From commentor / aspiring native gardener JAM:
A passion flower vine came up in my sunny pollinator bed last summer. I think it is passiflora incarnata which is an aggressive spreading native vine beloved by butterflies. I really want to keep it, but I don’t want it to spread out of control.
I found a website that suggest burying an 18-24 inch barrier around the roots to prevent rhizomes from spreading. Other gardeners say to just pull up the rhizomes, it’s no big deal. So I would welcome any advice from BJers who have grown this plant.
For more context, this is in a long South facing bed along a fence, bracketed at each end with hibiscus moscheutos, and a lot of rather weedy self seeding annuals and perennials in between. I can go on the neighbor’s side to weed if needed, it is all lawn. The annuals are not native, and I would like to replace them with natives eventually. (Except for the old-fashioned petunias. They came with the house and they get to stay.)
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I don’t have many flowers blooming in my garden right now, so I thought I’d send you some nice weeds. I’m just starting out gardening with native plants, so I’ve been trying to identify the weeds that are native. I live in the Cross Timbers eco-region in Oklahoma, a belt of Blackjack / post oak forests which forms a boundary between the eastern woods and tallgrass prairies and the western shortgrass prairies.
Above: Spring beauty (claytonia virginica) blankets Eastern woodlands and lawns in the spring. Unfortunately, my lawn has been sprayed, so my spring beauties grow in clumps–but look at my neighbor’s back yard. The spring beauty bee feeds her underground brood the pollen of this flower only. They are also called fairy spuds because the corms are edible and supposedly tasty.
Bluets (Houstonia caerulea) growing in my other neighbor’s backyard. Weirdly, his back yard is full of bluets, but no spring beauties at all. They are too small to see in a lawn-wide view.
Small-flowered buttercup or crowfoot (ranunculus abortivus) growing with grape hyacinths. This plant is poisonous in all the ways.
The redbud (cercis canadensis) was a volunteer, so I’m just going to throw it in here with the weeds. If you want early flowers for bees, plant a redbud. It literally hums on sunny afternoons.
Milkweeds. Asclepias speciosa, Asclepias tuberosa, and asclepias viridis all shy in the back row. I’m starting seeds in lasagna pans and milk jugs outdoors-milkweeds seem to like the pans better. A. viridis has green flowers and is the most important monarch milkweed in OK because it blooms early when they are first heading north from Mexico. These will go into a new bed with other natives.
Bonus naked ladies! Haha, it’s March, they’ve got their clothes on, silly.
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I’ve started the spring cleanup (before it stormed most of the week), and at least some of last year’s new columbines made it through the winter. And the pink-cupped and all-white daffodils are blooming in the front, while the yellow daffs are opening in (northern exposure) back yard. Nice to have some encouraging signs while I’m raking up binsful of mucky oak leaves!
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Pretty pictures.🤗
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
satby
@rikyrah: @Baud: Good morning!
Thanks for the pictures JAM! Only the grape hyacinths and redbud are familiar to me, so I don’t have advice. My experience with vining invasives though is that if a vine touches the ground it can develop roots and spread that way too. I planted raspberries in barrels (with bottoms) and within two years had them growing in the lawn surrounding, though constant mowing kept them in check. But they eventually invaded neighboring flower beds, and last year I started the eradication of all the raspberries, which will continue this year. Not a fan of vines. Took two years and chemical warfare to get rid of all the English ivy on my brick house when I moved in.
satby
My rudbeckia Cherry Brandy arrived Friday so hoping to get it planted before it rains this afternoon. Tomorrow promises to be sunny and 70°, so much more cleanup to complete before my tomato plants get delivered in May.
Edit: early daffodils done, mid season pink cups blooming now, later season double daffs and tulips starting to open. Spring is here even if we still have frosty nights fairly often.
MagdaInBlack
@satby: Oh wow, 70 after all this rain: No more hints, Spring will finally burst 🤗
Jeffg166
This is one of my favorite times of the year when everything is green, growing and vigorous. I have no idea how things will turn out this coming summer. It’s never what I hope for or think it will be. I may have learned to finally accept that.
Jay
Anne Laurie,
here we have broom, Himalayan Blackberries, Yellow bamboo and Bindweed.
they cannot be contained.
If you want them, in your garden, you dig around the plant, 3 times a year, and remove every tiny piece of root.
When I worked at the Orange, I always LAMO at the people renting a stump grinder to “deal with” yellow bamboo. Always told them that would not work. Many still ignored me.
Then, the next year, bamboo was back, X1000.
satby
@MagdaInBlack: 🥳🥳🤞
satby
@Jay: JAM has the vine, not AL
Geo Wilcox
Why spray your lawn?
O. Felix Culpa
JAM, thank you for the pictures! I’m sorry I don’t have any wisdom to share on your vining plant.
The weather has taken a turn for windy and cold in Albuquerque, so I’m not doing much in the garden today. My daffs are on their way out, but still cheerful, and the tulips are taking their turn on the stage. I’ll plant more bulbs next year. As one does. I am pleased that most of the native pollinators I planted last year have returned. Our local “native plant” nursery won’t have much stock available until closer to frost-free date, so I’m semi-patiently waiting. Will probably buy too much, as per usual. In the meantime, I had a drip irrigation system installed to keep my current and future plantings happy, while also conserving water.
On the vegetable front, I started my tomato seeds (5 varieties) last week, and my babies have sprouted! It’s such a happy, hopeful time. The reality of adverse weather conditions will set in later. In the meantime, I’ll put in a shade structure to try to protect my ‘maters from the brutal heat and sun to come.
Mousebumples
I have daffodils blooming. I think I missed the crocuses with the hot/cold sunny/snowstorm craziness of this year’s spring. I have tulips coming up but no blossoms yet.
I got some free baby evergreens last fall. I think most made it through the winter, though some look pretty brown. We’ll see how they turn out with more sun, and water/rain…
Plan to plant an apple tree this year for my littlest Mouse. (my eldest has a rose bush we call hers) We already have a crabapple, and some neighbors have apple trees, so I think we’ll be okay and not need 2 for pollination.
Happy Sunday, all!
New Deal democrat
@satby: @Jay:
Agree. They cannot be contained on the ground. You can put them in a container on a porch, and train them to a trellis.
Otherwise, the spreading growth is easy to pull up, but you have to keep at it every couple of months. If you don’t have that kind of industriousness or energy, they’ll get out of control. In that case, even though they’re pretty, they have to go.
Also, wear disposable gloves while you’re touching native passionflower, because for many people it can cause a rash similar to a mild case of poison ivy.
SkyBluePink
Nice photos. We have much the same early flowers here in NC. I have not seen Spring Beauties though.
Van Buren
Last summer we discovered Hairy Bittercress in our yard-had never seen or heard of it, had to research it. Pulled all we could find, which wasn’t much…this year it is everywhere. The fact that it can audibly explode seeds around your yard and garden is interesting for about 5 seconds only.
Anne Laurie
@satby: Oh, we have bindweed… and oriental bittersweet, which is IMO much worse… not to mention ailanthus runnering weedy wannabe-saplings everywhere. I pull up every shoot I spot, dig up the rhizomes when I can, and do my best to smother what can’t be destroyed. (Pots, raised beds, rubber mulch-mats & even vinca are some of my gardening favorites.)
satby
@Van Buren: I had to look that up, but it says if you mow regularly enough to behead the flowers before they go to seed it controls them pretty well. But it’s edible, and tastes similar to arugula it also said, so now I want to find some and try it. I think I’ve seen it in my yard, but I don’t pay attention to my lawn 😂
Kristine
Love the photos. Thanks for sharing.
I have a small clump of spring beauties hard by my driveway that’s been spreading sloooowly over the last few years. One flower opened early, but the rest are still at the leaf stage. I want to move them to a safer location because a vehicle could go up over the patch of lawn and crush them but I read that they are hard to transplant. I can just cut out the whole square of lawn and move them that way, which I think I’ll try after they’ve bloomed.
Looking forward to the eclipse. Today’s cloud cover is supposed to clear out by the time matters get underway.
satby
@Anne Laurie: I hate alanthus, it’s all over here too. Repeated cutting didn’t work, so I resorted to Tordon stump killer and it was killed down to the roots, and along the system for a way. Enough that it didn’t come back in my yard or alley anyway. Not for near food crops.
nonrev321
Hello,
I’ve had passiflora incarnata for decades in several homes as a butterfly plant. The only thing I’ve found that works is to plant it along a trellis or fence with grass on both sides. Runners can reach out to 20ft or more before sprouting so you need at least that much lawn around where ever you plant it. Than the process of keeping your lawn mowed also keeps it controlled.
The other alternative is to find a nice wooded area near you and just let it do its natural thing
JAM
@Geo Wilcox: I don’t anymore, but I use to use a pre-emergent to get rid of Dallis grass. It’s like giant perennial crabgrass that needs to be mowed all the time. My thought at the time was that it was better for the environment than all the mowing, now I think differently, though.
Eunicecycle
Hearing people talk about battling certain plants reminds me of my daughter’s ex-inlaws battling a type of yucca plant that was popular decades ago here in Ohio for landscaping. They decided to replace the yucca and thus the battle began. Long story short in a last gasp effort they poured concrete over the area and covered it with top soil. The yucca was not deterred.
Quinerly
Good Morning!
Great pictures!
My yards and gardens today? My sometimes helper, Bogart, is driving over from Moriarty, NM to finish laying the stones for the last outside the fence walkway and dig holes for my 9 new roses (shout out to Heirloom Roses). We are cutting dead juniper and pinon limbs and will start putting together my little design for the water barrel stands to raise them up. Need to get them up, off the ground. And I don’t care for the plastic stands. Busy day here…I am eager to get back on yard stuff and will assist. Last houseguest for the next few months left at 6AM yesterday. Time to get back to normal stuff here.
A shipment of drought tolerant perennials arrived from High Country Gardens go in at some point in the next couple of weeks. I am adding to the Ice Plant, Penstemon, Sage, and Hummingbird Mint that were already here.
Great company founded by a guy from Santa Fe but sold to a company in Utah. I highly recommend High Country’s plants if you are gardening in the SW desert….especially at high altitudes.
Have a great day!!!
Quinerly
@Eunicecycle:
Thanks for reminding me. I have about 7 small yuccas that I want to move! I love when they bloom out out here. The yucca flower is the state flower of New Mexico.
satby
@Eunicecycle: I have one of those! I dug it out to give to a friend that wanted it, but the bottom of the root broke off. It came back.
BenInNM
Daffodils are pretty much done, tulips are in mid bloom and the irises are just getting started. The irises do really well and I think I’ll need to divide them this fall.
Otherwise I might try to catch up on some weeding this morning. Also need to clean off the patio after the winds of the past few days.
JAM
@New Deal democrat: Thanks for the advice about gloves, I’ve never heard that before.
JAM
@nonrev321: I have also thought about moving it to grow in my invasive Chinese privet hedge.
Albatrossity
Nice pics! And thanks for the information about the “prairie spuds”, that was new to me!
H.E.Wolf
Thank you for a new name for what I know as “shotweed” (and should probably be known as Pesky Skalawag).
A previous gardener at our place included California Poppy, oregano, and fennel in the yard. I got rid of the fennel, finally, by putting a large paving stone on top of it for 5 years or so.
The California Poppies still send up seedlings every year, but only a few. The oregano is still going strong, no matter how many clumps I dig up – but on the bright side, the honeybees love it.
I wonder: does some beekeeper in our neighborhood end up with oregano-flavored honey every year? In the Nero Wolfe books, thyme-flavored honey was a prized delicacy….
Gvg
We don’t have problems controlling passionflower in Florida, the caterpillar’s do it for us. The problem is keeping it going until it is big enough to survive. They are native and several species can be found in nearby semi natural areas.
Catterpillers arrive, eat it down to a stub, the pillar turns into a butterfly, the plant regrow and the cycle repeats several times a year.
I would ideally put up a decorative fence for it to climb, such as a split rail section in the wildflower section, but that is my taste. They grow in cow pastures on the ground around here. The unirrigated pastures also have prickly pear cactus to avoid.
Look up what species use it as a host plant in your area and plant the nectar plant near it to get the cycle started. If nothing uses it in your area, then there is no point in keeping it but I think that is unlikely.
JAM
@satby: Yes, passionflowers spread by rhizomes underground, apparently a long way before they pop up again. I have heard that a pot won’t work if it’s on the ground because they will spread out through the drain holes.
O. Felix Culpa
@Quinerly: I like High Country Gardens and get some plants from them, but they are pricey. I’ve shifted mostly to Plants of the Southwest (which is in both ABQ and SF) and buy their smaller plants. Typically good quality and less $$$ lost if they expire. Just have to wait a bit longer for the smaller plants to fill out
ETA: It was very sad when David Salman of High Country Gardens died. He was instrumental in shifting SW gardening to native and drought-resistant plants.
JAM
@Gvg: Thanks, the main butterfly to use it for a host plant is gulf frittilary, and I do see them often in the garden. It would be ideal for me if they were to eat most of it, since I want to grow it for them. I would like a couple of flowers, though!
JAM
@Kristine: I have never tried to move them, either. I even looked into trying to collect seeds, but it sounds pretty difficult for this plant because they have to be planted while fresh.
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa:
I also buy from Plants of the SW. Have a friend who worked at both stores for my first 2 summers here. (In fact, the Bogart I mentioned is her husband) Love the owner. When I talked to her at the end of the season last year, she said they were cutting back on what they are carrying. At that time, she said she was planning on only carrying NATIVE NM plants.
High Country IS pricey. I did catch this order on sale several months ago with their picking the ship date. The sale provided substantial savings and free shipping. I only buy from them when they have the big sales and/or I have coupons.
Think about you every time I make that turn at the church in Galisteo on my way to Madrid, Cerrillos, Allan Houser’s Sculpture Garden or San Marcos Feed Store and Cafe. Have met a lot of folks from your old area since the Legal Tender and Nuckolls Tap Room at the Lamy Train Depot have opened. Lamy is sure bringing Galisteo and Eldorado together.
How you liking Albuquerque? Have you hit Scarpa’s on Academy? My new food obsession when in Albuquerque. Hope things are great for you. Take care!
O. Felix Culpa
@Quinerly: We like living in Albuquerque a lot. Ms. O has a 7-minute (as opposed to previous 70-minute) commute to work, so we were able to downsize to just one car. We’re in a highly walkable part of the city, near the university, and have made a number of new friends here. Haven’t been to Scarpa’s yet; will give it a try.
Our favorite restaurant in SF is Cafe Castro on Cerillos. Very local, with excellent enchiladas. Their red chile sauce is the best in the state, IMO. Their green is good too, but the red is exceptional.
ETA: I also buy HCG’s sales. Got some good plants from them last fall, most of which survived the winter. I don’t have to fight bunnies and other plant-eating critters as much here, so I have more options for plant selection, which is fun
ETA2: The man who bought our house is a musician, and I believe his group plays in Lamy periodically. You’ve probably met him and some of our other musician (former) neighbors!
StringOnAStick
@Mousebumples: Get a book called Grow a Tiny Fruit Tree; it will teach you how to prune your bare root Apple and keep it under 6′ tall. When you keep them small you can easily cover them against late frosts but for apples it is extremely important to be able to cover them with insect metro g or else you have to spray constantly because coddling moth is such a persistent and aggressive pest.
StringOnAStick
@Quinerly: I’ve used High Country Gardens for decades now. If you go log into the website and check your account, it will tell you which week they’ll be shipping your order. Mine gets shipped April 18!
StringOnAStick
@O. Felix Culpa: Agreed that losing David Salman was a sad day for water wise and native gardeners. The quality is not quite as high as it was when he ran the place. Thanks for the new online nursery to check out though!
StringOnAStick
Huh. Being in the Pacific time zone means I always get to these threads after everyone else is gone…
O. Felix Culpa
@StringOnAStick:
Hehe. I’m often late to the show too. But I enjoy your contributions to the conversation and water-wise gardening!
satby
@StringOnAStick: Thanks, I can use that book too.
Quinerly
@StringOnAStick:
Very late getting back to the thread. I was digging in the dirt and gravel all day. My plants came Fri. I will get a few in this week but will be in a holding pattern on some. This will be my 3rd summer outside of Santa Fe. I think this is my second order from High Country since being here. I hit the sales and did the previous plantings Fall 2022. Thanks!!!
Quinerly
@O. Felix Culpa:
In case you see this….very late back to the thread.
Castro’s has been a favorite of mine since my second trip out here in 2012. Hate that parking lot, though. Great woman owned restaurant.
Scarpa’s on Academy in Albuquerque is Italian. Very good pasta, pizza, and a bacon blue cheese salad that is pretty incredible.
I’m fighting nibbling bunnies, roaming pack rats, and field mice. Should have my first bullsnake or rattlesnake sighting in a couple of weeks.