what is your favorite wildflower?

[idgiehkt]

I was thinking about this because of the "when God paints" thread. Every time I go hiking I see tons of daisy fleabane everywhere. It's a very small flower and overlooked most of the time but I really appreciate seeing it whenever I am outside in the spring and summer.

[Shakespeare]

1. The Texas bluebonnet, of course.

http://www.taad.org/images/bluebonnet%20field%20at%20dusk%20(credit=Larry%20Urqhart)_med.jpg

Dangit. You'll have to cut and paste the link.

[idgiehkt]

3. I can see why

that is stunning, I don't know if I've ever seen one before, thanks! :hi:

[Shakespeare]

5. They turn entire hillsides blue and red in March in central Texas.

The red is from the Indian Paintbrush that usually grows with it. That's one of the few things I get really homesick for about Texas--driving through the hill country and seeing rolling hills in technicolor. It's a damn shame that pic I found won't show up because of the screwy link.

[Kali]

21. here is a paintbrush (with a "passenger")

[Saphire]

57. this year should be especially beautiful with all of the rain were getting.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

111. "Have you any lupins?" HELL YESS in Texas!!!

"Have you any lupins?" (Monty Python reference)

HELL YESS, we have lupins in Texas, we just call them bluebonnets. And they are gorgeous.

The scientific name is Lupinus texensis. Not sure what the common names for the European ones are.

[dropkickpa]

119. I was gonna say paintbrushes and bluebonnets

But ya beat me to it. One of the few things I miss about Texas.



To show some love to PA, I like mountain laurel, which is actually the state flower.


And Lily-of-the-valley smells utterly devine

[idgiehkt]

122. thank for posting that mountain laurel,

that makes me so homesick, it is all over the mountains in NC along with rhododendron. :hi:

[dropkickpa]

150. It really is very pretty

I always think of a good friend's mother's house, she has it growing all around on her property, it so pretty when it's all in bloom, and smells so nice!

[Zookeeper]

91. Gorgeous! It looks like Lupine...

Probably part of the Pea family.

[Shakespeare]

99. It's in the lupine family. n/t

[Madspirit]

134. another Texan

...loving our state flower, the bluebonnet.
Lee

[Shell Beau]

2. I love daffodils!

[idgiehkt]

4. yes, I love them and narcissus too

I used to love to go to the Clemson Botanical Gardens in the spring because there would be thousands of them blooming. Once I rented a tiny little cabin tucked away in some woods in Fairview NC. It was very old and almost falling down, very dank and kind of mildewy, definitely had seen better days. Come spring, all of a sudden hundreds and hundreds of daffodils appeared all around it and up the driveway and up and down the sides of the yard. It was almost like a ghost had appeared to tell the story of that cabin and the people that lived there, that it had once been a beloved place where people who cared about beauty had lived.

[Zookeeper]

93. When I lived in the redwoods in northern CA....

I found wild narcissus in the spring. Their scent was SO strong that many people didn't like it.

[idgiehkt]

95. wow, I love narcissus

but all the ones I've seen have been cultivated.

I wonder how the wild ones smell, can you liken it to anything?

[Zookeeper]

97. Hmmm....

Intense green-floral, maybe. I've never tried to describe it, and that was quite a long time ago. I believe there is some mythology about the scent driving people crazy.

It was impressive!

[SeattleGirl]

114. That is my FAVORITE color of daffodil!

It's absolutely gorgeous!

[XemaSab]

12. Native to Eurasia

:P

[bridgit]

6. don't laugh, it's our state flower: Poppy'z...

http://www.bearclover.net/hwy101/poppies.html

[idgiehkt]

7. pretty

I've never seen them around that much, they must not grow well in this climate. The ones at that link are gorgeous though.

[Xithras]

110. The California Poppy

I seed my horse pasture with them every year, and we have quite a few natural poppy fields along this stretch of the river. Whenever I go hiking along the canal banks in the area or down local country roads, I also like to drop some seeds. The California Poppy is a natural flower in this area, but agricultural herbicides and habitat destruction have made it uncommon in the valley. Drainage ditches have also reduced surface water, making it harder for them to survive. John Muir once described walking across the California Central Valley as walking through 300 mile long flower garden, and wrote about poppy and lupine fields that stretched for miles without interruption. Today only a few tiny pockets remain in preserves.



Interestingly, the dry, warm weather we've had lately has already pulled the poppy overseeds from last year into bloom in my back pasture. They don't normally bloom until April, and it's odd seeing the bright yellow and orange flowers out my back window, contrasted against the treeless winter-dead oaks along the river.

[bridgit]

118. very pretty...

:hi:

[Nicole]

8. Echinacea

Also known as Coneflower.

[idgiehkt]

9. I love it.

I take it all the time, too. It's about the only medicine that I use. :hi:

[KitchenWitch]

10. Ladyslipper

[idgiehkt]

14. yes!

I'll never forget the moment I happened upon a single lavendar ladyslipper in the woods behind my house one day. It took my breath away to find a treasure like that so unexpectedly. :)

[XemaSab]

11. Mariposa lily

[idgiehkt]

15. wow, that's beautiful

I've never seen that one before. Gorgeous. :hi:

[Burma Jones]

13. Tiger Lillies

[idgiehkt]

17. they are a symbol of my childhood

My grandmother used to grow them plus they grew on the banks of a lot of the creeks and rivers we visited during the summers.

Here is another photo, this is a fancier version. It seems there are many kinds of them.

[zingaro]

16. Cosmos

[idgiehkt]

18. wow

I know that flower but I never knew the name of it, thanks. :hi:

They are a really cheerful looking flower.

[Kali]

19. ONE of my favorites:

Coral Bean

[idgiehkt]

20. that is really differnt looking

Is that growing on a vine, or the bloom of a tree? Where is it native too?

[Kali]

24. around here it freezes back so never more than a couple feet tall bush

http://www.lithops.net/Erythrina_flabelliformis_detail.htm

Leaves never show in pix! - shaped like poplar/cottonwood leaves - drop during drought

[idgiehkt]

28. thanks for that link

really pretty. It says it can be grown in a pot too, that would be something different to have on your desk.

[Gormy Cuss]

22. Lady's slipper

[idgiehkt]

23. I love the yellow ones too

One day I'd like to try to grow them but I don't know if you can grow them or not...I've never known anyone who cultivated them.

[Puglover]

26. They keep telling me

at the fair that they are easy but my yellow ladyslippers have always died out after a few years.

[Arkansas Granny]

25. Lobelia cardinalus, commonly known as Cardinal Flower.

It's native in this area and blooms in early fall in part part shade to full shade in moist areas. It's often found right at the edge of small, wooded streams where it stands out like a beacon.

[idgiehkt]

27. Lobelia

how pretty. That is supposed to be a natural smoking cessation method. I don't know much about it though. :hi:

[crim son]

29. My favorite Maine wildflower: lupine

[idgiehkt]

31. wow

that is where I would like to be right now. I love blue flowers. :hi:

[crim son]

33. I prefer pink, and the wild lupines occasionally appear in

pink and white, too. The problem with walking among them is that you are apt to be eaten alive by blackflies and possible bitten by deer ticks. Best to view their loveliness from afar!

[mainegreen]

73. I love the huge fields of those by the side of the turnpike!

[crim son]

74. Me too! I lived in Brooksville, Me. for several years.

We had 21 acres of field and stream and forest and in the late spring the small hillside next to our farmhouse was covered with lupines in shades of blue, white and pink. I made a lot of changes to the property but I left the lupines alone, they were so lovely.

[Zookeeper]

94. I see those up in the Thunder Bay area....

and I'm noticing more of them in north east Minnesota. I just love the blue ones!

[unsavedtrash]

30. passion flower

[idgiehkt]

32. I grow these!

I dug up a plant from the side of the road two years ago that had just one bloom on it. Well, where I decided to plant them was right next to where there is a colony of carpenter bees, who apparently LOVE passion flowers, even more than honey bees. They pollinated my passionflowers, and now every year they come back on that little hill, and I have a jungle of them. I sometimes have as many as 15 blooms open at once. I love these flowers so much. They are extremely hardy, as well. I never thought I would get so many flowers from just that one straggly little vine, but with the help of the carpenter bees I now have more every year.

[Arkansas Granny]

48. The old timers around here call this Maypop and I've been told

that they used to make jelly from the fruit.

[idgiehkt]

56. yes, I've heard it called Maypop too

Because when you smash the fruit it is supposed to pop. It would be nice to have a recipe because I have tons and tons of the maypops now...I don't really have any use for them since the vine grows back every summer from below the ground. It is mostly a hollow fruit with seeds it in.

[crim son]

76. In New Zealand passionfruit is a favorite.

There are so many types of passionflowers that I'm not sure if the one pictured, called Maypop, produces good, edible fruits. But one way we'd eat them is on a pavlova: a large meringe shaped like a round cake but with a hollow center. the center is filled with sweetened whipped cream and then topped with the passionfruit pulp. Damn it was good!

[idgiehkt]

80. wow

that sounds amazing. No I think the species that produces edible fruit is different than the ones around here. Thanks for posting that, it sounds heavenly. :hi:

[Arkansas Granny]

83. I've never eaten the jelly, but I did find a recipe for it.

Maypop Jelly (Passionflower)
June 20th, 2006
The fruit is under the blossom, about 2 inches in length and yellow when ripe and edible.

Wash the ripe yellow fruit thoroughly, slice enough to make 4 cups. Cover with water and gently boil in large covered saucepan (6-8 quart capacity) for 10 minutes. Strain in jelly bag. Measure juice. Add enough water to make 2 cups. Add 1/4 teaspoon butter or margarine. Measure 1/3 package light fruit pectin and mix with 1/4 cup sugar. Add to liquid and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Quickly add 1 1/4 cup sugar and bring to another full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute, still stirring. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with a metal spoon. Fill hot jards immediately to within 1/4 inch of top. Cover with hot paraffin, then lid and band.

http://tennesseetrails.com/

If you decide to try it, I'd love to know how it turns out.

[idgiehkt]

85. thank you so much

Wow, the old ones really used every bit of the plants they had at their disposal. Thanks for posting that recipe. I had so many maypops this year I didn't even pick them; probably not a good idea since the seeds just hit the ground and I'll have tons more next summer.

[wildhorses]

34. the humble dandelion and the lowly thistle

[idgiehkt]

35. I love that thistle plant

There was a type of thistle growing in a trailer park I lived in in South Carolina that I could never identify, it was like the one above but very large and had a huge crimson top to it before it broke open and released the seeds. I have tried and tried to find the name of it but never could. I saw it everywhere down there, it was really noticeable on roadsides because it was quite large.

[wildhorses]

37. i know that one, too. i thought it was called a bull nettle but,

when i googled bull nettle images, i got a small white flower:shrug:

[idgiehkt]

39. at least someone else has seen it, lol

here is another one from that trailer park that I had a hard time identifying:



it is called a cross vine, and it's kind of similar to trumpet vine. But I have never seen it anywhere before or since. I'd give anything to have saved some seeds from it so I could plant some where I am now. You can see down at the bottom right how the flowers are tubular like a trumpet vine.

[wildhorses]

40. spectacular--i will keep an eye out for it, too

i love wildflowers...almost went with it for my username but in the end the horses won out and the rest,
as they say, is HISTORY :rofl:

good to see you :hug:

[idgiehkt]

42. thanks

good to see you as well :hug:

The fact that I have never been able to identify that thistle ten years later drives me insane, lol.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

162. I LOVE dandelions!

It's illegal to grow thistles in MD...
I guess they're crowding other plants out; but I always loved them, too!

[femmocrat]

36. Dog-tooth violets. Yellow or purple.

(sorry I don't know how to post a picture)

[idgiehkt]

38. pretty

I read they are also called trout lillies. I don't think I've ever seen any before. :hi:

[GenDem]

41. Black Eyed Susans -- love them!

[idgiehkt]

43. my grandmother always had black-eyed susans growing in her yard

I associate them with her :hi:

[SPKrazy]

44. The Wildwood Flower...

:evilgrin:

The wildwood flower grew wild on the farm,
And we never knowed what it was called.
Some said it was a flower and some said it was weed,
I never gave it much thought ......
One day I was out there talking to my brother,
Reached down for a weed to chew on,
Things got fuzzy and things got blurry,
And then everything was gone!
Didn't know what happened,
But I knew it beat the hell out of sniffin' burlap.

I come to and my brother was there,
And he said, What's wrong with your eyes?
I said, I don't know, I was chewing on a weed.
He said, Let me give it a try.
We spent the rest of that day and most of that night,
Trying to find my brother, Bill.
Caught up with him, 'bout six o'clock the next morning,
Naked, swinging on the wind mill!
He said he flew up there.
I had to fly up there and bring him down,
He was about half crazy .....

The very next day we picked a bunch of them weeds,
And put 'em in the sun to dry.
Then we mashed 'em up and chopped 'em up,
And put 'em in the corncob pipe.
Smokin' that wildwood flower got to be a habit,
We didn't see no harm.
We thought it was kind of handy,
Take a trip and never leave the farm!

All good things gotta come to an end,
And it's the same with the wildwood weed.
One day this feller from Washington came by,
And he spied it and turned white as a sheet.
Then they dug and they burned,
And they burned and they dug,
And they killed all our cute little weeds.
Then they drove away,
We just smiled and waved ..........
Sittin' there on that sack of seeds!

Y'all come back now, hear?
~Jim Stafford 

[idgiehkt]

45. lol

that's a new one on me. Hmmm. Interesting.

:hi:

[SPKrazy]

47. You've Never Heard That Song?

oh man

couldn't find it on youtube

It's a funny song

I guess it was popular in the 70's

:rofl:


:hi:

[GenDem]

51. Isn't it Louden Wainwright's song?

Very funny song! Or maybe it was Jim Stafford. :shrug:

[SPKrazy]

52. I Always Thought It Was Jim Stafford's

but I honestly don't know.

I remember it from when I was a kid, and I had the Stafford album because he was hilarious in general.

My favorite song I remember from that album: "My wife ran off, with the garbage man....came home the other night, caught the two of you alone, he said he was a nudist, who came in to use the phone.. now I come from Alabama baby, and I've got this banjo on my knee, now you know I love to pick the banjo, but why does the whole wide world have to pick on me?


:rofl:

[idgiehkt]

54. "a nudist who came in to use the phone"?

that is hysterical

:rofl:

:rofl:

:rofl:

[SPKrazy]

58. Yup

that's what the song said...

:shrug:

a nudist who came in to use the phone!


:rofl:

[GenDem]

61. Now, I remember

Louden Wainwright did "The Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road" -- I get so confused with the funny novelty songs.

My favorite....and I don't know who did it was "Wet Dream". It was that funny fish song. I may have to break down and go to the google and try to find some of these.

[The Traveler]

63. You stoner!

:rofl:

Haven't heard that one in years and years ...

[SayWhatYo]

46. The only good flower is a dead flower...

Arrrrrrrrr I'm tough!!!11!! Ph3ar me!!

I don't know much about 'em flower things, but I would say anything you can smoke is cool :D

[idgiehkt]

49. you meanie

I've heard you can smoke passionflower leaves. And I had some rough moments this summer where I acutally considered it.

[scarlet_owl]

50. Jack-in-the-pulpit.

[idgiehkt]

53. yes, those are very pretty

my grandmother used to have them growing beside her house

[Zookeeper]

96. I have a huge number of those in my yard...

It's funny what kind of surprises come with an older house. (I miss the Wild Columbine in my previous yard.)

[The Traveler]

55. I refuse to answer

on the grounds that it would be incriminating. :evilgrin:

[SPKrazy]

59. Spill Dude

you might be holdin' something that we need to inspect...

:rofl:

[The Traveler]

65. SPK seeks new job

Wildwood flower quality tester ...

:rofl:

[SPKrazy]

69. It Would Have To Be Awfully Good

in order to start that up again

:rofl:

[idgiehkt]

62. Lol. I'll put one in here for you then.

The bloom of the tulip tree, or yellow poplar, is one that I really like. I always would find these on the trail in the NC Arboretum when I would take my dogs there, it is such a rare color for a bloom. :hi:

[The Traveler]

66. Oh ... that is pretty

I was considering another and more flirtatious response to the original post, but thought I should exercise uncharacteristic restraint. Just for once. :evilgrin:

[Shakespeare]

102. Dude, if it's FLOWERING....

...then it's already ruined.

[Missy Vixen]

60. Sweet peas

I wanted them in my bouquet, but I got married at the wrong time of year.

My other favorite WAS in my bouquet -- cornflowers, otherwise known as bachelor buttons.



Julie

[idgiehkt]

64. yep, My Granny lived on "pea ridge" in Asheville for about 50 years

It is a little part of Emma section and it is called that because wild sweat peas grow all over the place on it.

[Missy Vixen]

68. That just sounds wonderful

I got a huge bouquet of sweet peas last summer from one of the Hmong farmers in the Snoqualmie Valley where we live. I was so excited to get some. I love the scent.

I'll be looking forward to more this summer.

Julie

[Sequoia]

151. Hey....I might know the area.

Well, maybe not. But I grew up near Emma on "The Farm" (for children) near Emma and we'd go just off the road to pick the sweet peas. One day my younger sister and I caught the Emma bus that came by The Farm (we were about 11 and 10 years old). Boy, did we get in trouble when the director had to come to the bus station to fetch us. Actually we didn't get in much trouble because he was so shocked we would consider doing such a thing (Is it because you have to go to summer school? No, I just wanted to go home.) We were heros to the other kids for a while. When I think of the real trouble that might have happened!....but then I was not wise to the ways of the world. But those sweet peas...I can still remember the scent.

[idgiehkt]

154. I bet you were heroes, lol

One of my grandmother's brothers used to leave school every day with a group of boys and go and hop freight trains and ride into town, and then come back before school was done.

I think I may have heard of "The Farm" but I may just have it confused with The Eliada Home, I may have gotten them mixed up in my mind. That area of town is so crowded now there isn't much room for sweet peas to grow any more, but as you turn up on Hazel Mill Road off of Patton Avenue (just past where the Sams is) there is a good patch of them that still grows. :hi:

[Sequoia]

157. We kids call it "The Farm"

and yes it is the E word which we have trouble saying. There is no other Farm than that one. You know, names you can't say because you might get a curse. We had 6 kids in our family but the 4 oldest of us went there. Only the 2nd brother loved it, the rest of us...well, it wasn't always bad mind you, just a lot of mind control and strict religous upbringing...like a military school with the old testament God threat looming over you. We had liver every Wednesday for "supper", and I hate it to this day; makes me physically ill just to smell it. Chruch day in and day out. (Won't go now unless a wedding or funeral.) We had a reunion a few years back and it was nice to see the kids as adults. When you left that place you didn't have time to say good-bye, just whisked away while the other kids were at school. We sure had a lot of stories to share, many kids had very bad experiences so I was fortunante that the adult who looked after us in the dorm was pretty good. We had a lake to swim in there and a mountain to camp on, had a dairy farm and grew our own veggies. All in all, it wasn't a horror like some institutions.

[idgiehkt]

165. wow.

Thanks for sharing that. I think now it is just a girls school; I had a friend who worked there a counselor a few years ago and she talked about some of the more troubled girls that were there, really heart-breaking stories. I have been out there to the thrift shop. I hope it is not as religiously focused as it was when you were there, dealing with family situations is hard enough without that fear/shame/guilt religious stuff going on. Sorry that you had those rough times. :hug:

[Sequoia]

173. Hi, actually boys are there too.

The religous thing is gone; they even covered up the tall bumpy glass window with the wooden cross in the chapel which has been turned into a play area. Sort of disappointing in a way. When I went back for the reunion the boy there let me see my old room. So much had changed though, it was a little sad. Many who left there did not have happy lives; they were so unprepared for the real world since we were basically cut off from the real world; as in no newspapers or news. I mean, the Civil Rights era passed right under our noses and the adults never spoke of what was going on either. Around 1967 I started to watch the news because the lady who took care of us liked the news. After that, I was hooked.
<p>
But these days, the Farm is for troubled youth. (Like we weren't!!!???? Heh, heh!) We used to have Bob Jones University students come visit us and even ole Bob preached a couple times if memory serves me correct.

[idgiehkt]

178. wow, it is so interesting to learn about the history of that place

That's amazing being cut off from the civil rights movement, wow. I know Asheville being in the mountains was maybe cut off from that more than some of the flatlands and deeper south states and cities. Sometimes in the winter there I've felt very 'cut off' just because of the barrier of the moutains. Yep, a counselor, like I said, was telling me about one of the girls she was trying to help and it just broke my heart the troubles this girl was having, to be so young.

[Xipe Totec]

67. Mexican Cypress Vine

Sometimes they grow so thick, you can't see the leaves for the blooms. If you look closely you'll see that the leaves look like feathers.

Hummingbirds love them.

[idgiehkt]

71. that is really gorgeous

I love it. I love climbers, one day I hope to have as many climbers as I can get my hands on growing all over the place.

[KatyaR]

187. I saw Mexican Cypress Vine for the first time today in one of this spring's catalogs.

Absolutely gorgeous--I want!

Mine are the winecups and gaillardia. When I was little, I would pick tons of winecups and give them to my grandmother as a present.

[Xipe Totec]

188. We can't grow them in New England

It is way too cold for them.

So these are my wife's favorites now (from our garden):



Asiatic Lilies

[mainegreen]

70. Tiger Lilly.

Grow by the side of the roads back home.

[idgiehkt]

72. that is a great picture

I keep responding to these posts with "my grandmother had those in growing in her yard..." I'm starting to think it would be easier to name the types of flowers she didn't have in her yard.

[greendog]

75. Claret Cup Cactus

[idgiehkt]

78. that's one I have never seen

very pretty. I don't know a whole lot about cactus flowers, that is one I've never seen before.



Here are two that I have:

The Orchid Cactus


that is a bloom and the stalk is under the leaves of whatever plant it is poking through

Carrion Flower


I thought this was a cactus but it looks now like it might be a succulent, not sure. It is called that because the blooms smell, literally, like rotten meat, to attract flies.

[greendog]

82. You'll find Claret Cups on the Colorado Plateau in the spring.

I photographed this one in Canyonlands National Park a few years ago. A great place to hike and lots of incredible wildflowers in the spring!

[idgiehkt]

86. wow, I didn't know that was your picture, very nice

the only photo on here of mine is of the cross vine, that is one that used to grow on a tree outside my trailer in South Carolina.

[greendog]

87. Thanks!

I like your photo of the cross vine. I especially like the sunlight filtering through the leaves in the background.

I spent the spring of 2002 wandering aimlessly in the deserts of the southwest. I spent a lot of time hiking and photographed a lot of flowers. One of these days I'll have to digitize them and upload them to the net.
I use the Claret Cup photo on my DU journal so it was all ready to go.

[idgiehkt]

88. I would love to see all your photos

you could post them in here and then add it to your journal. I actually took that picture for a neighbor so she could take it and have someone look at it because we couldn't figure out what flower it was, it was just a regular old snapshot, that's why it's blurred. I have since found them in an old wildflower book belonging to my grandmother.

[greendog]

89. Sounds like a good project for a February weekend...

...springtime desert wildflower pictures. Yeah.

But, if the weather is nice, I can't promise that I won't end up down in the Mission Valley looking for falcons. Because that's just the way it is. :)

[Kali]

135. IF it rained that previous winter.

Many years the flowers are not too spectacular.

[gemdem]

77. Dandelions, Queen Anne's Lace, and Thistle

They're what I know from my backyard as a kid. Clover, too. I smile when I see them today -- even the dandelions (so long as there aren't too many in my lawn). My favorite memory of the dandelions is that my dad made dandelion wine. I'm not making this up. The wine was made from the dandelion blossoms. I was too young to try it, but I seem to remember that Dad got compliments about it.

[idgiehkt]

79. I love Queen Anne's Lace

It blooms all up and down our driveway in the summer time, it is really majestic looking. I've always heard of dandelion wine but I didn't know if it was a myth or really existed; at least someone found a use for them, lol.

[salin]

148. I don't see these so often anymore

but they were all over the place (Queen Anne's Lace) when I was growing up.

[AwakeAtLast]

81. Rose moss

My Grandma & Grandpa had it everywhere on their farm.

[idgiehkt]

84. I love that, it's adorable

It reminds me a little bit of phlox, I guess because it is also a ground cover

[Zookeeper]

90. I'm crazy about wildflowers...

Wild Columbine:



Birdsfoot Trefoil is non-native to Minnesota, so, I shouldn't celebrate it. However, it's a tiny flower with a bold sculptural quality when you look closely. And, wow...it's really yellow!





Butter and Eggs, another of the tiny flowers that are easy to miss:

[idgiehkt]

92. that birdsfoot trefoil is one I have never seen

Lovely. At first I thought it might be a yellow bleeding heart or something. I've also never seen the butter and eggs one, very aptly named. :hi:

[Zookeeper]

98. Carnivorous bog plants

I've seen these in northern MN:

Pitcher plant:



Sundew:

[idgiehkt]

100. I think pitcher plants are very pretty

I used to keep one on my kitchen table. Nice to have some flesh-eaters in here, lol.

[Zookeeper]

105. The flesh-eaters seem so exotic....

and the sundew is very tiny, so it requires getting down on hands and knees (in a bog) to see them.

I'm surprised you could keep a pitcher plant alive indoors. I've never had luck with venus flytraps.

:hi:

[idgiehkt]

108. it did fine until it got over-watered

then it crashed. :(

I think the venus flytraps are very pretty too.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

101. Columbine

[idgiehkt]

103. very nice

that is one I have never seen growing anywhere, I don't know if it is less popular in the south or what.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

104. Where in the south?

I'm in MD, and I grow the native variety in my garden. There's also a yellow variety, native to California, which does quite well here.

[idgiehkt]

106. NC

It may be too cold for it in the mountains where I am from or something. :shrug:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

124. It grows wild in Shenandoah NP;

and I've seen it growing in the northern section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It loves cool weather and dappled sunlight. When winter comes, I usually just rake some leaves over it. It comes back every spring.

[fizzgig]

109. i love columbines as well

we have one rocky mountain columbine growing in my dad's front yard, our state flower

[idgiehkt]

112. Beautiful

thanks for posting that pic :hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

126. I tried growing the Rocky Mountain variety...

It came back the second year, but not after that. It's a lovely flower... :hi:

[Zookeeper]

107. Have you seen Indian Pipe?

I saw quite a few around a lake in Wisconsin. It's an odd and unpredictable plant, very fleshy. I don't think it can be transplanted or successfully cultivated.

[idgiehkt]

113. No, I have never seen that

It is beautiful. Thanks for putting it in here. I have always loved wildflowers much more than planted ones. Another favorite is Lily of the Valley



they smell beautiful.

[Zookeeper]

120. Lily of the Valley is a lovely little plant...

the strength of the scent is similar to the wild narcissus we discussed upthread, although Lily of the Valley has a sweeter scent.

I added a couple of plants to my yard about three years ago and they are reproducing well. I love the scent, although it doesn't appeal much to the rest of my family.

Thanks for posting that photo (and reminding me of Spring). :hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

127. Indian Pipe is a parasitic plant...

This webpage has some excellent info on the plant: http://www.fcps.edu/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/indian_pipe.htm

I've seen it while hiking in the mountains in West VA, in early to mid-summer. Great pic! :hi:

[idgiehkt]

130. wow, it has no chlorophyll

thanks for that link!

"Indian Pipe has two special relationships; one with a tree, and one with a fungus. Actually, it's one relationship, where Indian Pipe takes nutrients from both the tree and the fungus at the same time.

Here's how it works: Since Indian Pipe has no chlorophyl, it can't make its own food like most plants. Therefore, it has to "borrow" nutrients, either from decaying plant matter, or from another organism. The way it does this is by having its roots tap into the mycelia (root-like threads) of a fungus. The Indian Pipe can then take nutrients directly from the fungus. Meanwhile, the fungus itself has another relationship going on with a tree. The fungus's mycelia also tap into the tree's roots. Many fungi and trees have this type of relationship -- it's called a "mycorrhizal relationship." The fungus gives nutrients to the tree and the tree gives nutrients to the fungus. Both organisms help each other out."

[Zookeeper]

159. I'm being a little lazy here about posting information...

Thanks for adding that link....:hi:

[Kali]

137. I think that is a parasite on the roots of some other plant - at least

there are a couple of kinds like that here in the southwest.

Edit to make note to self: read a little further before commenting :crazy:

[idgiehkt]

139. every since I read about it

it kind of gives me the creeps. I don't know why. It is also called "corpse-flower". Creepy

[Bridget Burke]

115. The winecup is a favorite.

And the pink evening primrose--similar in shape but, umm, "pink." (Called buttercup here in Texas. If you smell it too closely, your nose turns yellow from the pollen.)

Of course I like the bluebonnets & indian paint brush that go wild here in the spring. And gaillardias, so tough they grow down by the Gulf.

Lots of info at Lady Bird Johnson's Wildflower Center. www.wildflower.org/?html=home

[idgiehkt]

121. wow, those are really nice

I've seen them but I didn't know what they were called. No wonder I have been so confused; I had Indian paintbrush, which someone posted at the top of the thread, mixed up with Indian Blanket, which is this one:



Is this the gaillardia you were talking about? I noticed that was the genus name when I looked it up.

[Bridget Burke]

128. Yes, that's the Gaillardia

I always thought it was spelled "Gallardia"--so I had a hard time finding it in the database. Obviously, popular names for flowers vary widely. Like the Pink Evening Primrose I was taught to call Buttercup--which is another flower entirely.

I've seen gaillardias growing out of piles of broken concrete, with a minimum of soil. In the hot Texas sun. And they do well with salt air.

[raccoon]

116. Wisteria. OK, they're not wild so I'll have to pick another.

Guess I'd have to say yellow jessamine. State flower (SC). They have a wonderful smell.

[idgiehkt]

123. I was trying to think of the name of them all day long yesterday

At the gym I used to belong to there was an abandoned neighborhood behind it and there were blankets and blankets of wisteria hanging from trees everywhere backt there. It was so beautiful and it smelled so good...in that case I would consider it wild because it hadn't been tended to in eons.

[raccoon]

149. Beautiful picture. What state was the gym in? nt

[idgiehkt]

156. It was in Greenville South Carolina

The gym was new and modern but behind it there was an old neighborhood that was just abandoned. Dirt roads, very old houses boarded up. And wisteria everywhere. I don't know if the people got bought out, or what; I'd love to know the stories of the people that lived there, the old women that started all that wisteria. Truthfully I can't wait to be old; I feel like I've been old my whole life.

[zingaro]

117. Can I add one more? Clematis.

I love them.

[idgiehkt]

125. yes, another beautiful climber

I'll add honeysuckle, too, because it smells like honeysuckle all summer long here, and there is nothing better to hem a fence in with and make it harder to dig out of (important if you have dogs)



another favorite of mine is morning glory, although some people think it's a pest I really like it and the blooms are beautiful

[1gobluedem]

129. Black-eyed Susan

Love 'em.

[idgiehkt]

131. me too,

I think they might be related to purple conflower (echinacea) but I'm not sure.

[zanne]

132. New England Aster

And they happen to bloom in the fall, which I love.

[idgiehkt]

136. wow, that is really, really striking

I guess that's another one I've never seen. I love fall-blooming flowers too. :hi:

[noonwitch]

133. Daisies and Trilliums

Trilliums are white flowers that are protected in Michigan.

[idgiehkt]

138. I've heard of trilliums

I just thought of another one that I really like to see out when I go hiking and that is butterfly weed



it is also called milkweed.

[cwydro]

140. Poppies

computer is being too weird to post any...but I love them.

[idgiehkt]

142. quite a few are posted up thread

bridgit put a link up there in her post too. :hi:

[cwydro]

160. Cool thanks

had to post and run yesterday...

[Whoa_Nelly]

141. Fireweed

Saw it for the first time when I lived in Alaska for the long summer in '85. A beauty I saw time and again later that season when I drove back from Alaska thtough Yukin Territory and British Comumbia.



And a brief Wiki entry about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireweed

[idgiehkt]

143. wow, that field of it is amazing

Good to see you, Whoa Nelly. :hi:

thanks for the link. I've heard of it but I didn't know that it was pink.

[Whoa_Nelly]

144. Hi, idgie!

Good to see you, too! :hug: :loveya:

[salin]

145. Queen Anne's Lace

which are also wild carrots (if you pull up the roots.)

http://www.fcps.edu/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/Plants/Queen%20Anne's%20Lace/daca6_1v.jpg

[idgiehkt]

146. I had no idea, lol

can you actually eat them? I posted a pic up thread. :hi:

[salin]

147. The fields near my home as a kid are now all developments

but they were full of Queen Anne's Lace. When we learned they were also wild carrots - we took great care to try to find big ones to find the roots that were big enough to look like carrots (they were pretty puny). They don't taste too great (memory is that they were a little bitter) but it was still cool.

Let me find your pic - as the one I tried to post didn't work out to well. :hi:

[redqueen]

152. I love daisy fleabane too, and swamp sunflowers...

[idgiehkt]

153. wow, those are really pretty

kind of like a tall black-eyed susan. :hi:

For some reason mention of swamps made me think of Joe Pye weed, it grows around creek and river banks in the south.

[redqueen]

155. It is, isn't it? Tall and bushy. They're all over the place down here...

Those are really pretty too... love the color.

:hi:

[Zookeeper]

158. White water lily....

These are very common in the lakes within walking distance of my home.



And I've always struggled to keep bittersweet nightshade out of my yard, but it is beautiful.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

161. Nightshade is a relative of the tomato...

That might be one reason people insisted that tomatoes were poisonous...

Beautiful pics!

[Zookeeper]

182. I wish I could take credit for the photos I've posted....

but, I found them all on-line.

I have a few nice ones of my own, but I don't think any are on CDs and my scanner isn't working.

:hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

163. How about jewelweed?

[idgiehkt]

164. that is absolutely beautiful

thanks for posting that, I'd love to have some in my yard. I reminds me of one of my favorite flowers, although I'm not sure how 'wild' it is (I guess they were all wild at one time):Lantana. Of all the flowers I would say this is probably the 'happiest' one I have ever seen and my favorite, and it really does draw butterflies by the score.

Crap photobucket is down. I'll come back and post a photo when it starts running again later.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

166. Jewelweed likes moist soil and light shade to partial sun...

If you have a pond or a drainage ditch in your yard, it'd be a great spot for it. It's also a natural remedy for poison ivy, nettle, and even athlete's foot!

[idgiehkt]

168. I finally got a pic of the Lantana loaded

the colors are very similar to the jewelweed. It is a perennial that goes dormant but you can't cut it back in the fall because the water will pipe down it's hollow reeds and kill it. This is probably my favorite flower of all, it grows into huge bushes that attract swarms of butterflies.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

172. I love lantana!

It has a lovely delicate fragrance, too...kind of citrussy...

[Zookeeper]

181. That's gorgeous!

I've never seen it around here. :hi:

[NC_Nurse]

167. Honeysuckle...

it smells heavenly! :)

[idgiehkt]

169. it sure does

that smell represents summer to me more than any other thing. I posted a pic upthread where we were talking about climbers but this gives me an excuse to post another variety, the pink one that I've never seen growing wild.

[NC_Nurse]

170. Beeyooteeful!

I can almost smell it! :D

[idgiehkt]

171. I don't know where the pink kind grows though

my whole life I have only seen yellow and white. I don't know where the pink is native to, it sure is beautiful and I would love to have some to train along my fence. Another thing I'd love to have is some of those light blue morning glories that have a bigger bloom than the regular kind, the ones I've seen have always been purple, lavendar, and pink.



wow, I just had to post these tri-color ones I've never seen before either

[Lethe]

174. not sure if its considered a wildflower or not, but i really love the smell of

Lobularia maritima

common name Sweet Alyssum

that stuff smells so good....it smells just like a flowery sweet honey

[idgiehkt]

176. cool

I've never heard of it, thanks for turning me on to it.



It's interesting how many of these plants I've looked up have come up on websites related to the prairie.

this one looks a lot like lantana to me, I wonder if it draws butterflies as well.

[Lethe]

179. supposedly it draws bees and butterflies

i did a quick google on what pollinates it, with no luck.

this is some potent smelling stuff though, no kidding. It smells just like honey tastes, only with more floral notes. (if that makes sense?) We were using some of the Lobularia in my plant taxonomy class, and I just couldn't quit sniffing at it. (and took some home with me to sniff later, lol)

[applegrove]

175. I like wild raspberry bushes - Yummy!

[idgiehkt]

177. this is the picture that came up

I don't know whether these are blossoms or the actual berries themselves. I have wild blackberries in my yard and they have a white bloom; I love to pick them but they are thorny as all get out

[applegrove]

180. The ones I was thinking have petal flowers and are really tall like a hedge.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

183. What beautiful countryside!

Where is it?

[idgiehkt]

184. I don't know but I assumed out west or northeast because

of the evergreens.

All the other pictures that I came up with had the berries but no blooms on them; apparently what I have posted as a photo is not the right plant.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

185. Raspberry blossoms are similar to blackberries...

Here's a close-up I found...

Your photo reminds me of New Hampshire...

[idgiehkt]

189. wow, those are gorgeous

how pretty, kind of like mountain laurel but rounded instead of square.

Speaking of mountain laurel, my conscience is bothering me so I think I will post some rhododendron...I have always resented them because they get all the attention whereas mountain laurel gets very little comparatively. I prefer mountain laurel, but I will give the rhododendron it's due, just so I can sleep tonight, lol.


this purple one is the most common in the mountains where I am from



also, I think the orange is pretty but I've never seen it growing wild, they have it at the Clemson Botanical Gardens

[GoddessOfGuinness]

186. I found your pic...It's apparently in Canada

and the flower is fireweed...

Here's the page: http://www.pfc.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/biotechnology/posters/veg_e.html#fig1-4