In the middle of my designated area for native plants I was happy to see that I had some wild sunflowers blooming this year. They are as tall as I am so they are pretty noticeable. Figured they were Maximilian's since I often see that species on my walks but when I got closer I realized the leaves envelope the stem creating a cup which holds rain water. It was a cup plant! I remembered then that my friend Kris had given me one quite a while ago. I had planted it in this area but when it didn't bloom the next year I just figured it hadn't made it. I looked it up and there are other plants in this family that take years to get established before blooming. Then there are the yellow goat's beard seeds I planted - they typically bloom only every other year. The area I have for wild flowers is large enough that I can easily forget where I planted something yet small enough that I might dig up a plant I wanted when planting another. I needed to know where specific plants were located. I thought I had metal identification stakes but couldn't find them. What I did find was solar light stakes. Perfect. I wrote the name of the plant on a tag, affixed the tag around the light, and covered it over w/ clear packing tape. I put a stake next to the cup plants, two by the cone flowers (they are purple instead of yellow so I might have planted them), one next to the sneeze weed I transplanted there this summer, one next to the bare ground where I planted the goat's beard seeds, and one by the American Fly honeysuckle that I had nursed all summer from a cutting this spring. The rest of the wild flowers in that area planted themselves so they are on their own. Only drawback to my plan is that whole area will be lit up each night like Christmas.
In the middle of my designated area for native plants I was happy to see that I had some wild sunflowers blooming this year. They are as tall as I am so they are pretty noticeable. Figured they were Maximilian's since I often see that species on my walks but when I got closer I realized the leaves envelope the stem creating a cup which holds rain water. It was a cup plant! I remembered then that my friend Kris had given me one quite a while ago. I had planted it in this area but when it didn't bloom the next year I just figured it hadn't made it. I looked it up and there are other plants in this family that take years to get established before blooming. Then there are the yellow goat's beard seeds I planted - they typically bloom only every other year. The area I have for wild flowers is large enough that I can easily forget where I planted something yet small enough that I might dig up a plant I wanted when planting another. I needed to know where specific plants were located. I thought I had metal identification stakes but couldn't find them. What I did find was solar light stakes. Perfect. I wrote the name of the plant on a tag, affixed the tag around the light, and covered it over w/ clear packing tape. I put a stake next to the cup plants, two by the cone flowers (they are purple instead of yellow so I might have planted them), one next to the sneeze weed I transplanted there this summer, one next to the bare ground where I planted the goat's beard seeds, and one by the American Fly honeysuckle that I had nursed all summer from a cutting this spring. The rest of the wild flowers in that area planted themselves so they are on their own. Only drawback to my plan is that whole area will be lit up each night like Christmas.
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