All the Dirt on Gardening

Husky and coarse with spectacularly gaudy flowers is how one garden reference describes Tithonia. Well, they are tall and open branched with stems as thick as a small tree, but oh, how the butterflies love those gaudy flowers. Every sunny hour of the day this month, assorted butterflies will be sitting on the flowers while swaying in the wind on Tithonia’s sturdy branches.  Tithonia rotundifolia has a few common names: Torch Flower , Golden Flower of the Incas and Mexican Sunflower but the seed packets say Tithonia.   Many of the nectar-providing flowers that are  blooming now are members of the Aster or Asteraceae plant family.  Tithonia is in the Sunflower tribe of the Aster family. Their native range goes from Central America, through Mexico and into the Southwestern US. There are several varieties but T. rotundifolia or Torch is the only one that shows up in the flower seed racks in the spring.  It grows 6-feet tall and 3 feet wide by the...

Snow on the Mountain is a native plant in our area; it is also called Euphorbia marginata, Summer Icicle, Spurge and Smoke on the Prairie.  Its clusters of white-tipped, green leaves (actually bracts) sit on top of  24-inch tall stems, brightening wildflower beds. Like its cousin, the Christmas Poinsettia, Snow on the Mountain bracts take center stage and the tiny green flowers in the center are barely noticed. The plant stems contain a sap that make them deer and rabbit resistant.  They like full-sun, although we have a few that get only afternoon sun. Any soil will do and they do not need fertilizer. Plant the seeds with other fall-blooming cutting flowers such as Zinnias, Dahlias, Asters, Joe Pye Weed and Mums. Handle the stems with care until you know if you are allergic to the sap. Snow on the Mountain often re-seeds to grow new plants the following spring but seeds are also widely available for purchase, including Johnny’s Seed (www.johnnyseeds.com) and Prairi...

Salvias, daisies, mints, peas, asters and thistles greet the wildflower hunter at this time of year. Click on the images to see them larger and tell us what they are. The Oklahoma Native Plant Society has a new webpage at http://www.oknativeplants.org/  where upcoming meetings and events are published. The annual meeting next weekend includes bat watching. More information is at the website.  I've found that joining several native plant societies on Facebook is a great way to learn about wildflowers and upcoming events for native plant seekers.      We saw all of these and more on a 2 mile walk.