Rewilding My Lot

Last fall I spread three kinds of wildflower seeds in the center part of the front lawn: Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis), Indian Blanket aka Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella), and Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata). In addition, apart from thistles and burclovers (which I pull out and discard), I am allowing volunteer plants to stay, and I’m only trimming around the edges of the area.

As expected, of my seeded plants, the Bluebonnets appeared first, soon followed by the Firewheels. I see leaves that might be Beebalm, but I haven’t been able to identify flowers yet (I would expect them to appear a few weeks later than the others).

The volunteer plants that I have identified so far include Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Smallflower Desert-Chicory (Pyrrhopappus pauciflorus), Cutleaf Evening-Primrose (Oenothera laciniata), Texas Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa), Texas Toadflax (Nuttallanthus texanus), Slender Vetch (Vicia hassei), Broadpod Whitlowgrass (Tomostima platycarpa), Henbit Deadnettle (Lamium amplexicaule), and Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris). For the most part, I have to wait until there are blooms before I can identify a new plant and there are many more leaf rosettes out there that have yet to reveal themselves to this novice botanist.

So as of the first week in March 2024, I have a nice array of early blooms with more to come. Photographs don’t really do the area justice — the colors are more vivid in person. The grass, by the way, is Bermudagrass, which came with the house. In front of the house I have not made any attempt to kill it, but neither do I do anything to encourage it. This area receives no supplemental water.