Thanks for the encouragement. Going plant shopping in two days. We have had several days of 70 degree weather, so I am getting ready!!

Also just planted 15 containers of easy to germinate native seeds. Think I have about 10 more to go.

Winter sowing has shown promise...have to transplant those babies soon.

Oops. Forgot that I was going on vacation soon. Too many thing to take care of in retirement years, not to mention multiple dr. appts. Yikes!

I finally planted Chocolate Flower & a couple are just coming up. Also I am bound and determined to get a few Desert Globe-mallows (S. ambigua), so far three are up & I'm being careful since they damp off easy. I have gravel in the pots & this is my "special deal" this year, the obsession.

I direct sowed a mix pack of wildflowers and these are up & coming along. Also there are many others I direct sowed that I am duplicating from perennials & shrubs I have & some I got in trades, can't remember what all. It will be a surprise. There's a lot of penstemon seed sowed, various varieties.

Last fall I winter sowed a slew of Chamisa shrubs because I'd like to have quite a few. They are about 2" tall.

Last fall I saved cuttings & sowed some seed indoors, I just planted a number of hardy Lantana & have some rooted cuttings of Turk's Cap to set in the ground + seedlings that are up. I just sat three small Salvia penstemenoides, agastache, Salvia greggii, Prince's Plume & some grasses in the ground that have been growing all winter in a big S. window.

So far, I haven't ordered or bought any plants. I've been tempted but I'm doing it on the cheap this year but if I see something here locally thats native & I want it, I know I'll buy it.

So, come on Barron, wha'd ya git? Don't leave us hanging.

I recently (bout 2 years ago) had to sell my property and move in with my parents (mother was terminally ill), so I've somewhat started over. It was traumatic giving up land that I'd been planting natives on for twelve years, but necessary.
Unfortunately my father feels they're all weeds, so we fight about it.
What I decided to indulge in is below, I've grown them all before, but didn't have any now.
asclepias purpurascens,asclepias syriaca,callirhoe involucrata,helenium flexuosum,heliopsis hellianthoides,nothoscordum bivalve,lobelia silphitica,carex eburnea,salvia azurea,mimulus ringens,rudbeckia subtomentosa,delphinium exaltatum.
Most will go in the fencerows (only "safe" non-mowed place), but a couple are going to go in the flower beds by the house.
I feel ridiculous buying rudbeckias, false garlic, and milkweeds. I had such a natural population of all those on my property in Oklahoma, that buying never entered the question.

However, I'm also a photographer, and having subjects to photograph close by home is quite valuable. I can sympathize with Georgia O'Keefe, who said, 'I hate flowers - I paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move.'
I don't hate the flowers, but still love that quote :)

Here is a link that might be useful: To see some of my native wildflower photos, click

This post was edited by dbarron on Tue, Apr 1, 14 at 16:27

Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

Blooming is late this year, so I needed that.

I looked through the photos, great shots. I loved the liatris, I've never seen them look that pink & tall. I never had any luck getting Indian Paintbrush, love those too.

Everything is late this year, ncrescue. The only thing I have blooming is bladderpod. Some plants that are typically green by now & forming buds are starting over from the ground, the whole tops died back. Seeds are slow in germinating too. I can't understand it, we've been warm since mid Feb. 50's,60's, 70's & 80's. The nights have been warm enough that I set plants out to harden off early March. Must have been the spells of very dry cold we had in January.

Thanks. TexasRanger10, I had the fortune to own a small piece of wetland habitat. The L pycnostachys reached six and maybe seven feet that year (with ample rain). They were impressive, being taller than me.
Yeah, this year...(as in my other thread), I lost a lot due to extra severe long winter. And flowers (including wildflowers are almost a month late).