Wildflowers

[Turtle]

woo hoo! found this sensitive 'ranked' wildflower species right in my veggy garden hiding behind the bush beans. in retrospect of now knowing it, i imagine i have pulled many up before they bloomed, having mistaken them for clover. nothing ventured, nothing gained, & a weed is just a plant in a place you don't want it. i'm on it now by golly.

http://biology.burke.washington.edu/...on.php?ID=2824

Western Yellow Wood Sorrel - Oxalis suksdorfii

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

woo hoo! found this sensitive 'ranked' wildflower species right in my veggy garden hiding behind the bush beans. in retrospect of now knowing it, i imagine i have pulled many up before they bloomed, having mistaken them for clover. nothing ventured, nothing gained, & a weed is just a plant in a place you don't want it. i'm on it now by golly.

Nice find! You gonna let more of your yard go to seed now?

[Cedars]

Heres one for ya. Pink Lady Slipper, aka Moccasin flower. An orchid. My Crex companion found these while searching for an old gravesite on the meadows. There was a large colony of them, probably 1/2 acre of predominatly, these orchids, with more scattered in mixed vegetation. My friend notified the plant people of the meadows so the location is recorded and hopefully they wont log the area to protect these beauties.

More on the Pink lady slipper:
Cypripedium acaule - Wiki

Photo taken June 11, 2009 very early in the morn (hence the shadows).

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Cedars

Nice find! You gonna let more of your yard go to seed now?

oh yeah!

i'm currently trying to nail down another volunteer yard plant; either it is a native blue violet, or the introduced blue violet species. i have collected a few seeds, tough 'cause they 'spload , but only now finding there is a possibility it's non-native. soon as i pin 'er down i'll either bee () on a cultivating/collecting binge or a pogrom.

i'm a bit cheesed as i learn more on my area native plants that the supposed "NW Wildflower Mix" i bought is full of introduced plants. pogrom!

PS your photography is wonderful!

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

oh yeah!

i'm currently trying to nail down another volunteer yard plant; either it is a native blue violet, or the introduced blue violet species. i have collected a few seeds, tough 'cause they 'spload , but only now finding there is a possibility it's non-native. soon as i pin 'er down i'll either bee () on a cultivating/collecting binge or a pogrom.

i'm a bit cheesed as i learn more on my area native plants that the supposed "NW Wildflower Mix" i bought is full of introduced plants. pogrom!

PS your photography is wonderful!

In crex meadows, there are 5 types of violet, one is the introduced, all the others are natives. Most of the local Fritillary butterfly caterpillars feed on violet. The frits lay their eggs on the ground and the cat has to find violets to eat. Just a bit of bug trivia I thought I would toss in.

[Cedars]

Heres one of the white violets from the meadows. Pic taken May 1, 2009. I had to lay on the ground to get this shot.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Cedars

Heres one of the white violets from the meadows. Pic taken May 1, 2009. I had to lay on the ground to get this shot.

well i have to say that you're enthusiasm, knowledge, and sacrifice over the last few years have provided a prime motivation for my growing interest in happily laying on grounds to get stuff to know about. (then run to post here in the grand halls of hypography of course.) not only have you amused me, you have mused me. if i seem a little competitive at times, it's because i'm a little competitive...at times.

on to the flowers. now that i have put these sources all together tonight, i'm inclined to think my blue violet is the native one and not the introduced. the flowers have stopped, but i have the plants still growing if there is some leaf/stem nuance we need to decide. here we go.

the flower in my yard that i id'd as Viola adunca:


as far as i have found, we have only 2 blue violets here in county of clark, state of evergreen. these be them.

state description of Viola adunca -native: http://biology.burke.washington.edu/...on.php?ID=4517
state description of Viola odorata -introduced: [http://biology.burke.washington.edu/...on.php?ID=4539

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Turtle

woo hoo! found this sensitive 'ranked' wildflower species right in my veggy garden hiding behind the bush beans.

I'm curious. Did you measure the petal lengths?

Identification Tips: Oxalis suksdorfii is most closely related to
O. stricta, O. dillenii, and O. corniculata. These species can be
distinguished by their petal length and number of peduncles. The
petals of O. suksdorfii are ½ to ¾ in. (12 to 20 mm) long, and it has 1
to 2 flowers. The petals of O. stricta, O. dillenii, and O. corniculata are
1/8 to ¼ in. (4 to 9 mm) long, and they have 1 to 7 flowers.

http://www1.dnr.wa.gov/nhp/refdesk/f...pdf/oxasuk.pdf

Cool photo of the pink ladyslipper Cedars!

Violets are tricky. Between adunca and odorata, I'd say you are correct Turtle.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by freeztar

I'm curious. Did you measure the petal lengths?


http://www1.dnr.wa.gov/nhp/refdesk/f...pdf/oxasuk.pdf

i did not Sir. rest assured i shall not now rest 'til i have measured yon yellow petals, both kurz und lang. excellent source by the way thank you very much freezy san. it's now in my new & growing plants links folder. the flowers were closed when i was out looking today, and i found 2 or 3 more of the plants also hiding among the bush beans.

Originally Posted by freezysan

Violets are tricky. Between adunca and odorata, I'd say you are correct Turtle.

roger. i plan on getting some photos of the main plant in situ where it came up volunteer. also some shots of the seed pods before & after 'sploding. i have new babies some 6 feet away from this main plant. i have only got maybe 8 seeds though, and they were still clinging to the pod husks. i was thinking maybe if i put a little plastic wrap around a pod that hasn't blown yet & catch all the seeds.

thanks for your part keeping me on the hard nut details these many years frezrtar san, if i may mention it. it's more important than ever now as my precision is going to mean life or death, help or hinder, as i weed out friend plant from foe plant. you will be assimilated!

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Turtle

i did not Sir. rest assured i shall not now rest 'til i have measured yon yellow petals, both kurz und lang. excellent source by the way thank you very much freezy san. it's now in my new & growing plants links folder. the flowers were closed when i was out looking today, and i found 2 or 3 more of the plants also hiding among the bush beans.

I don't normally measure petals either.
"A flower so sweet can not be measured." - (I've got dibs if no one else has it)

roger. i plan on getting some photos of the main plant in situ where it came up volunteer. also some shots of the seed pods before & after 'sploding. i have new babies some 6 feet away from this main plant.

Coolio. (which infers coolness rather than a reference to the rapper Coolio, which would completely lameify this post).

i have only got maybe 8 seeds though, and they were still clinging to the pod husks. i was thinking maybe if i put a little plastic wrap around a pod that hasn't blown yet & catch all the seeds.

Plastic works great for plants as you are using it. Placing the plastic on the plants is not a good idea, imho. A better way to catch the seeds might be to use some cheesecloth. Fwiw, I've been buying my garlic in packs of 5 packaged in cheese cloth. I'm saving the 'cloth' for a sprouting project, but it could be equally useful for the purposes you seek. Another idea is to place paper baglettes around the seed heads. The idea is to not stifle gas transfer so much as well as to keep a bare necessity of moisture.

thanks for your part keeping me on the hard nut details these many years frezrtar san, if i may mention it. it's more important than ever now as my precision is going to mean life or death, help or hinder, as i weed out friend plant from foe plant. you will be assimilated!

The honor is mine Don Turtle.
Positive curiosity begets positive curiosity.

Now, who's next for the dastardly shovel?!