflower, has sprung up where a corkscrew passionflower vine used to be, and through rhizomes has managed to propagate itself all along the Southern side of the house. I’ve done some pulling of the pups as the poke up through the mulch, and have been able to give away a few of them for others to try to get their own vines going.
The flowers of the Passion flower vine are about three inches in diameter, with the petals forming a wavy fringe. Stamens and stigmas also are striking in appearance as well. Several different types of butterflies use this as a larval host, most notably the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae ) and Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia ) butterflies.
Passiflora icarnata inflorescence, tri-lobed leaves, and tendril
The Ruellia nudiflora, or Wild Petunia, also has a purple to lavender flower, but it is trumpet-shaped. And it’s not a vine, but a sub-shrub perennial . After having transplanted this volunteer several years ago, it has now decided to propagate itself, like a weed, in the mulched bed and in the gravel path. Although its inflorescences look much like those of the cultivated Petunia, it is in the Acanthus Family, while the cultivated Petunia is in the Potato Family. The blossoms open in the morning, falling off in the afternoon. Like several other of my favorite wildflowers, its flowers are ephemeral, lasting for just a day.
Ruellia nudiflora inflorescence, surrounded by Passiflora leaves and tendril
As if having to “weed” native species wasn’t bad enough, as one can see from the top photo in this post, it looks as though the two plants have begun to hybridize to form a new species. Fortunately, (or unfortunately), that’s not the case: A blossom from the Ruellia has been captured by a tendril from the Passiflora, making it look (almost) like it belongs to the vine.
Not sure what I’d do if they actually did start to hybridize – probably get a botanist or two to take a closer look. And get a nursery to work with to develop and patent the new species. And sit back and watch the money roll in (ha!).
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bob's brain: living well with a movement disorder and other comorbidities 