Thursday, May 05, 2005

Flowery


Waterleaf


Coreopsis


Rattlesnake Fern


Tuberous Stoneseed (Lithospermum tuberosum)


Bluebells (a white one)

15 comments:

Rurality said...

The bluebells really finished blooming weeks ago, but I forgot to post a picture of this white one. (I never got a picture that I really liked.)

This was one of the plants that the beavers put under water for a while, so it may not come back next year... but I hope it will.

The tuberous stoneseed is closely related to Hoary Puccoon.

Lorianne said...

Wow, I've never seen *white* bluebells! It's incredible how far along your southern flowers are compared to our northern ones. The other day I found a cluster of bloodroot *leaves*, so I'm eagerly awaiting the appearance of bloodroot *flowers*.

Karen Schmautz said...

I love Coreopsis, but I might as well print out your lovely picture of it and plant that in my garden because that is the closest that any Jackrabbit will ever let me get to one. They may even eat your picture.

Hick's rule of thumb...no yellow flowers...aside from my roses, the yellow flowers are usually the first to get eaten.

Anonymous said...

Wow, Hick! I wish I could ship you some of my coreopsis. I have a leaky dam on my Missouri land, and the coreopsis flourish in the land below the dam. In fact, you can stand on the dam and tell where the standing water is below it by the splash of yellow flowers.

Suzanne said...

Lovely photos that give me hope. Things are greening up around here, but we're a ways from having anything flowering. Sigh.

swamp4me said...

Is that a little corn salad (Valerianella radiata) there amongst the coreopsis? Looks like it in the picture.

Ed said...

I've always wondered...how do you know the scientific names?

Wayne Hughes said...

HAHAHA... I should've known swampy would beat me to it. Yes, it's Valerianella, though I might have guessed V. locusta, but only based on what we have around here.

Wayne Hughes said...

Orphyus - my own feeling is that you don't worry too much about the scientific names at first and learn to recognize the plants by whatever common name you know, realizing there are many common names for the same plant and many different plants that might be called by the same common name. That might be where you want to settle. I've never picked up bird scientific names but know a very large number by their common names. Eventually if you're into it then invest some time in learning the KPOCFGS taxa in general and then start learning for the plants you know scientific names that you get when you google or otherwise look up the common names. After a certain time of this it all starts to fit together.

It helps to get a good field guide that includes family, genus, and species names. I use quite a few but will usually get a start with my good old Roger Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers, arranged by flower color and further by numbers of petals and so forth. I've been using Lawrence Newcomb's Wildflower Guide too - it divides wildflowers up into alternate and opposite leaves of flowers with different numbers of parts, and then goes from there. Two approaches.

Rurality said...

Lorianne, they are not really common but they are neat, huh? There are ones that are all pink too - they never turn blue. I saw one of those last year but not this year.

When I look at your page it makes me want to relive spring again!

Hick that's funny, I haven't noticed the deer around here eating them... I guess they are too busy eating the trilliums.

Pablo, I hadn't noticed that before, but our few spots of coreopsis are in damp spots.

Thanks Zanne, wish I could send some of it your way. And the gnats too. :) They are truly horrible this year.

Swampy & Wayne, I'm not sure. A friend of mine called it square flower. I will have to look at it a little more closely to see if it matches. Wayne that's the weed I was wanting you to ID, LOL. The flowers are always arranged in a square pattern.

Ed I don't know most of them - I have to look them up. I don't always remember or have time to do it, but I'm wanting to learn more of them so I try to do it as often as possible.

Wayne I like Newcomb's Guide too, although it leaves out a lot of southern flowers... wish someone would do a southern version of it!

Wayne Hughes said...

I agree about Newcombs. I hadn't decided if it was leaving out southern flowers or non-natives, but I could tell I wasn't finding the things I was identifying elsewhere. I got it a few months ago specifically because it took a different field guide approach.

Unfortunately there isn't a peterson's for the southeast either - closest is still north-east/northcentral, but it usually gives me a clue.

Although not a field guide exactly, and not arranged according to flower color either of Wilbur Duncan's two flowering plants books (...of the Southeast and ...of Eastern US) do have a large number of southeast flowers. They're great for paging through until you find what the thing looks like. (It's subversive too, since it's arranged by plant family, and you gradually pick up on that without even knowing it.)

Rhodent said...

Great pictures once again. Our wildflowers are blooming like madnorth of Pasco county where there is still a lot of woodsy areas. The colors are wonderful, and I keep saying I want to stop and take pictures to post on my site. Somehow, though, the time has not presented itself. Maybe I will have to make a special trip up that way just to take the pictures!

Charles said...

Charles said...

just curious, ever been to NY? dude, if you and your husband ever end up here.....*makes hand gesture for "call me"*

Rurality said...

Thanks Rho, you should take some pics! I think you have things down there that we don't have here.

Charles I have driven through NY but haven't stopped (unless you count sitting in traffic). Hubby visited a friend there years ago, for about a week I think. The guy worked in the WTC. If we ever get up that way I'll definitely call you!

Charles said...

yep. cool.