Wildflower Wednesday

I seem to be running behind these days.  I noticed during my lunch break today that people were posting for Wildflower Wednesday, hosted by Gail, of Clay and Limestone, so when I got home, I took some photos of what I thought were wildflowers.  When I came in to try to confirm them, I looked at some lists, but then realized I didn't have time to check all of them, so if I post some that are not wildflowers, I don't mind being corrected.  Some of what I took photos of I saw on Gail's post, so I was right about those.  I need to do more research.

It's a good thing I got myself around to participating in WW.  I already knew the rabbits have been more destructive both in the veggie and flower gardens than in the past.  In fact, I had just sprayed Liquid Fence around, when I went back out to take photos of the woodland phlox I had forgotten to include when I was taking photos after work.  The patch I had planted on the east side of the house was completely eaten down.   I went to the back yard, and saw some seed heads, and one little hold out stem with blooms.  (The rabbits also ate my leadplant down to a few stems.  I had asked Larry if he weedwacked it the other day, because I knew it had started growing.  Maybe it will regrow, and I will be able to post it later.

When I first went out, I saw a dang bunny, and yelled at it.  In the past, my instinct to go grab the camera would have kicked in, but I was so mad, that I yelled.  It jumped out of the tub, which I brought the phlox in when we moved here 12 years ago.  It didn't run away right away, though.  A little brown patch of it is just behind the fence to the right of the pot.  The neighbor's luneria and iris are on the other side of the fence.  You can see how much has been eaten from this plant on the left side of the pot.  I am not so happy.

I've shown the orange hawkweed before.  It may not be blooming much longer, but I enjoy it.  The clump with orange and yellow blooms in the back is blanket flower, which we saw growing wild in North Carolina when we were there.  I think this is a hybrid of some kind, though.

I was thinking primroses were wildflowers, so I was glad to see them on Gail's post.

I'm pretty sure oxe-eye daisies are wildflowers.  I don't think foxgloves are, but I'm not sure.

These forget me nots like to seed themselves around.  I keep them from spreading where I don't want them by pulling or hoeing them.

Pasque seedheads are as cool as the blooms.

I think I saw toadflax on  one of the lists.

It looks like the sweet rockets won't be blooming much longer.

Babtisias have to be one of my favorites.  I've been letting the seedheads stay on.  If you grow them, do you deadhead?  The reason I've deadheaded in the past, was to control the size and shape of the plant so it didn't flop over its neighbors.  Now, I just put a string around the bottom stems.

The shell leaf penstemon is a native flower of our area.  I think these have a heavier, moister soil than they prefer.   They are a bit floppy.  They are blooming nicely.

The plant above is a spiderwort.  I'm not sure which ones are considered wild or native.  The ones in the side yard are just starting to bloom.

I think I am almost finished buying plants.  I decided I wanted a heliotrope this year, so on the way home form work, I stopped at a garden center.  I ended up buying several annuals for my pots, and one perennial that caught my eye.  I thought it was an amsonia, but it's not.  It blooms late summer or fall.  When I saw that butterflies like it, I decided I needed to find a spot for it.  I saw that it's a wildflower, too.

I hope to get a chance to do some blog reading in the next few days.  I  hope all of you in blogland are doing well and enjoying your gardening.  I will come back tomorrow and edit this, if it needs it.  I have been struggling to stay awake.  (I did come back and do some editing.  I'm glad I caught the "weewack" and fixed it to say, "weedwack".)