Mysteries Solved: Three "New" Plants in the Garden

Just for the record, I HATE botanical keys.  You know the sort - those dichotomous keys where you spend more time in the glossary than you do looking at the specimen.  "Is this acute or attenuate?  What the hell does 'glandular' actually LOOK like?  Are these considered lobes or is this simply a wavy leaf edge?  Phyllaries?  What in the world is a phyllary?"  Heaven forbid your specimen isn't in the growth stage that the key is looking for!  The very first step in the most recent key I was using called for an examination of ribs on the seeds - but I've been waiting all summer for my plants to simply bloom, let alone for seed to set.  They are still weeks away from having ripe seeds!

Thankfully, there's the internet and friends and sheer doggedness.

I've actually been able to solve three identification mysteries recently, two of them at least partially through the use of dichotomous keys.  The first mystery I solved was what the slightly blurry, tall plant was on the right hand side in the foreground of the photo below....

This was a volunteer in the backyard which I noticed early last spring, although this photo was taken in early June.  I was hoping it was a goldenrod (Solidago sp.), rather than horseweed (Conyza canadensis).  The mystery plant kept growing taller and taller and taller, not heading out until sometime in September. When it finally bloomed, I was vindicated.  Definitely goldenrod. 

Definitely goldenrod.  It was much tougher to figure out WHICH goldenrod, though.  Using keys and photos, I was finally able to work it out:  I now have a locally sourced, pine barren goldenrod (Solidago fistulosa).  Because not all goldenrods are created equal and because pine barren goldenrod is notorious for its "vigorous spreading" via rhizomes, it's good to know the actual identity of this plant.  I'd been planning on moving it anyway, since it's too tall for its location - now I know I HAVE to relocate it to someplace where its expansive tendencies won't be a big problem.  Sounds like a lower terrace plant to me!

Just to the left of that first mystery plant was another mystery plant....

By early June this second plant was shorter than the first mystery plant, but still fairly tall.  It looked vaguely like an althea (Hibiscus syriacus), which does naturalize in this area, but that didn't seem quite right.  So I waited and waited and waited for this plant to bloom, too.  Meanwhile, the stems got woodier and woodier and the height got taller and taller.  Finally it, too, bloomed - just shortly after the pine barren goldenrod.

It's rather hard to see the plant in this photo from 10 days ago, but it's the upright plant in the middle of the goldenrod.  It's even harder to see the small, white blooms from this far away, but here they are, up close and with a syrphid fly on one of them....

With few close relatives to distinguish between, it was fairly easy to peg this plant as saltbush/eastern baccharis/groundsel bush (Baccharis halimifolia) once the blooms appeared.  Indeed, had I ever grown this plant before, I would probably have recognized it much sooner.  While I would have preferred a female plant, since the female blooms are much showier, I am still excited about having this pollinator magnet show up naturally.  The male blooms, above, are about 1/4" in diameter, to give you a sense of scale.  They are not showy, but the insects sure love them!

As the plant grew taller over the summer, I started planning to relocate it to the lower terrace along with the goldenrod.  However, several sources mentioned that saltbush makes a very pretty small tree, so I've changed my mind and decided to limb it up and use it to anchor the southern end of the bed that has grown up around these two mystery plants.

The third mystery plant has been nagging at me for identification almost since the day we moved into the house.  I noticed a rather pretty looking plant out near the lakeside deck a year ago in June and marked it so that it wouldn't get mown.

Last fall it bloomed with golden "daisy" flowers, after significant browning out on its lower stems.  Despite the brownout, the blooms were vibrant and showy.

Because of the blooms, last fall I was able to figure out that this was a goldenaster (Chrysopsis sp.), but I've been stymied about WHICH goldenaster.  There are several goldenaster species that only occur in this general area of the Florida panhandle, so there aren't many descriptions or photographs of those species available on the web.  Generally, the wildflower guides only showed one or two species out of the 6 or 7 that were possibilities.

We've had irrigation on the yard this summer and it has made a big difference with this plant.  While it browned out badly last summer without irrigation, this summer it has hardly browned out at all.  This plant has also probably tripled in size from last year to this, at least in reference to the number of stems and flower heads it has; it stays a wonderful 18" tall in height.

Drum roll, please!  I now know which species this is:  Godfrey's goldenaster (Chrysopsis godfreyi).  According to the USDA Plant Profiles database and the Atlas of Florida Plants, it is found in
5 or 6 counties in the panhandle of Florida and a little bit, somewhere in Alabama.  In other words, this is a fairly localized plant - which really excites me!  I am so glad that I protected it from mowing, particularly since it's turned out to be so attractive.

While this plant is nice from a distance, up close it's truly glowing....

Now that I know what a winner this plant is, I'm going to try to start some seeds...when at last I finally get some.  At least I don't have to worry about working through a dichotomous key on this one again - those ribbed or ribless seeds/reflexed phyllaries had me stymied for quite a while!

 

Native Plant Building Blocks

Having moved to a new (to us) house, new (to us) yard, in a different city, in a different state, I've shared that I feel like I'm starting completely from scratch again as I start to garden. This yard feels almost like a blank slate.

However, even a blank slate yard is never totally blank.  A suburban lot surrounding a house that's been lived in for almost 50 years is definitely not blank.  So, I've been watching the yard to see what's already living here, and I thought I'd share some of the native plant species I've found, the native "building blocks" that already exist in the yard for me to utilize.

Trees seem like the place to start.  The first thing I noticed coming up to our house last April was the big southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) by the driveway, dominating the front yard. 

Unfortunately, it's not a good location for this species, since southern magnolias grow way too large for this space.  So, sometime in the past, big branches were pruned out of the tree to allow the electrical lines to go through the canopy.  There is also a southern magnolia in the back yard, although it is younger and smaller than the one in the front.

Next on the current yard list are the oaks, live oak (Quercus virginiana) and sand live oak (Q. geminata).  In the photo above, the big tree to the right of the house is our largest live oak.  Although there are many sand live oaks in the neighborhood, I think we only have one, a relatively small one, in our (back) yard.  On the other hand, we have 5 live oaks, 3 of which are quite unhealthy.  Unfortunately, none of our live oaks are terribly picturesque, having been limbed up to be "proper" trees, judging from their form.

Right now we only have one other tree species in our yard, pignut hickory (Carya glabra), but we have 3 mature specimens of this species in our back yard.  Pignut hickory is the only deciduous tree species we have. 

This photo, of one of the pignut hickories in the back yard, was taken in late June last summer.  I kept waiting for these trees to turn colors this fall, but it was a long wait.  The trees stayed green until December, when they turned a beautiful, bright yellow.  Leaf drop was rapid, once the leaves started to fall, and took place right around Christmas.  Not a traditional yard display for the holiday season!  If my memory serves, these trees are late to leaf out and won't get foliage back until April.

While there is a lot of Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) in the neighborhood, we have very little in our yard - perhaps a result of how open the canopy is.  There IS some, though, and I'm hoping that we get more to grow over the years.

For quite a while, I've been eyeing this little prostrate vine and thinking that I recognized it - and I did. 

It's partridge berry (Mitchella repens), a gorgeous little evergreen groundcover with a wide natural range.  I had started to make the mistake of covering much of this plant up with mulch, but realized what I'd done when I went out to take the photo this morning. 

Here's the full scope of this plant, unearthed from below the mulch.  I'm hoping that this little guy will bloom (white) and maybe even set fruit (a bright red berry) later this year.

If you take a second look at the photo above, you'll notice a bare vine going up the tree trunk.  This vine is crossvine (Bignonia capreolata), a classic native landscaping vine in the south.  Here is a new stem, probably from the same root stock, climbing up a different side of the trunk. 

I'm excited to see this plant naturally in the yard, although this specimen doesn't look particularly luxuriant. Hopefully some better yard management will make it healthier.

Coming up in the middle of an old sand box, along the city storm drain easement, is a dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor). 

These are palm-y shrubs, with the trunk remaining underground.  I'm not very familiar with this species, although now that I know how to identify it, I'm noticing them all around.  This is one of many plant species I want (and need) to learn more about.

Last summer I noticed a rather handsome perennial plant growing at the base of one of the pignut hickories. 

I cordoned it off, so that it wouldn't get mowed, and watched it to see what it was.  Finally, in October, it bloomed a bright yellow. By the time it bloomed, though, the base of the plant had browned out badly.  I've figured out that this is golden aster, probably narrowleaf golden aster (Chrysopsis linearifolia), and the lower leaf brownout is actually listed in the plant descriptions. 

Most interesting is that, even with just a few buds open, there were actually little native bees using it in mid October.  So, now the challenge is how to disguise those lower leaves...and increase the plant population from my current n of 1, without jeopardizing that current, single specimen.

For now, the last plant I'm going to mention is Woolly Elephant's Foot (Elephantopus tomentosus), aka Devil's Grandmother, which I noticed and photographed last June.  I have no idea why it has earned either the name of "elephant's foot" or "devil's grandmother". This is not a showy plant at all, but it is both native and perennial.  I will almost assuredly keep it, but I may not try to expand its presence in the yard. 

I did like the fact that this little damselfly was using the bloom head to perch upon!