February 2009. I was greeted by this flower last fall, nearly five years after living in our house. I had never noticed it before, but this year was full of surprises, in the middle of a drought no less. A whole ribbon of these appeared on a very shady fenceline near our dog run. Not the prettiest place in the world, but where better to surprise me with Texas wildflowers? I absolutely adore daisies, and so one can imagine I was delighted to have some effortless ones suddenly appear. This perennial autumn-blooming Aster is sometimes called White Aster, Heath Aster...…

Update September 2009: They did not live through the Texas summer. Seems like they'd need to be watered daily to survive. On a trip to Scotland this summer, I was walking by a small cornershop florist in a small village, and in front a lone pot of violas was blooming, labeled "Etain". I leaned in to smell and was surprised; it was nothing like pansies or annual violas, which often have no fragrance. I had to have one. I almost considered buying it and trying to hide it somewhere in my suitcase home. So you can imagine my excitement when,...…

This flower needs no introduction. During my first-ever gardening escapade, I sowed Texas wildflower seeds all over my bare back yard (in January!), and native Purple Coneflower was among them. They never came up but the next year I sowed the seeds in a prepared bed in fall. By spring it seemed like hundreds came up. I discarded many and potted many others, giving some away to friends that summer. Since the seeds germinated in spring, it would most likely be another year before they bloomed (since many perennials take about a year to reach blooming stage from seed, a...…

There are different types of Oregano, of which the common names can be confusing. A couple different types are called Italian Oregano, or alternately Marjoram. By far, the kind you most often find in your spice jar and the species most often used in Mediterranean cooking is Origanum vulgare, also called Greek Oregano or Wild Marjoram. Greek Oregano is said to be a little spicier than the kind I am growing, Origanum onites, which the tag called Italian Oregano and which is also commonly called Pot Marjoram. There is also the actual species Marjoram, Origanum majorana. And not to mention...…

Penstemons are becoming hugely popular in gardens, it seems, and they encompass a wide range of species native to the U.S. Since I first started gardening, I was attracted to foxgloves but haven't had much success with them so far, as with many perennial cottage garden plants they fare better in cooler summers. I was also on the lookout for spiky tall plants for parts of my garden that needed less sprawly things (I seem to have a lot of sprawliness). I've tried Mulleins, foxglove, larkspur.During one trip to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower center I noticed a clump of foxglove-looking...…

Fall 2007. I go on a huge bulb buying craze, buying daffodils and tulips by the dozen. There are many daffodils that do well in Texas but tulips do not fare so well. One, tulips generally need cold to flower, as most of the modern Dutch-grown tulips are made for colder places. So most Texas gardeners go through the 'buy every year, chill in fridge, plant in December' method to simulate a winter chill, but treat the tulips as annuals since they won't come back unless you dig them up and chill them again. But after reading about Tulipa praecox,...…

I don't know much about columbines, other than that they are now famous for Colorado. But when I started hunting for seeds, I suddenly saw the name everywhere. In spring many nurseries were carrying small starter plants of columbines and I had no idea what the flower even looked like. I asked my favorite nurseryman about them and he said he'd always had trouble with columbines so this made me think right away that they were fussy plants from another part of the country, or the world. I was pleased to discover there are a few kinds that are native...…

Perennial
Height: 12" or under

Size: 2' tall by about 1x wide.
Blooms: early summer to fall. In mid-summer, the pink seedheads turn silvery but shoot up new pink ones in fall when the temperatures go down.
Sun: full sun.
Tender perennial, reseeds like crazy.

A year after we were married we and a group of friends walked on an ancient pilgrimage path in northern Spain. Just before our arrival in Pamplona, we passed by a fence that was covered in passionflower vines. I stopped the entire group--about 12 of us--to marvel at just one of the flowers. All those tricks, special tricks, wheels and spins. It was a theatrical flower. Each bloom could've been a circus if it wasn't purple. After moving to Texas, I was surprised to learn that passionflowers were native here; I'd never seen anything like them in the midwest. So...…

When I received my first wildflower seed catalog, gaura (also known as "Appleblossom Grass") was the first plant I fell in love with. I sowed the native Texas variety from seed last fall (which is showing leaves in various parts of my yard now). "Siskyou Pink" is the first variety I planted, in spring of 2006, in my very first garden bed, which has now become my wildflower bed. It is supposed to be a hardy plant in summer but many perennials disappeared in the summer heat of August and September which still have not reappeared. I was surprised to...…

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