Texas Twisters

jinman · Apr 27, 2008

Jimmyp5 said:
All well in Decatur... I think we got too much rain for the bluebonnets... I noticed that those on hight ground came out pretty full, the rest were hit and miss..

Jimmy, I watch my bluebonnets very closely all through the year. New plants normally emerge in September and stay tiny all winter long. They make a deep root system to support their quick spurt of growth in the spring when they seem to burst up out of the ground and bloom.

Last fall, I had to search and search to find plants. Our dry fall seems to have stopped the seeds from germinating properly. As a result, we hardly have any bluebonnets where they normally cover the ground.

What Bird called "buttercups" are actually evening primrose, I think. They seem to really being doing well this season. I even have patches of them in my yard that I've mowed around. The foxglove is also starting to come out.

EDIT: The buttercups are actually called "showy primrose" and are part of the evening primrose family. Here is a link:
Showy Primrose

Bird · Apr 27, 2008

What Bird called "buttercups" are actually evening primrose, I think.

Jim, there is no doubt that you know a lot more about flowers than I do. In fact, you wouldn't have to know much to know more than I do. I have been searching on google for buttercup and evening primrose pictures. The buttercup pictures I found are certainly not the flowers I see everywhere alongside the road. So that would lead me to believe what I called buttercups are not buttercups, as you said. But the odd thing is that I found lots of websites claiming to have pictures of evening primrose. One such site had a picture of the right flower, but all the other sites had pictures that weren't even close.

Oh well, they're kinda pretty whatever they are.

jinman · Apr 28, 2008

Bird said:
The buttercup pictures I found are certainly not the flowers I see everywhere alongside the road. So that would lead me to believe what I called buttercups are not buttercups, as you said.

Well, Bird, I didn't say that they were not buttercups. They are certainly called buttercups. They are also showy primrose. If you search for showy primrose, I think you will find more of what you see in the medians on the highway. Most sites also say that they are called buttercups. One problem I have with so many of the wildflower sites is that they will show one flower as a close-up and not show the whole plant. They also often don't tell you that flowers can be different shades like white to pink depending on soil chemistry. Here is a wide picture of one small patch of showy primrose buttercups I took several years ago.