wildflowers in my garden now

buttercup close-up

You couldn’t ask for a tougher ground cover than buttercups, so why fight it? Their shiny golden faces light up the woodland’s edge (and anywhere else that they have not been diligently removed).

foxgloves

I never know where the foxgloves will show up from year to year, but they have a starlet’s sense of where they will show off to best advantage.

odd foxglove

Once again, a few of them are doing this strange thing where the top flower opens into a most un-foxglovely blossom. I asked my master gardener neighbor about it, but she had no idea…anyone???

field daisy

Beyond the reach of the hose, the field daisies carry on regardless.

grasses and vetch

…as do pretty grasses and vetch.

silene

I find the wild silene as charming as any cultivated beauty. As such, it is allowed free reign anywhere it chooses to put in an appearance.

salmon berry Rubus spectabilis

Thanks to The Oregonian, I even have the botanical name for the salmon berries that grow in our woodland. They are Rubus spectabilis, with large, maple-like leaves and white flowers that become salmon-colored berries. Their name, however, is derived not from the color, but from their use. Native Americans served them with salmon roe, and the fish typically spawn at the same time that the blossoms appear.

I am a bit late to the party this month, but on the third Wednesday of each month, Clay and Limestone hosts Wildflower Wednesday, giving us an opportunity to pay tribute to the flowers that tough it out with no coddling. Where would we be without them?

7 thoughts on “wildflowers in my garden now

  1. What a fab collection of interlopers.
    I really envy your that strange Digitalis.
    If pressed, I would say that is another example of Fasciation.

    Was the stem thickened? Like a bundle of stems rther than a normal one? Fascis means bundle.
    I ahve this happen on several species (Campanula persicifolia, I forget the other names). but never on Digitalis.
    Fascinating.
    Well, could you resist that?
    And the lovely Nadal has just come through his fiendishly difficult match.

  2. Jo~I didn’t notice about the stem, but that exact thing happened on some pussy willow: it was strange and wonderful, but this year’s growth is perfectly normal (rats!). Adding “Fasciation” to my lexicon…thanks for the scholarly approach you bring.
    Aha! A tennis fan…do you play? We’ve been having fun watching the blonde amazons clean up on the courts.

  3. I have always enjoyed our wildflowers but I appreciate the ease with which they appear more and more as I try to grow fancy hybrids and non-native oddities. How lovely the snow berries are!

  4. Jane~The wildflowers do best here when they pick their own spots. Like you, I thank them for filling in when my fancy-shmancy plants are acting temperamental.

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