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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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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On a recent visit to Rocky Mountain National Park, I was able to photograph some of the plant and animal life that live in the alpine tundra ecosystem at the Forest Canyon Overlook, elevation: 11,716 feet. This is a little less than 2 and a quarter miles above sea level. How’s that for really, really high?

In this first image you see the glacial moraine that forms the wall of the Forest Canyon, a valley shaped by ancient glaciers. The rocks visible here were dropped by the glacier and were the pieces it used to abrade the walls and floor of the valley to produce what you see today.

This image shows the alpine tundra that exists above the treeline, in fact, tundra means land without trees. The wind and weather here is too extreme for tree growth and the grasses and other plants which live here are able to withstand the wind, cold and short growing season.

Here is a Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale. It is hugging the ground and is somewhat protected by the surrounding stones. I suspect the stones help shield it from the windy conditions and they absorb sunlight which may help warm the dandelion’s space.

Here is a Halictid bee on another dandelion. I was a little more than surprised to see insects and flowers at this altitude because grasses don’t need pollinators. My respect for the toughness of this kind of bee and for the dandelion has increased.

This image shows a Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). This is a new species for me. I love going places and discovering things I have never seen. It is one of the benefits of travel to exotic places and a blessing of the national park system. The leaves on this plant are very feathery, fern-like. Took me a good while to identify this plant and you can read more about these rascals here, here and here.
You would never guess this plant is kin to a sunflower but they both belong to the Daisy family: Asteraceae.

In this image, you can see my foot. This is generally a no-no for photographers, but I included it to give you some idea of the size of the Red Turnip Beetle (Entomoscelis americana, family:Chrysomelidae) that I spotted while tromping along the trail at the Forest Canyon Overlook. Most folks were zipping along the trail to see the canyon and to soak up the scenic mountains, as for me, I tend to keep my eyes peeled for interesting things to photograph.

In this last image, you can see a somewhat blurry image of this tiny little fellow. His coloration is remarkable and is why he caught my eye in the first place. This is another creature I have encountered for the first time in these high mountains far from any turnips. Stuff like this delights me with the questions it raises about where this beetle fits into an ecosystem in a difficult place to live. It is nice, at my age, to enjoy the feelings of wonder engendered by these encounters. You can visit here and here to learn more about this little fellow.

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Above is a beautiful example of Plains Zinnia (Zinnia grandiflora, family Asteraceae). Having never seen this species before, I spent about half a day with my field guides and internet resources trying to figure out the name of this plant.

Plains Zinnia can be easily confused with Wooly Paperflower (Psilostrophe tagetina) which has very similar flowers. Both species grow low to the ground in dry calcareous soils on sloped or flat ground. In this image of Plains Zinnia, note variable scalloping at the ends of the petals, and the 3-6 petals per flower.

Plains Zinnia differs from Woolly Paperflower in the arrangement of its leaves. In Plains Zinnia they are oppositely arranged whereas they are alternately arranged in Wooly Paperflower. This character is clearly visible in this image. Additionally, note the brownish red hue to the disk flowers. This is another way to distinguish Plains Zinnia from the paperflowers.

These plants are perennial and will reappear from the same root stock year after year making them colorful additions to native plant gardens.

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The first flower is Hopi Tea Greenthread (Thelesperma megapotamicum).
This plant is fairly large as Thelesperma go and I thought, originally, that this was some well-fed version of Thelsperma filifolium which also occurs in this area. However, closer examination of the flowers shows the disk florets are all that this species produces.

Above is an example of Thelesperma filifolium known as Greenthread. You can compare it to T. megapotamicum and see they are kinfolk. Note the bracts beneath the closed flowers and the way they “nod” in both species. Also, T. filifolium has the pretty ray florets that form the petals and the typical “daisy” flower plan we are all familiar with.

The next weird daisy is Hymenopappus filifolius cinereus also known as Fineleaf Woolly White. Again, we have an atypical flower lacking any ray florets to match our daisy expectation. The disk flowers of this species can be yellow or white. The projections above the surface of the flower head visible in this image are the ends of the pistils of each floret in the compound flower head. Like Hopi Tea Greenthread, this species produces large (3 or more feet tall) robust plants under the right conditions.

This last image shows the “woolly white” fuzziness on the stems for which these plants are named. Also, note the deep lobing of the leaves on this plant which is a helpful identifying characteristic.

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Amphiachyris dracunculoides, known as the Common Broomweed, is a member of the Asteraceae family and blooms from July through November in Texas and elsewhere. Whole pastures of this plant can be found throughout the West Texas region where I live currently and its presence is a symptom of overgrazed land. The first image shows a typical member of this species surrounded by other forbs but not much grass. By competing with the grasses for sunlight, minerals, and water, they can reduce the ranching productivity of the land. Sheep, goats, and deer will consume the young plants but cattle seem to find them distasteful. The plant is toxic to man because it produces compounds that can irritate the eyes and skin. Back in the days of hand-made brooms, the dried stems of this plant were collected and tied to broom handles for sweeping.

At the USDA website you can see a map of the states where this plant occurs which is mostly in the central United States.

The second image shows the numerous flowers produced by these plants. These photographs were taken in mid-October and many of the visible flowers in this photograph have been pollinated and are beginning to drop the petals of the ray florets.

In the third image near the center, you can observe the narrow grass-like leaves that lack petioles or leaf stalks. This condition is what botanists refer to as sessile.

In the final image, there is a closeup of a compound flower of this member of the daisy family. I chose this image as a caution to fledgling botanists about identifying plants from a single image. Because of the late stages of the flowers on this plant, many are missing one or two of the petals of their ray florets. The one in the center of the image has dropped 2 of the six petals seen in the younger flower. Members of this species can have from 6-10 ray florets with their associated petals.

Stanford, Ansley, and Ransom (2006) point out that the common broomweed provides protective habitat and a food source for bobwhite and scaled quail, leading to the conclusion that this plant is somewhat beneficial despite its noxious aspects and its tendency to compete with grasses on the range.

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Dandelions are one of the first flowers that children of my age learned to recognize. They are found growing in lawns and wild places all over the world. In the U.S., there are native dandelion species and Taraxacum officinale that was imported from Europe by immigrants who brought this plant for its food and medicinal value. Dandelion originated as a French term for this flower which means “Tooth of the Lion”.

In this image you can see the deeply lobed leaves characteristic of this plant and multiple flowerheads in various stages of their lifecycle. Dandelions belong to the Asteraceae or sunflower family and their flowers are really compound flowers. Note the seedhead in the lower left, each seed represents the product of a single flower.

Dandelions appear early in the spring and flower nearly the entire growing season. Kids, like me, used to pick them at the stage seen here and blow on them to cause the cypselae (seeds) to be carried by their silky parachutes (pappi) which can transport their seed several hundred yards from the parent plant.

In this image it is possible to see a cypsela taking to the air.

At whatever their developmental stage, dandelion flowers are are remarkably beautiful. They provide food for many nectar feeders and they can be consumed by deer and other herbivores. They are a weed to some folks, but they have value beyond being a nuisance in the lawn.

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Engelmann’s Daisies flower throughout most of the year. They make beautiful flowers. You can read more about them in an earlier post.

They make fuzzy coarsely lobed leaves.

Depending on how dry conditions are they can struggle and still flower. Bugs of many kinds feed on these plants.

Here a Winecup and Engleman’s Daisy make an interesting study in color contrast.

Engelmann’s Daisies are often found mixed together with other wildflowers like Indian Blanket.

Still, their flowers have a unique character all their own and their mix of colors make for fine photographs.

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My wife and I were recently in Fredericksburg, Texas. We were enjoying the picturesque buildings and shops along main street when we encountered this striking flower I had never seen before. It belongs to the genus Gazania which is a South African member of the Sunflowers (Asteraceae).

In the second image, you can see this bloom from a different angle and get a look at a second bloom that is opening.

This last image shows the Gazania flower in a mixed planting. The yellow flowers on the left are Coreopsis, the pink and blue flowers behind are Sage, and the pink flowers on the right are Ruby Begonias.

For more information, you can visit Spruce.com  and  Cornell University Home Gardening . Both sites offer pictures of the many kinds of Gazania that you can aquire to add remarkable colors to your garden.

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