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Garden Surprises
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Posted by
mnwsgal 4 Henn MN (
My Page) on
Wed, Sep 17, 14 at 14:07
| This rudbeckia was self seeded and I kept trying to pull it out but it kept growing back. Glad it did as the others are past there prime as am letting them set seed to collect and share. 
A self sown Echinacea that stands out by itself. Now where to move it as am planting iris in that area? 
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Garden Surprises
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I love surprises. :-) They are so cheeky and cheerful, aren't they?
I am scattering Rudbeckia hirta seedheads everywhere every fall and let them pop up wherever they want. That's why my garden never looks the same twice. |
RE: Garden Surprises
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I found this rare orchid while clearing underbrush. It is a Hexalectris nitida. There are 30 populations in Texas. 31 now. I have to report it. I missed the bloom.
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RE: Garden Surprises
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wantonamara, what a cool find!
I also have a wild Helleborine Orchid growing in my garden. Turns out it is not so rare in our area, but I let it stay anyways:
Another surprise which has been growing in my garden for the last couple of years and which I was only able to identify recently - a purple loosestrife. This one is definitely not welcome, but what a beayty, right?
Lychnis… it grew from a stray seed and sort of “naturalized” in my garden in the last 3 years. It serves as a nice “filler” in perennial beds:
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This post was edited by green_go on Wed, Sep 17, 14 at 21:20
RE: Garden Surprises
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| Your orchid might be common but it is way prettier than mine. Mine has no chlorophyll . it lives off of a fungus. |
RE: Garden Surprises
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| Your purple loosestrife is gorgeous. I have one that is many years old, 30 at least. I was warned against planting this but it has stayed in bounds very well all these years. This spring I noticed something was eating on it, all the new shoots already gone. then the woody stems were disappearing as well. Rabbits were the culprits. All I have left is a few woody stems in the middle. I didn't know they would eat woody stems. The next thing they liked was hollyhocks, eaten to the ground. Why? There was plenty of goodies in my vege garden, but they ate mature plants instead. |
RE: Garden Surprises
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| I wish I could get weeds like that to blow onto my property or have a bird drop a seed every now and then of something as interesting as those orchids. As is, I had a Rudbeckia hirta with huge flowers show up from out of nowhere and its become a yearly keeper now, I'd snubbed them for years for what reason I can't really say. Seeing it made all the difference, like a big smiley face that just showed up in the Hell Strip. This will seem rather dull but I have some tiny hair-like 5" tall rush plants now, the first volunteer was from ????? (no idea). There are now a cute little grouping of plants that is slowly increasing with new ones being added. The little seeds on top of the stems are downright darling, I give it a cute factor of 10. Since I am a fanatical ornamental native grass person, this is a real treat for me even though I'm probably the only one who'd notice it or marvel at such a welcome gift. I ordered a couple large varieties of rush from SRG as a result yesterday, its my latest 'grassy' crush. Farmer's Market had a booth some years back and the woman had a nice pretty clump of purple loosestrife like that growing that was gorgeous. The "Law" finally came by and cracked down on her with "just a warning". They told her if she didn't remove it they would remove it and fine her. They actually do that. Too bad its so invasive, it really is a pretty plant. Its not that her particular plant was invasive in that spot, in a garden situation its not a problem. The problem is seeds being carried off to wetland sites because the plant will aggressively take over such an environment forming a monoculture, a result of garden escapees via seed that is transported. |
This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 13:53
RE: Garden Surprises
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- Posted by catkin UDSA Zone 8 (My Page) on
Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 14:03
| Tex, have you checked out Hebe(s) and/or Phormium? Just got a Hebe pimeleoides *Quicksilver*. It is gorgeous--wish I'd gotten two more! |
RE: Garden Surprises
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| This year the big surprise was a large clump of aesclepia incarnata. When I noticed it the plants were already 4 feet tall. Ultimately they reached 6 feet and bloomed like crazy. I've grown and lost this plant several times but nothing came close to this size. I am saving seed and winter sowing. |
RE: Garden Surprises
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| catkin, thanks, I just checked it out. Anything with 'silver' in the name I check out. What do you think about how it would do in Oklahoma? Where are you located and have you had success with them, if you don't mind me asking? I'm always a bit leery about mountain plants or New Zealand because of our humidity in summer along with the heat. Some sources said zone 7, others zone 8. I usually have winter success when I run across that kind of drawing the line on hardiness. Its a really nice plant. |
RE: Garden Surprises
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| green go, love how you use the lychnis along your border. My plants are more lanky, probably not enough sunlight. Do you pinch them to help them become bushy. I sadly pulled out a large blooming purple loosestrife when we first moved here. TR, I can understand the attraction of those tiny rush plants. I also find joy in some things that many people overlook. The ornamental grass section is one of my must stop places at the MN Arboretum. So many interesting grasses. Nice orchid surprises. Not many orchids can survive our winters, native lady slipper is our state flower but haven't seen one in the wild yet. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Lady Slipper orchid
RE: Garden Surprises
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- Posted by min3 9N.CA (My Page) on
Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 19:05
| Ranger, and everyone else- I smiled all the way through your posts because I recently had my cataracts removed and I can SEE little things like your 5" rush plants again! Its not something to be taken for granted and I am very very grateful, and hoping to find some little surprises in my garden in the spring. Meanwhile I always love hearing about yours. Min |
RE: Garden Surprises
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| I LOVE surprises! Probably more than things I've actually planted lol. I had some different potentilla/cinquefoils pop up in the front along with many many MANY weeds. Some goldenrod (I know, most say its a weed, especially this one, but I still love it). I also had a sunflower pop up... that was a surprise to say the least! I found a wild geranium at some point and a little campanula of some sort (I call it "cluster bells" because it looks like a plant marked "cluster bells" that I received from a plant exchange my first year of gardening... my dog was a puppy and he grabbed the little pot and ran off with it and it never pulled through). Surprises are a wonderful thing (in the garden - I'm not wild about them elsewhere in life) |
RE: Garden Surprises
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| wantanamara, Every time I pull this up I get another gander at that funky bizarre plant. Ya know, its actually kind of gross in a creepy but really cool way. It looks like a naked flesh colored stem with flesh colored polyps dangling from it. Key word here is FLESH. Are those bladdery things seed pods or what? That is one weird looking plant. Brings to mind the movie 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. |
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