Plant Story--Ixora, Flame of the Woods

Venturing from my Colorado home into the tropics, practically all of the plants change. It has always worked best for me to learn the plant and then learn its proper name. Consequently red-balls-of-flowers-that-look-like-grappling-hooks eventually becomes ixora.  I've recognized ixora a long time, but only recently gotten a proper name on it. 

Ixora

Under the Forest in Boulder, Colorado

I walked in the forest of the hills above Boulder Colorado in mid-June. 

Thoughts While Weeding

We're far enough into the growing season that the bindweeds are flowering and the dandelions are ready for a second round of flowers. I try to weed part of the yard every day. 

One thing I noticed was that although my lawn started the season full of dandelions, my prairie did not. My prairie is maybe 500 square feet that I planted with native grasses and forbs (non-grass herbs) a decade ago. It isn't a great success--some weedy grasses are too common--but I don't water it and my maintenance is confined to weeding out exotics and occasionally cutting back the grasses to mimic natural disturbance such as bison grazing. By the time I got to the 800th tiny dandelion plant in the lawn--an area the size of the prairie--I was struck by the fact that there were only a couple dandelions in the prairie. 

my "prairie"

What does that suggest? 

Weeds Can Have Beautiful Flowers

Walking in Boulder (earlier blog), many of the "wildflowers" were European species that have become naturalized in the U.S. Some are sufficiently common to be recognized as weeds. And yet, they can be beautiful.

Suppress your attitude toward these plants and notice them as flowers,

purple salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius (sunflower family Asteraceae)

Plant Story - Aggressive Canada Thistle, Cirsium arvense

 It is not from Canada, though you can find it there...

The plant we call Canada thistle, Cirsium arvense (sunflower family, Asteraceae) is from Eurasia but has spread all over North America. I was amused to see that Canadians call it Canada thistle, too, though official sites in Canada prefer creeping thistle or field thistle. In Europe it is usually called creeping thistle, a good descriptive name, and also corn thistle and field thistle. 

Spring Wildflowers in Boulder

It was planned an easy morning hike: park the car at Chataqua Park in Boulder, Colorado, and walk southward, uphill. But the Front Range had a much wetter than normal May (2021), so the plants were lush and flowering vigorously. It turned into a spectacular wildflower walk:

Looking up at the Flatirons

Cowboy's Delight, Scarlet Globemallow, Sphaeralcea coccinea

Across the West, a spot of bright orange--it's cowboy's delight, copper mallow, scarlet globemallow, Sphaeralcea coccinea:

This is a plant of disturbed sites but not much of a weed. It can be common along trails and by parking lots. Its range goes from the Great Plains west to the Pacific.