Rewilding My Lot

I did a walk-through of the garden on the morning of May 16, 2026. Here are some things that caught my eye.

In the areas where there are massed annual wildflowers, such as the meadow in front of the house, the predominant bloom at the moment is Firewheel aka Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella).

Most of the Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) have finished blooming, and I am still harvesting seeds to give away. Once that process has finished, the brown stems will be cut down and shredded to make mulch.

The Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) pseudo lawn has greened up nicely since the winter. Here’s one of the areas a day after mowing.

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa) that are growing on the opposite side of the driveway from where I want them are still blooming. It’s not time to harvest seeds yet.

The tiny Mexican Buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa) tree is still too small to be seen above the meadow plants, but it is growing.

Finally, in their fourth year here, the builder-installed Live Oaks in front of the house are exploding with new growth.

Common Rue (Ruta graveolens) is not a native plant, but it is a good host for Swallowtail butterflies. Mine has grown back well since the winter freeze.

Cenizo aka Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens) supposedly blooms when rain is expected. I really hope that we do get rain soon.

Behind the house there are plenty of Firewheels there as well.

There are also many Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea) plants, which provide a nice color contrast.

This year I am beginning to see more diversity within the annual wildflower collection, like the two kinds of beebalm in the photo below: Spotted Beebalm aka Spotted Horsemint (Monarda punctata) and Lemon Beebalm aka Purple Horsemint (Monarda citriodora).

The American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) shrub is growing strongly and beginning to bloom. The afternoon sun in that location almost killed it in its first year here.

Turk’s Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii) is blooming.

Kidneywood (Eysenhardtia texana) was only planted last year, but it’s grown well and I think I see a flower bud forming.

The Mexican Plum (Prunus mexicana) is finally growing new branches after three years here. However, I no longer see the single plum that was developing earlier.

I’m still struggling to establish a native milkweed area at the back of the garden, but a volunteer Zizotes (Asclepias oenotheroides) is growing very happily in the prairie grass area and seems about to bloom.

The Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) tree has plenty of pretty blooms that are attracting hummingbirds.

Skeleton-Leaf Goldeneye (Viguiera stenoloba) is blooming.

Lindheimer’s Senna (Senna lindheimeriana) is blooming.

Rock Rose (Pavonia lasiopetala) is blooming.

Woolly Stemodia (Stemodia lanata) was planted just a few weeks ago to creep over the pond berm and it’s doing a nice job of that.

The Spineless Prickly Pear (Opuntia ellisiana) has made five new paddles to add to the two original ones. They haven’t quite reached their mature thickness but they’re progressing.

The clump of Maximilian Sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani) is huge this year. All these plants come from just one planted two years ago! They are getting close to the height where I’ll cut them back to reduce the overall height when they’re fully grown.