Sunday, March 1, 2020

Spring (I’m sort of, maybe, pretty sure) is Here



Spring has sprung, the grass is ris,
I wonder where the boidies is
The boid is on the wing,
How absoid
The wing is on the boid!
Unknown

Or, if you prefer

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.
William Wordsworth, ‘Lines Written in Early Spring

I went out to observe the Spring –



Crinum Lily
Milk and Wine Lily
Hot Country Lily
Though here we call ‘em Ditch Lilies
  

Acacia Tree

Ten-Petal Anemone
Thimbleweed
Windflower
I love this small wildflower (aka weed) and currently have a yard full of them.  And, they have many uses.  Protection - against evil and ill wishes and against disease and illness.  Weather predictor: At the approach of a rain storm when the petals close up.  Plus they tell us of the arrival of spring winds.  Lastly, they attract fairies and other magic folk.


Pink Magnolia
Tulip Tree
Star Magnolia

Gazanias,
Treasure Flower
They produce large, daisy-like flowers in bright yellow and orange all summer.  This is a new plant to my garden.  Good things - they are drought-tolerant, can tolerate our heat, grow in any type of soil.

Empress of China Tree
Foxglove Tree

Duranta
Golden Dew Drop
Pigeon Berry
Sky Flower
I’ve had a few of these and ultimately get annoyed and dig them up.  Reason?  It’s a shrub than can get up to 10 ft tall, the multi-stemmed branches are droopy, and they have sharp spines.  They need lots of room.  In the fall they put on bunches of golden berries which the birds love.


Cape Honeysuckle

Indian Paintbrush
Scarlett Paintbrush
This is a Texas native wildflower.  So, Did You Know?  Many types of paintbrush are parasitic, which means that they rely on the roots of other plants to grow.  For this reason, it is hard to transplant some paintbrush plants. 
  

Peach Tree

with little baby peaches!

Wild Onion
Canada Onion
Canadian Garlic
Wild Garlic
Meadow Garlic
Everybody should recognize this one.  If you run over a bunch with the lawnmower, the whole yard has an oniony-garlic scent.  And, it’s an edible weed.  The flowers have a stronger taste; the greens a bit milder.  Use them in salads, bread or pasta dough, pesto or salsa, with potatoes, eggs and mushrooms.  It’s a tender herb so add at the end of any cooking process.

I found a field of them just up the street.



Texas Mountain Laurel
Mescal Bean
Coral Bean
Big-drunk Bean
Colorin
OK – this one is in a neighbor’s yard.  I love Texas Mountain Laurel.  I’ve tried for some time to grow one from seed but they are very slow to germinate and I’ve had no success yet.  This is a large shrub with lavender or violet pea flowers that smell like grape Kool Aid.  It’s heat and drought tolerant (good for us here) and grows pretty much in any soil. 

And, lastly – this isn’t really a “spring” thing but I love this tree.


 Dubbed by me as “The Mistletoe Tree”
Bird Lime
All Heal
Devil's Fuge
Golden Bough
Mistel
Iscador
Mistletoe is a hemiparasitic (obtains water and minerals from the host plant) that grows on a wide variety of trees.  Mistletoe preparations have been used medicinally in Europe for centuries to treat epilepsy, infertility, hypertension, and arthritis. The Druids revered the oak tree and the mistletoe that grew on it, according to Roman author and naturalist Gaius Plinius Secundus (also known as Pliny the Elder).  At the winter celebration of Samhain, the sacred oaks were bare except for the green boughs of mistletoe, and this was taken as a sign of eternal fertility.  The Celts also placed a sprig of mistletoe above the door of their houses and its sacred nature prohibited fighting beneath it.   

1 Mar 2020

8 comments:

  1. Have you ever noticed the wild flowers are just as pretty if not prettier than the domesticated flowering plants?

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  2. You do have some beautiful flowers. Our wild garlic is just starting to shoot up.

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  3. I love all these photos! We got more snow this weekend.

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  4. Spring sure has sprung in your neck of the woods! I love the photos and can just imagine the scents. We just got snow last night...not much, but still. I'm dying for spring.

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  5. Pretty pretty pretty! Our ditch lilies have leaves, but no scapes yet...

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  6. Beautiful harbingers of spring. It's nice to have so many flowers heralding the end of winter, especially that orange dude.

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  7. Huisache. Yes, it is an Acacia.

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