For those of you who love wildflowers and have either a single plant or wildflower gardens, what is your favorite one? Mine is the spiderwort, which reminds me of a small, purplish trillium. I just love them. How about you all? abby Moderator Note: Cleaned up subject line and added more description
I agree that spiderworts are lovely. I guess my favorite is the Horsemint, a form of monarda. It is lovely and our bees adore it. I know I'm supposed to say the bluebonnet because I'm in Texas, but frankly I just don't see the fascination with that useless plant. Cactus Jack Garner thought any plant that wasn't sweet in the mouth of a cow shouldn't be the Texas state flower!
I know nothing about wild flowers but last weekend I went for a walk with many friends and there hubbies and I went off the beaten path, of course, and found these Columbine flowers. They were splendid.. I love them. Wild Columbine Wild Columbine Wild Columbine
Hmmm...I never really thought about a favorite wildflower. I enjoy most wildflowers when I meet up with them......How about a Hieracium aurantiacum in a field of H. pilosella, that should send a few people over to google. There is a large field of H. pilosella with perhaps thousands in it near Cayuga Morning and very few H. aurantiacum. Jerry
My favorite wildflower is the bluebell or Mertensia. About 45 years ago our daughter transplanted a bluebell to the north side of our house.It lived but didn't flourish because the junipers shaded them out. We took out the junipers several years later & low & behold there were bluebells there next spring. Now they have spread around to different spots.They aren't hard to control. sewNsow
To choose one out of so many is very hard, I simply love them all. Mostly it's the combination that makes them awesome to look at, like what Jerry said about the mix of Hieracium's. Where I live there used to be lots of fields where poppies and cornflowers grew amongst the wheat. Very pretty. In view of that, maybe I would have to say poppies, their bright red flowers liven up any field! (Monet captured this beautifully in his paintings)
Every year when my wildflowers in my 2 gardens came up, I was so amazed at the variety and colors of a natural garden, one not planted by anyone but God. And, even though I know most people call them, "those annoying weeds," when you see a field of yellow dandylion which then become big puff balls ..... well, I just think their gorgeous. abby
The birds & bees love you, Abby.. There is a seed company in/near Fredericksburg, TX, that specializes in seeds of native wildflowers. This company is called Wildseed Farms, I think..
Right now, I can cut my grass or pull weeds because the yard is full of Black-eyed Susans. They are everywhere you look. It would take days to pull them all or even make a dent in them. dooley
Oh my gosh! As I read through it was yes to columbine, yes to foxglove, yes to trilliums, and I will have to add California poppies and pacific bleeding hearts....never could pick just one....oh yeh, also lupines in their hundreds of different species. Those are just a few of my favorite wild flowers at the moment. I'm sure it will change and/or e added to if I dwell on it
When I was still married, we would vacation in Vermont and outside of Shelburn was a place, I believe, it was called The Wildflower Garden, but not quite sure of the name. They sold seeds of all kinds of wildflowers and big packets of them mixed to just strew all around. And they had about a mile walk through the open fields and in the woods full of wildflowers. Depending on the time of summer you went, depended on what was blooming. It was heaven for a wildflower lover. abby
The Primroses, Foxgloves and wild Roses my main ones but its a very difficult choice to make. Jerry mentioned Hieraceum aurantiacum which I did grow amongst my cottage garden flowers - a great spreader and also amongst other names (some not very kind!) known over here as "Grim the Collier" due to the black marks/hairs on its rough leaves/stems. I loved it. Look it up - worth a read. Ref to plants with black marks on foliage or flowers whilst its in my (now fading?) mind did anyone else ever grow the Prophet Flower Arnebia echioides - this had a black spot on each of the petals of its yellow flowers which faded away soon after they opened. This another of my once grown treasures and joys. Likewise worth a read. Agree also that a field full of Dandelions is also.a lovely sight
