We are late to the wildflower party. To be honest we used to call many of them weeds and pulled their sweet little roots from the ground to further the growth of purchased exotics. We know now that was wrong. We apologize and won’t do it again. The above sweet little Veronica of some type came from daughter Semi’s garden. Semi is a firm believer in not pulling weeds, wildflowers. We now see her wisdom. Who says the old cannot learn from the young?
Somehow, purchased wildflowers were held in higher esteem than the native ones inherited with the property, like this yellow Trillium luteum from our favorite Mouse Creek Nursery…
…or the red T. cuneatum, Sweet Betsy from the same location.
Passalongs were also considered special treasures, to be carefully tended, like these wild Geranium maculatum from a friend near the mountains on the Tennessee side.
From the North Carolina side of those same Appalachian mountains, good friend and fellow blogger Christopher of Outside Clyde has been quite generous with the natives happily ensconced in the natural setting where he is building his cozy cabin. I had thought the white Trillium grandiflora had disappeared, but it was being engulfed by the above geranium. I nearly missed the blooming until a more thorough search was held after seeing the photos of trilliums on his mountainside.
Christopher also gifted us with a nice clump of Iris cristata, in the palest hue of light blue, even though it looks white in the image. We also have the darker blue version of the same plant, a passalong from dear departed neighbor Mae. She is still sorely missed by all who knew her, but her memory lives on in the multitude of plants she shared with us.
From offspring of offspring MA, son of Chickenpoet came this clump of Columbine canadensis along with the mossy rock. These columbines has self seeded and there are now several patches of it, amongst the other hybrid volunteer columbines in the same area. We love the little red and yellow lanterns the best, for many reasons.
Phlox divaricata was purchased, several times in fact. It has been a tough go getting it to establish, but this clump on the side of the daylily hill has returned and seems healthy.
Not known as a native when purchased, the crossvine, Bignonia capreolata ‘Tangerine Beauty’ is filling in across the top of the large arbor. There is a density of buds and blooms as never seen before, even though this vine has been in the ground for several years. It probably is due to the excellent rainfall received last year. Many plants are showing renewed vigor from previous seasons.
Another blogger and dear friend, Gail has made sure that this plant, Hypoxis hirsuta, yellow star grass has a good foothold at the Fairegarden, bringing one as a hostess gift on her very first visit here in 2008, and three more on her next, last fall. We do appreciate the plant and the visitor.
Speaking of Gail, she has generously offered her favorite and signature plant, PPPP, practically perfect pink Phlox, Phlox pilosa, to all who request it. Except one. But that has been remedied and we are proud to announce that this fabulous plant is now living here as well.
*The gracious Gail of Clay and Limestone has designated the third fourth Wednesday of each month as Wildflower Wednesday. Garden bloggers are a freewheeling bunch and sometimes not good at rule following, so any Wednesday is fair game for this meme. I am sure Gail doesn’t mind. (It is hoped that this is okay, we will wait to hear from Gail on the subject. I would hate to speak out of turn, but have done it before and will probably do it again.)
Frances
Frances, I love the columbine-such a great bright red to add a pop of color. And the dark trillium is gorgeous. I am so happy PPPP has made it’s way to your gardens. Gail is a force of nature in her own-spreading this beauty far and wide. Like you, I pull ‘weeds’ much more discriminatinly now. Either that I or I have become much more lazy. 🙂
Frances, your wildflowers are my exotics! I bought an expensive Trillium grandiflora last autumn but it hasn’t appeared. But I have recently planted some of our native blue bells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) – lets hope they are happy here.
Best wishes Sylvia (England)
Looks awesome Frances. Semi is a very wise gardener just like her Mom.
Frances,
Enjoyed the trilliums! We have Geranium maculatum blooming freely all along the open edges of our woods right, now it is giving a better show than most years.
I think Trillium are interesting plants, very unusual in shape. You have shared some really nice wildflowers with us today. Those dark blue anthers on the Veronica are pretty cool.
Wildflowers or weeds, it’s all in the editing. I love Crossvine and am eyeing a spot to put one. So much more exotic looking than many of our other natives.
In the woods at the end of my street are the remains of an old homestead where a prof. of horticulture at UT once lived. The house is no longer there but the spring garden remains, untended. I enjoy it every year, both the planted things and the natives.
Frances, I am laughing at the force of nature comment, but also at what Les said~he used that four letter word~EDIT! My nemesis for sure or is it! Don’t you love T luteum~~all the trilliums are delightful. I am so glad the grandest of them all reappeared~and, Don, PPPP, looks adorable~so very sorry it took foreverrrrrr to get across the state…What a plant that it survived years in the mail;-) Frances, my dear, thank you for the linkloves and sharing your beautiful shots of fairegarden wildflowers…and joining the celebration. xxgail
Frances that is the palest pale blue Iris cristata I have ever seen. We do have the white form around here somewhere. It was a recent purchase around the time of your visits so highly unlikely to have been subject to division. Mine was by my new well head and its exact location and survival is now a mystery. I have to wait for them to bloom. I have been eyeying Gail’s PPPP.
Hi Frances – Our provincial flower here in Ontario is the trillium. We are not allowed to disturb it at all, so it grows wild here. Every spring I drive by a little wooded area in the city that has a great display of these native trilliums. Nice to see them growing in other places too.
Frances what a beautiful bunch of wildflowers you have. I love the foliage on your yellow Trillium luteum and the red T. cuneatum. Great collection!
Trillium luteum is my favorite of the bunch. you have great backlighting on those leaves. well done. Matti
trilliums are such beautiful flowers – and your photo is stunning. You must have a lot of readers who just love looking a beautiful flowers even if they are not ardent gardeners.
So glad you finally have your very own PPPP, Frances! I hesitated to mention on my last post that my own PPPP from Gail is coming up nicely because I didn’t want to make you feel bad:) But I think she’s more than made up for that omission with the other lovely wildflowers she’s shared with you. Lovely trillium!
Frances those are beautiful photographs of the wildflowers and passalongs – I really like that name “pass alongs” What a wonderful meme aswell and one I never knew about. I just love taking photos of wildflowers and I have just taken some 30 mins ago and wondered about how to use them on the blog – problem solved now! The trilliums are lovely – a few garden friends have offered me some of theirs in the past but the passalongs have not appeared yet.
The trilliums and irises have always been favorites, though they are lacking here due to the sun. I do miss my old woodland gardens at a previous house…now so long ago. That’s where I had so many natives.
Must have more trilliums. They are so very unique aren’t they? The native columbine is also a winner. Mine is not yet in bloom but coming along.
I have many of the same beauties, Frances, and I’m in heaven!
Such beautiful wildflowers Frances. It’s been taking me days to weed out our orchard, because for every plant I pull, I first have to determine if it’s native, or invasive. I have a rule here…can’t pull it, until I ID it. It’s a little slow, but I’m pulling less ‘weeds’. It’s so worth it though to help the natives reclaim their space. I love Trilliums too, and am fortunate to have them here, along with native Iris.
Drooling over the wildflowers! Especially the columbine.
Oh, I have wildflowers, and weeds. But today I am featuring baby robins on my blog, I’m afraid.
I surely enjoyed your post, though.
Love the Trillium luteum. The foliage alone would make it worth growing.
My goodness you have soo many things blooming now. I can’t wait to gett some of that PPPP from Gail. She was going to send it but it hasn’t arrived just yet. I will be patient.
Trying to make me feel inadequate once again, huh, Frances? Well, you succeeded. Thanks for the kerria and other plants. Once they look around at their new digs, they will probably feel cheated.
I’m glad you can appreciate the beauty of all the plants in your garden, natives or not. Nothing native was growing in my yard when we moved in. The most prominant plant around here is Ponderosa pine, but those trees are a bit too large for me yard. Will have to keep an eye out for some natives that will work for me.
I’ve really been enjoying these wildflower posts. It’s sure making me more aware of our wildflowers around here, and I’ve already been on the lookout for them both in my garden and at nurseries.
You’ve got such a beautiful collection in your yard. My oldest daughter just chose a Trillium from a native nursery display at a Spring fair and really impressed the owner with her choice. Now we just hope it eventually will get the size of yours.
OH, I would so love to have a trillium! They are pretty much impossible to buy here — well, at least I get to enjoy your photos. Thanks so much for sharing!
i learn something everytime i visit here. i am loving your wildflowers. the trilliums foliage is so interesting looking. i am loving the passalongs airy blooms. of course the pholx looks really “perfect” in your garden as well it should.
happy wildflower gardening in april.
Hi Frances
Love the geranium and the columbine is just beautiful.
Wow, your trillium have just interesting colors and variegation! Also love that crossvine.
Your wildflowers are lovely, Frances. You’re inspiring me to grab the camera and go for a hike. I was so surprised to see the wild columbine! I grow it in a very dry area. I guess I expected your gardens to be too ‘kind’ of an environment for that little beauty.
I just love seeing what kind of wildflowers grow in different parts of the world. The little blue flower on the Veronica is my favorite 🙂
A lovely post which was more about friends than wildflowers. Isn’t it nice to travel the garden and find friends nearby? I used to pull up wildflowers too. I have since learned their value. On the Phlox divaricata, it can be really hard to establish. I have acidified my soil a bit with shredded leaves, and it seems to love it here now.~~Dee
aloha,
everything looks georgious with your native wildflowers and pass a longs this morning…so much to be said about how natives do so well and thrive in their natural habitat
Just today I received a pkg in the mail from a wildflower nursery where I ordered a trillium (just 1)-because I’ve wanted one for so long (well, really only since learning about them through garden blogging, which has been about a year and a half now). It’s Trillium recurvatum and has an interesting red flower. I had ordered a bunch of Asclepias (4 varieties) to have for the monarchs since I couldn’t get any to grow from seed, and while I was at it, added a few things like the Trillium, some Hepatica nobilis (another one I’ve ‘always’ wanted (for the past year and 1/2!)) — and a couple of others which I won’t bore you with here. I don’t think I’ll be able to add a post to Gail’s WW at this point, but maybe if I get photos, even if they aren’t in bloom next month, I can still do a post on them then. I enjoyed all of your wildflowers.
Beautiful, just beautiful. I’m always looking at the wildflowers around here. I have the one that looks like Ajuga. It’s leaves fascinate me.
Frances you have a beautiful collection of natives. I’m with Semi on the “weeds”! 🙂 They’re like delicate brushstrokes of color and the bees like them so much. Granted, they can be a leetle pushy…
The NC Botanical Garden has Iris cristata in pure white, blue that matches Phlox divaricata, and lavender. I have the pale blue but it hasn’t bloomed in a couple of years. I think each color shade has its own unique and outstanding beauty.
Your Crossvine looks fabulous. It grows wild here, I need to look for it in the trees by the creek.
Christopher is a good gardening buddy.
PS I meant to add that your I. cristata would complete that color palette from lavender to white. It’s beautiful!
LOL, Frances,
I posted for Wildflower Wednesday a few weeks ago, and when I went to get Gail’s url, I noticed I was doing it the wrong Wednesday of the month. Then, when the right Wednesday came along, I forgot to post.
You sure have a nice assortment of blooms there! I have a phlox similar to the one Gail shared with you.