Unknown Friends

I am not asking for plant identifications right now... but this is a warning that I will.

Here is the mess! They are all natives and there are only two that I can match name with the plant itself, Butterfly Weed and Blazing Star. The man sold me a bit of this and that, grasses and forbs and he rambled off their names as he filled up the rack. There was one type he told me to plant a ways apart as they get big, but which variety, I sure do not remember... As he does prairie restorations, I will plant them all full sun and see how it goes.

I have planted two unknown types so far and am taking pictures in the process. Those are still on the camera, so as soon as I get them on the computer, I'll post them on this thread.

This is terribly funny. When I bought these, my husband wanted me to be aware that he was not going to plant any of it. But yet when we got these home, he was so careful to think of a good location that they won't get blown by the wind or eaten by rabbits, but yet get sun. He found a good spot and surrounded it with chicken wire. :)

The butterfly weed looks like the plants down front on the right. It will naturalize in thickets if self sown but such small plants should have room and nurture. Mine are wild and blooming now. The grasses are usually more aggressive and need more space. My suggestion with naturalizing is to go slowly in small spaces to test because what looks natural in one garden may be invasive in another. Start with the most mature plants you can afford or have access to. Do a little advance research and plant in the appropriate season. If the plant acclimates and thrives, but is not invasive, add to the collection.

Note if any have square stems, that can narrow down ID. Also note leaf shape, are leaves alternating or opposite, is the bottom of the leaf smooth or hairy?

I kind of gave up on identifying these last year. Too much to think about at the time.

Today, I was planting dormant bare roots and looked at the patch I put these in last year. I didn't have the camera with me, but I wonder if any of these are a sage. In the original photo, it is near the center. Whatever it is spread as there is a nice sized patch that came up. I could be off, but the coloring made me think sage. Am I even close?

I am pretty sure I have some catchfly, but I want to see the flower on that to say for sure.

What I planted today are all knowns. I ordered these in the middle of winter to make sure they wouldn't be out.
1. Deflexed Bottlebrush Sedge
2. Queen of the Prairie
I think I was being too optimistic after last year's perfectly timed rains that allowed my wet mesic plants to thrive. The above need lots of water.

3. Virginia Spiderwort AKA Cow Slobber I already have Ohio but wanted a Cow Slobber for drier conditions.
4. Wild Senna

I about gave them up for dead, but my last year's planting of Virginia Bluebells are coming up. YAY! I want tallgrass prairie for most of the property, but around the house I can do some Savannah and Woodland plants.

Oh and boring stuff, I finally got lettuce in the ground with the help of little hands.

Could the one that needs a lot of room be Cup Plant, Silphium perfoliatum? Did you get any Monarda?

The fellow rambled all these names off that I really have no idea about most of them. I doubt there is any Monarda, as I planted some elsewhere which are coming up nicely already and there are none in this patch.

About the stuff I thought sage, nope. I took a close up of the leaves and looked at the sages in my Wildflower guide and none of them looked like mine. I guess it will be a wait and see.

I was plumb tuckered out from yesterday's planting, when to my surprise there was a shipment email from Prairie Moon. Oh, I totally forgot about that order. It was a sale that got me. For some reason, I thought I needed more Queen of the Prairie. I planted four yesterday.

I am expecting asparagus, rhubarb, and rain/sleeet/snow this weekend.

I have pictures!!!

#1. Is this Phlox pilosa (Prairie Phlox)?

#2 and #3. I call this one Hurts-My-Head! :D I know I've seen pictures of something with those leaves, but I cannot remember what it is. I've been scouring through my native catalogue and field guides. Bah! But hey, I know my camera can do ok close-ups. I hope someone can help me with this one.

Oh wait #4. ... what I thought was catchfly just may be Penstemon grandiflorus (Large-flowered Beardtongue) .... Or I hope it is... It's shot up a little more since this last photo. And I have two more of these plants. and am very eager to see the blooms.

the last one still looks to me ore like a catchfly than a Penstemon. I have Lychinis alpina (I think) which looks like it.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1907/

OK...Because the species was still in question at the ID forum, I emailed the seller. Hurts-My-Head is really Prairie Alumroot. YAY! Now my head can stop hurting.

Bugs seem to like it as leaves are chewed up a bit. I kept waiting for the blossoms to open further, but this is about the extent of it.

Chillybean, if you planted Phlox pilosa, then I'm confident enough to say that #1 is it !
Compare: http://noddingoniongardens.com/nativeplantsmtoz/phloxpilosa.html http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/pr_phloxx.htm

Yay! I just wanted a confirmation before putting it on the list I am keeping for the natives on our property. Thank you. :)

Yesterday, I planted 7 Leadplant and 7 Clematis virginiana AKA Old Man's Beard. I like the less common common names of most plants. :) Only one of my earlier Clematis made it and I need both genders for it to go to seed, so I planted more. When it goes to seed is when it looks really cool.

http://ontariotrees.com/main/species.php?id=2086
To see the seed heads scroll down.

Dont recall phlox having 6petals, does it have a sweet flower smell?

They have five petals. That's why I had a hard time identifying them originally. In an earlier photo I took, it looked like there were seven petals. I don't know about its smell, I rarely smell flowers because some are so overpowering it bothers me.

Like a lilac, phlox are a liter teasing scent on the breezes. We also have pinks, different number of petals and no smell. And the center isnt golden. Yours are so different than those in Tx

Photo 4 does look like a Penstemon to me.

#4 is a Large-flowered Beardtongue. I have pictures of the flowers, but they're still on the camera.

I think I have another beardtonge from these natives I bought last year, but I need to wait for the flowers to open just to be sure. From pictures on the web, it looks to be Penstemon cobaea. When I looked last week, there was only green on the forming buds, but now there is a royal purple. Ooo... my favourite colour.

What is odd about this one is I saw dead little fruit fly sized bugs on the leaves and around the buds. The leaves are shiny looking, but not really sticky.

And yet a third Beardtongue, but in our first prairie planting. It looks similar to foxglove beardtongue, but it has fine purple streaks coming out of the "mouth".

See what happens when I go out of town. I come back to surprises in my garden. :)

They sound beautiful; I look forward to seeing the photos!

Here are my Beardtongues! I felt like a dentist while looking into their mouths. :)

1. Large-flowered
2 and 3. Showy This flower opened up the same afternoon, so no more question.
4. Foxglve Beardtongue I had to hunt through online images to find the same flower. My guides and native flower books didn't show or talk about the fine purple streaking.

About the lilac's "teasing scent"... it nearly makes me sick, so we finally chopped ours down and replaced it with Serviceberry.

Wow, those are fantastic photos!
It's hard to get good photos of Penstemon; at least it is for me.

I love the color of the Large-flowered Beardtongue. I see a little face in #3, but I can't decide what it looks like. Yes, I know I'm strange !

LOL No, you're not strange. One of the children pointed that out to me yesterday. I know exactly what you are talking about. :)

It was hard to get these photos. You should have seen the many bad ones. I get the crispest pictures in bright sun, but the camera wants to focus on the ground behind the,