Missouri flowers or weeds?
Every spring, one of the first wildflower/weeds/ground covers to bloom in this area provides a carpet of purple. If you look closely, the little plant appears to have three or four perky little giraffe (or maybe llama) heads poking up to look around at you. I think they're very sweet, but I know that most gardeners hate to see them on their premises.
Earlier this month, a group of history buffs got together on a GORGEOUS day to take a guided tour of the old Cape to Bloomfield Road, and we stopped in Advance to eat lunch. Some of us were waiting in the sunshine beside the bus, talking and waiting for the late ones who did not listen to my recommendation to eat off the buffet.
Three of us happened to see several little spring flowers growing in the lot beside the restaurant, so we spent a very pleasant few minutes, examining them.
Rick Young obviously knows a bit about flora and fauna, because he identified one of the little weeds as dead nettle.
Yesterday, I found a note from Rick in my mailbox at the office. He identified the little giraffe head flower as Henbit. The Latin name is Lamium amplexicaule.
Lamium signifies that the plant is a member of the mint family, like the dead nettle.
As for the violets, which I dearly love, Rick tells me that one type is called Missouri violet, and the other one we saw is called Viola missouriensis.
Spring is the most magical time of the year, appreciated all the more because we've waited so LONG for it, and it lasts such a SHORT time!
Thank you for this information, Rick! It makes me want to know more! Makes me feel like a botanist!!
By the way, does Dexter have a flower club? I would love to start one in Advance!
From the beautiful green hills of Crowley's Ridge, this is your roving and rambling reporter, Madeline, signing off on a soon-to-be wet and rainy April morning. On a melancholy note, I see that it is 16 years to the very day that my husband Dale passed away. All he wanted was to come home from the hospital and sit on the front porch of our Tilman home, watching the dogs play in the front yard. Rest in peace, Clemmer Dale DeJournett. May it always be spring in heaven.
Comments
- -- Posted by goat lady on Fri, Apr 26, 2013, at 7:31 AM
- -- Posted by gardengirl on Fri, Apr 26, 2013, at 12:28 PM
- -- Posted by swift on Fri, Apr 26, 2013, at 3:05 PM
- -- Posted by swift on Fri, Apr 26, 2013, at 3:07 PM
- -- Posted by gardengirl on Sat, Apr 27, 2013, at 1:27 PM
- -- Posted by swift on Mon, Apr 29, 2013, at 2:45 PM
- -- Posted by Madeline1 on Mon, Apr 29, 2013, at 8:09 PM
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