My Wild Garden

I have an area in the back that I call my wild garden. I don't water or groom the plants there. A couple of times a year I'll mow a path or edit out some unwanted species. More than 10 years ago, I planted some native species to complement what was already there.

The wild garden looked dried up and dead earlier this year, but it's come back in a big way. We're having the third wettest October on record for Bell County. The weeds were held back severely by the drought, so that's a good benefit! And now the flowers are taking center stage!

We normally get our first hard frost around Thanksgiving, so I'm going to enjoy the blooms for all they're worth now, and let them settle into my memory to carry me through the cold, wet winter. Well, after this year of driest August and wettest October, who knows what the winter will bring? Go smell the flowers while you can!

Texas aster

Golden-eye

Golden-eye

Wild pink lantana

Wild pink lantana bush covered with flowers

Poison ivy, gotta watch out for this!

Texas lantana

Texas lantana

Seed pods, fragrant mimosa

Sotol

Horse nettle fruits. Nightshade (potato) family, poisonous

My gardening helper!

Agave that grew under the fence from the neighbors

Agave leaf print

Salvia farinacea, white form of mealy cup sage

Spineless prickly pear with bug

Horseherb with tiny 1/8 inch flowers

Horseherb as a nice native groundcover

Zexmenia

Frostweed

Pigeon-berry, much loved by birds

Pigeonberry flower

Fragrant white mistflower, loved by butterflies

Perennial morning glory

Morning glory foliage

Chili pequin, also a member of the nightshade family

Peruvian Pavonia