Once again, I find a great post when it's too late to upvote and resteem! Dammit Steemit!
@mountainjewel
Plants the Native Americans Used: Hoary Puccoon (Lithospermum canescens)
I was immediately drawn to its yellow flower, a rarity in these parts in spring.
Upon closer examination, I noticed the hairy, almost sticky leaves.
My Peterson Field Guide easily directed me to the ID of hoary puccoon.
I love, love, love this flower!
It grows in a ditch across the road from me, but it cannot be transplanted (deep taproot) and growing from seed is even harder than growing orange butterfly weed (20% viability of seeds). I want this gorgeous yellow blossom among my own prairie natives!! For us, hoary puccoon blooms in early June; orange butterfly weed, in July.
I'm surprised puccoon is related to borage rather than butterfly weed, given how the leaves and petals remind me more of the the one than the other.
My driveway
Asclepias tuberosa--Butterflyweed
Butterflyweed, Butterfly milkweed, Orange milkweed, Pleurisy root, Chigger flower.
Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed Family).
Orange Butterfly Weed (Asclepias Tuberosa) | Home Guides | SF Gate
homeguides.sfgate.com › Garden › Gardening › Garden Ideas
... North American wildflowers, work well in butterfly gardens, attracting many different types of butterflies to their showy flowers. This low-maintenance perennial blooms throughout summer and into the beginning of fall. Butterflies visit the blossoms to sip nectar and monarch ...
Thank you for posting this, @mountainjewel!
art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics
Beautiful. I'm jealous of your driveway. And of your photography talents.
Joe
@joe.nobel
science fiction, fantasy, erotica
Both sides of a driveway the length of a football field -- beautiful, to be sure, but the work, the time, the chigger bites, mosquitoes, ticks, poison ivy, sun damage (freckles and moles!) - I pay for this, oh, do I ever pay for it. Often 10-12 hour days in wretched heat and humidity. But I can't NOT do it. It's me vs the weeds. Quack grass is so, so hard to get. No chemicals here, just manual labor. But... well, you should SEE it all... that was only a fraction... from May to September, the riot of prairie blossoms is just glorious. Thanks for reading and commenting, Joe!
I had a butterfly weed along my sidewalk where I lived when I was a kid. I would catch butterflies and put them in a jar and after getting a lot, open the jar for a butterfly frenzy!!!