Wildflower Wednesday

I noticed in my sidebar that Gail, from Clay and Limestone has her Wildflower Wednesday post up.  I was thinking the day was coming up.  It was raining when I got up, so I picked up a couple books I have, and came up with quite a list of plants I grow that are considered wild.

My mother-in-law, who died from cancer when she was 62, 18 years ago, grew moonflowers, and I always liked them.  I don't know why there weren't any in the yard  12 years ago, when we bought it from Larry's dad's estate, since they like to reseed themselves.  I set out to find some, because I thought they should be grown here in her memory.  Of course, they weren't sold at garden centers.  Come to find out, they are poisonous.  Well, some poisonous plants are sold at garden centers, though.  I got some from a lady at our farmer's market.   I pull and hoe out lots of seedlings each year, because I only have room for one or two plants.  Plus, it's hard keeping up with deadheading, and I don't want a take over of the whole yard.

Datura is the name I know this plant by, but in my looking at the books and checking on line, it appears this is also jimson weed.

Butterfly milkweed is a perennial that only lives a few years in my garden, so I go ahead and plant a couple plants each year.   One 'Hello Yellow' came up in the side bed.  This one is just beginning to bloom.

I grow several kinds of liatris.  I couldn't find the tag for these.  They may be cultivars, but I'm not sure.

These liatris have been planted longer.  I cut back the milkweed because the plants were starting to lean due to all the rain.

The gaillardia is probably a cultivar.  I'm not sure about the wallflower.  The small reddish blooms are  pine leaf penstemon.

The yarrow on the left and helenium are cultivars of wildflowers, too.

I don't remember what kind of echinacea this is.  It looks like the tall coneflowers on the Dave's Garden's website.

Do you know what these are in my front garden bed?  It looks like the daisy fleabane, listed as a weed in one of the books I looked at this morning.

I'm enjoying the unique look of rattlesnake master.

I think these aliums are wild onions.

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I pulled a bunch of sweet woodruff out of this area, where the pasque foliage is still looking lovely.

I'm not sure what kind of spiderworts I have, either.

I can't decide if I want to keep these in this area.  They aren't always in bloom, and when they aren't, they look like this, not so appealing.  Also, sometimes they die back, leaving a huge gap. 

The black eyed Susans are getting ready to bloom. 

The Dame's rocket is almost finished blooming.  I got the Virginia waterleaf deadheaded and cut back a bit.  It is in the lower left part of the photo.

I've mentioned the lead plant had been eaten down to the stub, with a few short leafless stems left.  I didn't think it was going to live, but look at it now!

One of the purple milkweeds I just planted this spring is getting ready to bloom.  It's only about 18 inches tall.  I put a support by it today, and noticed it has straightened up.  I'll probably cut the bloom off after a few days so the plant can focus on roots, stems, and leaves.

The stiff goldenrod has mildew or something on the lower stems, but the upper foliage looks healthy.  Should I be cutting them back or something?

These false sunflowers must like this spot, because they get taller than the others.

The gray headed coneflowers are loaded with buds.

The tag near this liatris by the shed says, "rough blazing star".  It would like more sun, but is doing OK.  I planted this last spring.

This is the butter and eggs I am growing in a pot to keep it from spreading in the ground.

To see more wild flowers or how to post yours, go see Gail.