Re: ID needed
Don Martinson wrote:
> I've had a tall, but small flowered, white, daisy-like perennial growing in
> my garden for the past few years, that I had "rescued" from the garden of
> the group home where my mom used to stay.
> http://www.execpc.com/~llmen/unk2.jpg
Don,
I'll venture a guess of Melampodium leucanthum, our native Blackfoot Daisy.
See the following sites for pictures:
http://www.execpc.com/~llmen/unk2.jpg
http://www.nativesoftexas.com/bfdaisy.html
Is your plant fragrant?
Geyata Ajilvsgi, in her book Butterfly Gardening for the South, has a great
photo of the Blackfoot Daisy on page 267. Here's what she has to say:
"A low, bushy or mounded perennial, with one or several many-branched stems
woody at the base. Leaves opposite, long, very narrow, grey-green, and rough
to the touch, mostly evergreen. Flower heads numerous, solitary, and terminal
on long, slender stalks. Outer ray flowers white, with the inner disks yellow.
Cultivation: Hardly enough can be said about the ease of culture, prolific
flowering, and general attractiveness of this plant for the perennial border.
Its main drawback is that in some areas it is very short-lived, usually only
about two years. Plains Black-foot seems to absolutely revel in the hot, dry
summers of the western half of Texas and Oklahoma and continues to bloom rain
or no rain. It is one of the best plants to use in dry, rocky, calcareous
soils. It grows in richer, more loamy garden soil but tends to become a little
more leggy or sprawly. Late in the season, or as the plant becomes older, it
may sprawl somewhat anyway from the simple weight and mass of the flowers...As
the plant is tap-rooted from a central crown, it does not transplant well nor
can it be divided...
Collect seeds as soon as they become fully mature, or black in color. The
seeds are enclosed in a black, foot-shaped, papery husk, which gives the plant
its common name...As this is a plant naturally adapted to rather adverse
conditions, understand it and do not love it to death through indulgence...
Overwatering, especially during early spring or winter in loamy soils, will
cause the plant to rot at the base.."
Best,
Julie Finn
Zone 7 and 10
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
