Travel Story--Laura W. Bush Native Texas Park, Dallas, Texas

Visiting Dallas, Texas, we stopped into the George W. Bush Presidential Center, to find a gem of a garden I had never heard of, the Laura W. Bush Native Texas Park ( link)

Amazing hillside of wildflowers, Laura W. Bush Native Texas Park

Plant Story--Beautiful Gunnison's Mariposa Lily, Calochortus gunnisonii

One of the first things that confused me about the mariposa lily was how to tell it from a sego lily. Different people pointed out the flowers to me and told me the name. It turns out they are both the name of this flower. The scientific name is Calochortus (lily family, Liliaceae) but it is called both mariposa lily and sego lily. 

Gunnison's mariposa lily, Calochortus gunnisonii

Travel Story--the Botanical Garden in Quito, Ecuador

Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is at 9,350' in elevation (the various neighborhoods a little higher and a little lower) and the town center is about 15 miles south of the Equator (latitude 0ᆼ,0', 0"). I live at about 5,000' elevation in Colorado. Where I live, winter lasts from October to May. In Quito, there is no winter. Despite the elevation, Quito does not have frosts and consequently, the Botanical Garden had amazing tropical plants. It boggled this temperate zone botanist's mind.

orchid (Epidendrum) growing outside in Quito

Followers

 I know a lot about plants. Websites and blogs, not so much. So today, after 13 years of blogging, I figured out and added the Follower's gadget. 

Who knows what other discoveries are out there...

Photos of bouquets for fun: 

Plant Story--Red valerian, Jupiter's beard, Valeriana rubra, Centranthus ruber

The plant is called red valerian or Jupiter's beard. Here's a picture

red valerian, Jupiter's beard,
Valeriana rubra formerly Centranthus ruber

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Travel Story--Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, Texas

For me, who writes about plants and checks her accuracy in books and on websides, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (website) has long been a resource I rely on, both the website (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower data base) and books they have published. So to visit the actual center was a treat!

flower bed of evening primroses (Oenothera)

Disambiguation of Some Common Plant Names 3: Marigold, Mountain Ash, Bugleweed, and Loosestrife

Common names are locally-used names. Nobody standardizes them. So it is easy for people to use the same common name for different plants. 

marigolds, genus Tagetes