June Wildflower Wednesday

For the second day in a row, I have been up before sunrise or as I like to say "Cecil time" (inside joke). So what to do this early in the morning? I should be watching Wimbledon but my blogger buddies reminded me that it is Wildflower Wednesday so I grabbed my hat, mosquito repellant, and camera to see what might pique your interest in my garden. There is this fine line of time when I want the dawn just bright enough to see a copperhead before I step on it but still dim enough that all the other creatures are just waking.

Broad Band Copperhead

Southern Copperhead

Immature Copperhead - notice the triangular shaped head characteristic of a venomous snake

 

 

One of my favorite native flowers that came with my property is the Hairy Sunflower (Helianthus hirsutus). It can be found in dry open woods, savannas, prairies, and along roadsides. The ray flowers are 1 inch long and yellow. Disk flowers are brownish to yellow.

Hairy Sunflower

My Hairy Sunflowers grow in a colony in mostly shade at the back of the garden. They provide a brilliant yellow backdrop to the Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), don't you think?








So next time you go to make a plant shopping (is there any other kind), think about purchasing natives that are uniquely suited to your area. Why?

1. They take less work and resources. Since native plants have spent centuries adapting to your garden’s growing conditions they aren’t going to need much in the way of supplemental fertilizer, watering, spraying and winter mulching.
2. Local wildlife, birds, bugs, bees and butterflies have a relationship with your native plants. They rely on them for food, shelter and nesting.
3. Native plants tend to be well behaved in the garden. Plant natives are rarely invasive. Having evolved within the community, they have natural predators that help to keep them in check.
4. They are beautiful.
And finally,
5. As Lady Bird Johnson said, native plants "give us a sense of where we are in this great land of ours."