Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo just after star wars day, TPP can only stand so much excitement.  Nothing much to do with plants for either day, but lots of things to choose from.  A relatively new addition to our gardens will have to do.  Firstly, know that Mrs. Phactor loves Iris of all sorts.  A native iris is now available in our garden shops even though it just barely makes it into the southern most tip of Lincolnland.  TPP first saw this species, Iris cristata on a field trip to eastern Kentucky.  This particular clone seems fairly robust and has flowered in its first season, a good sign.  It has been a bit tricky to grow in that it's hard to find a place this little woodland iris likes where it isn't too exposed but doesn't get over grown with more aggressive plants.  In this case it seems to like a corner of a low garden wall next to a sidewalk.  The whole plant only stands about 6 inches tall, with flowers just barely over an inch in diameter.  It's distinctive feature is that the "falls", sepals, have a raised crest sporting some contrasting white and yellow pigmentation with a darker purple margin rather than having a beard of filaments. The iris flower functions rather like 3 bilaterally symmetrical flowers, so presumably the crest is a nectar guide. The sepals are partly covered by a 3-parted petaloid stigma that hides the 3 stamens.  Don't let Mrs. Phactor catch you  pulling apart one of her Iris flowers.  

 

Fall Color - Bayberry

If you have the space for it, they tend to spread, bayberry (Myrica gale) is a very interesting ornamental shrub because the "female" plants (a dioecious, which means "two houses", plant) produce an unusual fall fruit display consisting of clusters of globose fruits with a gray-blue wax covering. The whole plant, especially the leaves and fruit, are fragrant, and the wax melts around 75 C and can be collected by simmering the fruit in hot water, but based upon efforts of my students in their gums, resins, latexes, oils, and waxes lab, you would need one heck of a lot of shrubs to make even one small candle. The extracted wax is a gray-green color and the candle would smell great when burned. As a native of the deep south my Mother was quite enamored with the bayberry that grew wild near my rural upstate New York childhood home and she wanted some for her garden, and while doing her bidding both Father and son got the worst case of poison ivy. In my defense, this was 5-6 years prior to my first botany course ever, and it was well after frost had removed the tell tale poison ivy leaves. This was a botanical mistake the Phactor would never make now; you must use students to wade in and do the collecting.

Friday Fabulous Flower - Swamp Milkweed

Too many things in the news have upset the Phactor's wa, like finding out our former governor was more intent on improving his own lot than serving the people who elected him, an unfortunate and common trend here in Lincolnland, so to regain my balance with the universe here is a post about a really nice flower. This Friday's fabulous flower is one of those native species that has a just splendid floral display that attracts butterflies to your garden. Funny that the swamp milkweed (Ascelpias incarnata) should pop up on my botanical radar just after the weather gods have dumped a bit more than 4" of rain on us since last Friday. This plant will do well in a low place that may prove to be a bit too wet for other species. There are a number of cultivars and color selections out there, but the wild type looks just fine.

OK Plants for OK

An OK Anonymous reader writes: I love plants, but don't have a lot of time to devote to them as I work in a drug rehab and work very long hours. Need easy maintenance, hardy plant ideas for the Oklahoma area. Any suggestions?>>

My first suggestion is to move. In my experience Oklahoma is not conducive for growing plants. However, since this is hardly practical advice, let me provide the simplest of advice: go native. And help is available in the body of the Oklahoma Native Plant Society. Most appropriately Gaillardia is their symbol and the name of their newsletter. You can’t plant anything prettier, well, unless you plant Missouri evening primrose (Oenothera missouriensis) and you should be able to get plants easily enough. If not you can get seeds from Ever Wilde. They have nice maps to show where the plants are native and the range over which they will grow. This species actually does fine way up here in Lincolnland so long as you give it enough sun and drainage. (It looks great draping over an exposed retaining wall displaying its huge yellow flowers.)

Those good folks at the Lady Bird Wildflower Society (named after the former 1st lady, not the former 1st dog) also have a list of recommended native plants for Oklahoma. They also recommend some wildflower seed suppliers, like Lorenz’s OK Seeds (on OK Street in Okeene, OK – OK, we get the idea!). The only problem, one the Phactor has commented about before, is to get nurseries to stock more native plants.

Lastly the Phactor suggests that gardening is good therapy; get people to dig in the dirt, plant things, and watch them grow, which may be a win-win idea about how to get your property planted via drug rehab therapy. Why maybe someone will even give you a grant!