On a recent trip to Fort Collins, Colorado, my wife and I visited the University of Colorado’s Trial Gardens. We photographed these members of the incredible Daisy family during our walk through these beautiful gardens.

This first image shows Cosmos ‘Sonnata White’. The Cosmos genus has over 36 species, and is native to Mexico, the southern US, and Central and South America. Cosmos bipinnatus been a favorite of plant breeders for many years. Cosmos reminds me of a wildflower common throughout Texas and elsewhere called Thelasperma filifolium, Greenthread. As it turns out, Cosmos and Thelasperma are in the tribe Corepsideae within the Daisy family Asteraceae.

Here is a beautiful variety of Cosmos bipinnatus called ‘Apollo Pink’ produced by PanAmerican Seed.

This variety is called ‘Apollo Carmine’. As you can see, the plants are pretty much the same except for flower petal color. The handiwork of plant breeders produces many colorful choices for our gardens! Did you CDB (see the bee)?

Here is a single bloom of Osteospermum ‘Sunny Atilla’ produced by Beekenkamp in the Netherlands. Osteospermum, native to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, has about 50 species; but, most of the hybrids sold as garden plants in the US are hybrids between O. jucundum, O. ecklonis, and O. grandiflora. Beekenkamp plant breeders used O.ecklonis to produce what you see here.

Here you see ‘Sunny Atilla’ displaying its full range of colors, from nearly white to milky lavender. I love the range of colors in this variety. A symphony of genetics!

Pictured here is a close cousin of Osteospermum, called Calendula ‘Radio’. The Calendula genus has 15 or more species and is native to the parts of Europe and Asia surrounding the Mediterranean. Calendula officinalis is the species commonly cultivated. I like the yellow-orange of the petals of this variety. Read more about the Pot Marigold here and here.

The final image is of the Taishan Orange F1 variety of an “African” Marigold called Tagetes erecta produced by PanAmerican Seed. This species is really a native of Mexico which points out why scientific names are needed to eliminate the questions raised by common or commercial names assigned to a species. This variety was used to decorate landscapes in the 2008 Bejing Olympics. I love their huge, globular flower heads and their rich gold color, beautiful.

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The head waters of the Cache la Poudre River are in Rocky Mountain National Park and it winds its way along 126 miles of scenic beauty to join the South Platte River near Greeley, Colorado. You can climb the mountains along this river on a scenic drive out of Fort Collins along state highway 14.

The formation of what we call the Rocky Mountains is a long complex tale of mountain building, erosion, innundation, and subsequent mountain building (orogeny). The rocks that form the walls of the Cache La Poudre canyon are metamorphic gneiss made from Precambrian age granites of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains which were heated and compressed during the Laramide Orogeny between 80-55 million years ago.

The gneissic banding seen in this photo is not only beautiful but tells the story of heat an compression experienced by these ancient granites on their way to becoming the metamorphic gneiss seen here.

In this image the foliation or layering of the gneiss is visible. The immense pressure and high temperature experienced by the granite while metamorphosing into gneiss is what produced the sculpture you see.

From the size of the rocks in the Cache La Poudre river bed and along the bank in the foreground, you can tell that large amounts of water moving rapidly through this area in the past pushed these heavy monsters down stream.

Scenes like this are why the Cache La Poudre River has been designated a national scenic river.

This is and example of Bird’s Foot Trefoil Lotus corniculatus from the pea family Fabaceae. This plant is both a native and an introduced species to all parts of the US and Canada. It is widely used for hay to feed livestock and serves as a food source for deer, elk, geese, ducks, and pheasants.

This is an example of the Rubber Rabbit Brush (Ericameria nauseosa)
This plant reminds me of Prairie Broomweed (Amphiachyris dracunculoides) that grows all around where I live. Rubber Rabbit Brush will be eaten to a limited extent by livestock but it is valuable to wildlife during the winter.

This is a closeup of the flower head of the Rubber Rabbit Brush. This plant is part of the Daisy family (Asteraceae) but has flowers that do not make you think Daisy flower at all.

In the last image, you see an example of Western Aster (Symphyotrichum ascendens) another member of the Asteraceae family which produces beautiful, tiny lavender flowers with yellow disk florets. The USDA says that this plant is sometimes mixed in with other seed types to help stabilize disturbed or damaged soils. Beautiful as well as useful.

All these sights and creatures can be seen and enjoyed on a short day’s drive up the Cache La Poudre River Canyon just west of Fort Collins, Colorado on state 14. Worth the trip, and good for your soul.

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I saw Mesa Greggia for the first time during 2016. They are gray green leaved with pearly white flowers that sit on a stem well above the surrounding vegetation. I knew upon first sight that this flower was something I had never photographed before.
Mesa Greggia was first collected for scientific study by a man named Josiah Gregg in New Mexico during the late 1840’s. You can read more about his story at the California Native Plant Society website. Apparently, Dr. Gregg died in California in 1850. He had been sending some of his specimens to Asa Gray at Harvard University for classification and naming. Dr. Gray named this species Greggia camporum in his honor in 1852. Camporum is the latinized version of the Spanish word Campos which means the plains. Thus, the original name for this species meant Greggia of the plains. Unfortunately, the rules of naming genera and species prohibit the reuse of a genus name and as it happened there was a prior validly named genus Greggia in the literature since 1788. So, Greggia camporum was renamed Nerisyrenia camporum in 1900. The new genus name translates as neros which means flowing and Syrenia which was a mustard genus found in eastern Europe and Central Asia which resembles this species. So, its name now means flowing Syrenia-like mustard of the plains.

From a distance, the white flowers of this species are like a beacon. Nerisyrenia camporum, as you might have guessed by now, is a member of the Brassicaceae or Mustard family. The family is also called Cruciferae by some authorities because the four petals common to Mustard flowers are arranged like a cross. Most Mustard flowers are yellow, this is the first white one I’ve seen.

While out taking pictures of this year’s (2017) spring arrivals, I stopped to catch the first Mesa Greggia’s of the season. What you see here is a flower-loving fly (Apoceridae) with long, straw-like mouthparts delving into a Mesa Greggia flower. I have never seen this kind of fly before! This fly is a member of a family with but a single genus containing 150 species worldwide. It’s nice to know that I haven’t seen everything yet, and the surprises are gifts of discovery.

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The plants pictured here were photographed in Red Rock Canyon State Park near Hinton, Oklahoma. They are of the species Equisetum hyemale in the Horsetail family Equisetaceae.

Scouring Rushes or Horsetails as they are sometimes known are an ancient species of plants related to the ferns. Like the ferns they do not produce seeds and reproduce by making spores. They have been doing this since the Carboniferous period some 300 million years ago.

The cylindrical stems of these plants are evergreen and consist of hollow joints or sections stacked up to produce unbranched stems 2 to 3 feet tall. The surface of these sections are ridged and a narrow black-green band or sheath of tiny leaves forms between each section.
The high silica content of these plants and the ridges on the sections make these plants useful for scrubbing or scouring, hence their common name.

They like sandy or loamy soils with plenty of moisture, they tolerate clay or limestone rich soils, and can be found along the margins of streams, rivers, ponds, and other habitats where their feet can stay wet. Their presence can, in certain drier areas, can indicate a natural spring or seep is nearby even when flowing water is not visible. While these plants were from Oklahoma, they occur in suitable habitats all over the U.S. and Canada. They are cultivated by gardners and escapees from cultivation have become pests in South Africa and Australia.

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I was out in mid-April this year and photographed this perfect example of Erodium texanum also known as the Texas Stork’s Bill. If you know geraniums, you will notice how similar the the leaves of Texas Stork’s Bill are to them. In fact, both Stork’s Bills that occur in Texas are in the Geranium family (Geraniaceae). Read more about the Texas Stork’s Bill here, here, and here.

Here are some other examples of Texas Stork’s Bill that I photographed several years ago. Notice the large purple flowers and the geranium-like leaves.

In all of these photos of Texas Stork’s Bill, you have a few individuals in proximity to one another and all of these produced flowers in March and April.

This image shows the Red Stem Stork’s Bill, Erodium cicutarium, a cousin of Texas Stork’s Bill from Eurasia. Here you can see the lobes cut into the palmately compound leaves and the multi-flowered umbel. Notice in the background there are many, many other individuals of this species covering the ground in view.

Both species of stork’s bill get their name from the way their seed pods grow to resemble the head and long beak of a stork. Notice here, along the stems you can see how strongly hairy these plants are when compared to the almost invisible fuzziness of Texas Stork’s Bill and geraniums.

This image was taken on the 20th of February, you can see a tiny Red Stem Stork’s Bill in flower. (the knife blade is 1 inch wide at the edge of the picture) This species was introduced in the US in the seventeen hundreds, most likely because it is edible (Webb, Robert H.; Steiger, John W.; Newman, Evelyn B. 1988. The response of vegetation to disturbance in Death Valley National Monument, California. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1793. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. 69 p.)(USGS). It reproduces prolifically and has become a competitor to cool season farm crops. It has invaded all 50 of the United States and all of Canada. Remarkable plant.

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On a photo safari in the spring of 2019, I had the opportunity to see a close relative of the Fringed Puccoon. Lithospermum caroliniense, the Carolina Puccoon is found growing in sandy soils of grassland or open woodland in many parts of Texas. You can learn more about them, here and here.

Anytime I see a narrow leaved wildflower with yellow tubular flowers, I tend to think of the Fringed Puccoon. The plant pictured here had the fuzzy, narrow, stalkless leaves like the Fringed Puccoon but the fringes of the five flower petals and the length of the tubular flowers were wrong for that species. Lots of things can account for flower malformations like poor growing conditions, insect damage, and genetic mutation. This time it was the delight of seeing a species unknown to me. (This is akin to the elation you feel when you hunted and found easter eggs. At my age, I am continually reminded that I haven’t seen it all, just barely scratched the surface. Hurray!)

Here you can see the fuzzy surfaces of the sepals and the leaves as well as the long tube of a flower past its prime. Close inspection will also reveal unopened flower buds which means that these guys flower progressively which prolongs the beauty of the plant during the spring.

The puccoons belong to the forget-me-not family (Boraginaceae) and their genus name means stone seed. If you visit inaturalist.org, you can see many good pictures of the Carolina Puccoon. Beauty is where you find it, get out and look, you’ll be surprised what you find.

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This image shows the tiny flower of the Red Stem Stork’s Bill, Erodium cicutarium. It is a non-native wildflower that is found throughout most of the US. It belongs to the Geranium family, Geraniaceae; and along with henbit, it makes pink flowers early in the spring before the grass gets going.  You can see in this picture the reddish flower stems and the hairiness of this plant’s stems and leaves. Two of the three flowers visible have set seed and dropped their petals.

In this image, you can see the seed pods produced by the flowers. From the length and shape of the pod, you can see why some folks called these Stork’s Bill, or Pin Clover.

Many folks call these guys weeds and spend lots of money to rid their lawn of them.  I let them do their thing because they provide some color in an otherwise bland part of the year, and they feed the bugs and butterflies that are becoming active at this time. That said, they can become fairly large plants and can become  problematic when in large numbers. I control mine with therapeutic mowing; that way,  I get to enjoy their color, the nectar feeders get fed, and their remains become mulch for the grass. Everybody wins.

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I like Fringed Puccoons. They are a delight in the spring when things are perking up from their winter sleep and not much color is available for photographs. These fuzzy green plants with the ruffled yellow flowers belong to the Forget-Me-Not family Boraginaceae.

Depending on where you find them, you will see some variations in the way they look due to differences in growth conditions and possibly genetics. Notice here the long tubular flowers which terminate in petals that look like French Ruffles seen on shirts popular in the 1970’s and further back in time.

This image shows the fuzzy surface of their leaves and stems. Also, the tiny bee and the little black ant on the perimeter of an upper flower indicates that these flowers are a needed food source for many insects.

Sometimes, you will find Fringed Puccoons that aren’t as ruffled on the edges of their flowers as other examples. This is when your experience with many of these flowers pays off. You can notice the fuzzy surfaced leaves, clustering of the flowers near the top of the stem, and the five petals on the tubular flowers with some wrinkles on their edges. Also notice on the lower flower, the end of the pistil coming out of the center. Compare this to other images in this post and see if you can find any more like that.

Here is another individual that illustrates the arrangement of the flowers in Lithospermum incisum.

This specimen has a more open arrangement of its flowers, but still has the typical characters of Fringed Puccoon.

I have found this species in grassland environments in the Fort Worth area, and in West Texas where these were photographed.

Sometimes, you are treated to a situation where the light is right, the subject is gorgeous and a click of the shutter captures a moment of beauty.

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Many of the flowering plants we use in our gardens and landscapes were wildflowers before they were brought under cultivation. In this post, Coreopsis and Rudbeckia are two genera in the daisy family (Asteraceae) that have species that gardeners and plant breeders have used to produce new colors and shapes of flowers to beautify our flower beds and landscapes.

Coreopsis grandiflora is the Largeflower Tickseed. In its wild form, all the petals on this large flowered plant are yellow as seen here.

The Coreopsis I have found in the Fort Worth area, as pictured above, were the Golden Tickseed or Plains Coreopsis, Coreopsis tinctoria.

Notice here, that the flowers possess a maroon color spot on the base of each petal and their flowers are about 2 inches in diameter.

Here we see, Coreopsis grandiflora ‘SunKiss’ by PanAmerican Seed. This variety has flowers that appear to be a larger version of the Coreopsis tinctoria above. Note that the maroon spots are similar in color but the indentations on the tips of the petals appears more pronounced. Remember that the normal C. grandiflora is all yellow, and a more buttery yellow than what you see here.

Coreopsis grandiflora ‘Electric Sunshine’ is the plant seen in this image. This variety was produced by Darwin Perennials and appears to be a more buttery yellow than ‘SunKiss’. Both of these varieties bloom spring, summer, and late summer and would make colorful additions to any planting.

Rudbeckia hirta is commonly known as the Black-eyed Susan. This member of the Daisy family (Asteraceae) is found throughout the US and Canada. Seen here is a 2 inch diameter, all yellow petaled version.

This specimen of R. hirta makes slightly larger flowers, about 3 inches in diameter, and has maroon spots on the petal bases.

Here we see Rudbeckia hirta ‘Rising Sun AS Chestnut Gold’. This variety of R. hirta has 4 inch or larger flowers with a large maroon petal base. Just to the right of the flower in the image center is the chestnut gold version of the petals. Apparently, this variety produces the maroon based, golden petals which mature into chestnut colored petals. These are strikingly beautiful and give a planting with a range of color schemes. You can see what else Green Fuse is up to here.

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Last night and this morning we had a 3-4 inch snowfall. Snow in my part of Texas is a hit or miss kind of thing. When it happens, I like to photograph interesting subjects coated with snow. Here you can see the Sycamore tree at the end of the driveway accented with snow.

Here is the previous Sycamore’s partner who lives across the driveway. Notice that this one has shed its leaves. (premature baldness??) Sycamores shed their rough outer bark and have green inner bark that is capable of photosynthesis. This property, plus snow, makes for an interesting view of a tree we pass by everyday without much notice. This one is dressed up in its winter finery.

Here are snow covered yucca, lantana, and tree cholla in the front yard. They show how each of these plants collect snow. This snow was the powdery kind, like fine white dust. We were expecting an ice storm to come with this storm but it got cold enough to snow and make everything pretty!

Here in the foreground are Shepherd’s Purse wildflowers that have been growing since mid-September. These plants flower and produce seeds twice per year. We get a crop in the spring and the fall-early winter. Since these little mustard family members are annuals, what flowers and sets seed late in the year are likely sprouts from the spring crop of seeds. Tough, cold adapted little fellas you can eat. Wash them well though, we have neighborhood dogs and cats visiting regularly.

This last one is a closeup of some Shepherd’s Purse coated in snow. It is today’s homage to art in nature. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. We live in a universe-sized piece of performance art. We impoverish ourselves by neglecting to notice. Enjoy the wonder, it is one of our saving graces.

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