Wildflower Wednesday (ok, Saturday) in Purple and Yellow

This time of year the wildflowers that jump out at me are of course all the different Goldenrod varieties that are blooming now.  There are about 60 species of Goldenrod, Solidago native to North America.  Pair that gorgeous yellow with some of the purple blooms are are gracing us with their presence to complement the yellows.   This is along the road as I go into town.  A field of Solidago with Ironweed, Vernonia noveboracensis creating a dreamy mixture of golden yellows and bold purples.

I stopped the car and walked over to the edge of this road to try and get a great photo as evening fell.  I was worried that there wouldn't be enough light.   For your viewing pleasure.... purple Vernonia and yellow Solidago growing wild along the roadside.

This year I was able to buy some Vernonia noveboracensis at the native plant sale.  Mine isn't quite this tall yet, we shall see over the next few years if it is happy where I planted it.

This wonderful example in nature makes me smile, it is a happy happenstance.  

While mine are small, I will enjoy these big and bold natives.  

Another purple and yellow combination a little closer to home are some Liatris and Chamaecrista fasciculata or Partridge Pea.  This is just outside our back gate of the neighborhood.

Here is a closer view of  the Partridge Pea, a favorite of the Cloudless Sulphur butterfly.

The pollinators are happy with these bright yellow blooms.  I am happy to say I have a number of varieties of Solidago in my yard.  Thanks to Ellen, this is not a Solidago but a Chrysopsis mariana, Golden Aster.  Thanks!!!

Also appearing in my yard is Liatris, (happy dance!!) I bought some that are in the backyard gardens, they bloom in the late spring/early summer.  These natives bloom in the fall.  Hoping they reseed and spread in this rather hostile dry area by the street.  

I wanted to include a new little bloom.  This sweet little flower's common name is Wart-removing Herb.  Such a icky name for a cute little flower.   It is Murdannia keisak.  It is growing in a damp area in the turf.

Doesn't this remind you of a Spiderwort?  One of the links says it is similar to a miniature Spiderwort.

I stumbled across another purple/yellow combo this afternoon while enjoying my woodland garden in the backyard.  Blue Lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica and another Solidago.  Wonderful!!

Thanks to Gail at Clay and Limestone for hosting another Wildflower Wednesday.  Stop by and see some of the other natives across the country and around the world.

©Copyright 2013 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Mush Mush Mush Mushrooms

This past summer was wet, a lot wetter than previous summer since we moved to South Carolina.  Besides the joy of not having to worry about watering plants, we enjoyed a bumper crop of mushrooms.  They were varied, colorful and popped up in multiple places... everywhere except the logs that I had inoculated with mushroom spores after hearing Tradd Cotter from Mushroom Mountain give a talk to the Master Gardeners.  I shared with you how I drilled the logs and plugged them here.

These inedible ones popped up in the mulch in the backyard that had reddish caps.

Some where wide and white, peeking out along the rocks-

Some were wavy and orangish in the pinestraw-

The gills were open -

Some looked a little dirty-

This one had a yellow tint to its upturned cap--

What does this one look like to you???

I marvel at how different they all are, this one's cap is kind of fuzzy looking-

These little ones were all lined up-

looks like the snails like mushrooms.  

Aren't they cute?

This one looks as if the cap is part of the stem--

This is the gnarliest one I found in the yard.  Almost looks like a pinecone.  

Finally, a year after plugging the logs, I finally found an edible mushroom!!  I was sure this was a Shiitake, up until it was time to eat it.  I had to send a picture to Tradd for verification.  Call me a scaredy cat..or cautious, but I wanted to be sure!!!  This is the first one I had harvested --waiting for them to start popping. 

Looks like some"body" took a bite of my first mushroom!  Do you grow mushrooms?  How long did it take for you to harvest the first one?   I also plugged some Oyster mushrooms, waiting on them to appear.

©Copyright 2013 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Wildflower Wednesday with Butterflies and Craneflies

Gail's posting on Wildflowers on the fourth Wednesday of the month is always an educational experience for me.  I don't always get to participate (nor do I get the posts done on Wednesday) but I do like to read through the posts.  Where I live is so untamed, knowing what are wildflowers and what are invasives is good knowledge as I walk around my yard.  Two of my offerings today have been talked about before and one is a mystery vine.

Let me start with one of my favorite finds from my woods.  This is Crane-fly Orchid or Tipularia discolor, a lovely little native that has foliage in the winter which disappears during the summer.  I have posted its leaves before- here and here and the blooms here.   The challenge is to remember where the leaves were during the winter.  I put sticks in the ground, surrounding the area.  After three years, I probably don't need the sticks anymore, I KNOW where these babies are!  Photographing the slender stalks with their blooms is not easy.  I had just come back from the mailbox when I first saw this year's blooms, so I used the back of an envelope to give a plain backdrop.

The exciting part of this year's flower stalks was that there were three stalks.  Seems my little plot of Tipularia discolor is growing!

Not happy with the white background I came in and got the black apron to give a dark backdrop.  Ignore the dog hair. 

Maybe by next year I will have figured out how to best photograph these tiny orchid blooms.

This time of year there are all sorts of blooms opening in the woods and it is always a surprise to find where some pop up.  The Spurred Butterfly Pea or Centrosema virginianum is a large purple bloom.  It grows on a vine that shows up in various spots through the woods.  I have posted about this beauty about four times.  Here, here, here and here.  Isn't she a beauty?  It was a new plant to me when I first moved here, now I feel like she is an old friend.  Her delicate vine twists through various shrubs in the woods or across the open ground, she isn't picky.

See how large the bloom is?  It is big enough to make you stop and look to see what that pretty purple bloom might be.

I am including her in this Wildflower Wednesday posting because I have collected a few seed pods.  I took an old aluminum pan outside to put under the pod as  I clipped it from the vine.  Good thing I did that as it acted like a spring that needed to coil.  The very dry, ripe pods will pop into a spiral fashion, dispersing the seeds outward.   Mother Nature is pretty clever in her ways of spreading seeds.

These are long narrow pods.....they are dark brown when they are ripe and almost disappear against the forest.

They are native all across the South, as far west as Texas and as far north as New Jersey. You can see the range here....so--- I have enough seeds to share with three of you (maybe more if I can find more seed pods).  If you are interested in trying your hand in growing this pretty little vine....tell me in the comments.  If there are more than three I will pick three names.

And now for our mystery vine.  It blooms late -- fully in bloom photos are from October last year, the stem is squared, the leaves are heart-shaped, arranged opposite each other, with new growth also springing from the nodes.  I have looked for this on Namethatplant.net and have had no luck.

Here it is again this summer, buds plump and soon to open.  I have looked for it in all my wildflower books, to no avail.

The squared stems seem to be reddish purple this year.  Maybe they age to a green color by October.   They grow along my shoreline of the lake.

In the fall there are lots of little bees enjoying the blooms.  

Interesting intersection of stems and leaves.  

Here is the squared stem.  Any ideas?  

It is interspersed with Apios americana, Groundnut, which was the subject of another post a few years ago.  When I first saw the vine last year I thought it might be the Groundnut, but no--- something new! 

If you have any ideas please let me know.  Sure would like to identify this one.  Be sure to stop over to Gail's blog- clayandlimestone.com to see her Wildflowers and others' who have contributed.
Tina mentioned she needed a better photo of the leaves--- so here is one more photo of our mystery vine.  Well our mystery vine has been IDed!  Gail found it.  It is Mikania scandens, Climbing Hempweed!

©Copyright 2013 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.