bluebonnet
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Adding Extra Beebalm To The Front Meadow
My front yard “wildflower meadow” was seeded last fall with Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis), Indian Blanket aka Firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella), and Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata). The Bluebonnets and Indian Blankets have already grown and are blooming very nicely. I haven’t noticed any Spotted Beebalm yet, but it’s still a few weeks before the expected bloom time. I recently visited… Continue reading
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A Non-Specific Spring Update
I have several projects in process at the moment and I’ll post about them when I have something to report. So today I thought I’d just include some photos of what I see when I’m outside enjoying breakfast/lunch/tea/whatever. These photos were taken on the morning of March 22, 2024. The first round of spring blooms… Continue reading
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Bluebonnet Seeds Are Already Starting To Form
Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) are annuals and therefore need to reseed each year. Last year I scattered seed in the fall. However, given how many plants I have here now, I should not need to buy seed again if I let these seed themselves. The easiest way to do that is just to leave the plants… Continue reading
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Genista Broom Moth Caterpillars Eat Bluebonnets, Too
I have twice had populations of Genista Moth (Uresiphita reversalis) caterpillars on my Texas Mountain Laurel tree (September 2023, November 2023) behind the house. On both of those occasions it was more important to me to protect my young and somewhat stressed tree and so I picked off caterpillars as I found them. I only… Continue reading
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Wildflowers In The Front Lawn Area
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… Continue reading
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My First Bluebonnet Flowers
I chose to grow Texas Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) here for several reasons: I dispersed Bluebonnet seeds last fall, which resulted in numerous small rosettes of leaves that emerged quickly after that and then quietly grew roots over the winter. More growth started above ground once we had warmer temperatures, and now I am starting to… Continue reading
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Short-Term Effects Of The Freeze
In the past week we have had five nights of below freezing temperatures, with the lowest recorded here of 16.0 F. I expected to see some wilting, blackness, or loss of leaves and we certainly had that. With native plants, that is almost never a concern, and it’s just a part of nature cleaning up.… Continue reading
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My Propagation Station
I don’t have a greenhouse, nor am I experienced in plant propagation. However, occasionally I encounter new opportunities to try. The easiest situations are when plants self-seed, or grow runners that root. I have had success with moving baby plants of Salvia and Frogfruit to new locations, either by just digging them up in one… Continue reading
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New Bluebonnets Emerging
I have sown quite a few Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) seeds here in different parts of the garden and judging by the number of rosettes that have already formed, I am hoping for a good show next spring. There are also Bluebonnets appearing where I did not seed them, so that’s intriguing. The natural lifecycle of… Continue reading
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I Have Baby Bluebonnets!
I sowed three kinds of wildflower in the center of the front lawn area a couple of weeks ago, but then the day after that we had torrential rain. I was not confident that the seeds had stayed put, so I repeated the seeding a few days later. The day after that second seeding I… Continue reading
About Me
Nature Lover.
Inquisitive Observer.
Student Gardener.
I invite you to join me on my journey to convert my sterile (from a nature point of view) new house lot to a healthy and diverse ecosystem, as I make discoveries, mistakes, and hopefully progress. I am not an expert or professional. The project started in February 2023 and the location is Seguin, Texas, USA.
Rewilding My Lot 