Late Spring Wildflowers at Dun Hagan

It was a busy day on the homestead today watering everything on the place it seemed like, but not so busy that I failed to notice the wildflowers around me. I stuck the camera in my pocket to take advantage of whatever targets of opportunity might present themselves as I went about my rounds.

Regardless of what the calendar says late spring is upon us now here in Florida. Our early spring delights of red bud, wild plum, and pears are past their peaks as we make the not so slow slide into the warm season. Just the same though La Florida is still the land of flowers. They never really stop, only the composition of the arrangement changes.

Some of the following flowers I know and there are some that I have not yet taken the time to deduce their identity from my collection of books on the subject. If there are any that you know what they are please feel free to post about them. As always you can click on a photo to be shown a larger version for a better look.



This first flower is one of the most common and long-lasting on the place. It is the Common Green Eyes Berlandiera subacaulis also known as the Florida Green Eyes. With a large, fleshy carrot like tap root it is quite drought hardy and well adapted to life here on the sand ridge. My daughters pick bouquets of these flowers across the spring and summer.








This second flower is also drought hardy and well adapted to the sand ridge though I wish it were not. It is the Spurge Nettle Cnidoscolus stimulosus sometimes known as Tread Softly. As with all nettles it'll make you smart if you're foolish enough to brush against it with bare skin. Older plants produce a potato like underground tuber that is reputed to be edible though I've never tried it myself. The tuber is what makes it so drought hardy and difficult to eradicate. I've taught my kids not to touch anything with white flowers because of this one. They never listen until they actually do touch one. They remember just fine after that. {laughing}




This next one is the Pinewoods Milkweed Asclepias humistrata which I believe is specific to the Southeastern United States. This particular plant comes back in this same spot year after year. I've been trying to recall if the Monarch butterfly lays her eggs on this species but I don't know. I mow around them when I can just in case. The Giant Swallowtail butterfly is much prettier than the Monarch, but the Monarch doesn't eat my citrus trees and the Swallowtail's Orange Dog Caterpillar does. I'll leave the milkweed alone when I can. Stay off my citrus trees!

There are at least three different species of blueberries (Vaccinium) at Dun Hagan. One of which is the Rabbiteye blueberry (Vaccinium ashei) commonly grown for its fruit of which I now have five or six varieties. The other two however are native here. The first is the largest of the blueberry species known as the Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum). It can make quite a tall woody shrub or small understory tree. Some of mine approach ten feet in height and might go taller still with better soil and more water. Under good conditions they make an edible, tasty berry, but mine are usually too water stressed most years. The birds still seem to like them well enough.

The other native Vaccinium species is what I believe is the smallest in the family which is the Shiny Blueberry Vaccinium myrsinites. They are past their blossom peak in this shot, but there were still some bushes full of flowers. If you look closely you can see a few fruit already set and beginning to grow. They make an edible tasty berry too, even in my poor droughty sand. I seldom get to taste them though as they are highly prized by the local bird life who are more expert than I at judging when they have reached perfect ripeness. I find these interesting as my patch is growing out in full sun in the middle of my pasture and holding their own against the grass. I fertilize them maybe once a year and give them the occasional watering, but I suspect they'd stand their ground just fine without any attention from me. If ever I manage to fence my pasture in I'll need to move the patch as I suspect the livestock would happily graze them into extinction.

Those are the flowers that I have identified. The ones that follow are as yet still unknown to me. Maybe one of you readers will recognize some of them.



This first one is a legume, one of the vetch species I think, but I don't know which one. It's not very numerous here, I think it wants more water than my soil can usually provide, but I find it every spring. Doesn't seem to appeal to the chicken flock as I never see them eating it. They're a bit past their blossom peak now. Two or three weeks ago would have caught them at their best.








And here is another legume species as you can tell by it's pea blossom shaped flower. It's not very common here either and never makes a very big plant, but it is distinctive enough that I never fail to notice it. It seems to tolerate the heat a bit better than the one above as I'll see it further into the early summer. I suspect though it would prefer a somewhat moister, sweeter soil than what I can readily provide or I'd see more of it.













This one I find on the slight slope where my blueberries are planted. A bit of dappled shade and not quite so arid as the full-sun open pasture. I have no idea what it is, but I never fail to notice it. The wind was blowing the flower stalks a bit so the blossoms are not as sharp in detail as they might have been. With the flower stalk fully grown it stands maybe two feet tall though the rest of the plant tends to hug the ground.














This one here is as tiny as other other is tall. I really should have gotten down close to the ground to shoot the photo so that you could see how diminutive the plant is. The blossoms are smaller than a thimble. It grows in the full sun and heat where the soil is quite dry and lasts into the summer though I can't recall now if I see it at mid-summer or not.












Last for this post is one of my more common early spring garden weeds. It seems to favor areas of disturbed soil as I don't see it much in the lawn or pasture, but I have a lot of it in the garden. I pull it for green feed for the hens when there is nothing else available. They seem to like it well enough.



There are other wildflowers out there that I was not able to get a good photo of. Just this year I started noticing a few thinly scattered Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium atlanticum) around the yard. I wasn't able to make a good photo of mine, but you can see a good one over to the Central Florida Gardening Blog. It is one of the few Florida gardening related blogs that I've been able to find and I'm sure they'd love to see a comment or two if you are so inclined to encourage them to keep it up.

In another month or so I'll cruise the property again to see what new flowers I can find.

.....Alan.