Texas Fall Wildflowers

I was recently asked if I would like to share a blog post on Wednesdays about items in Texas by Sarah at "Wandering off" blog. She is calling it "Texas photo round up" and wants to introduce people to different aspects of Texas and since most of my blog posts deal with "Life in South Texas" I was happy to oblige.

I thought it was a bit funny last night and this morning as I hit a bloggers block, ekk. I didn't know what to post for the Texas Photo round up...Seriously I take photos most every day and share with y'all and now here I was stuck!

I grabbed the camera and wandered the yard and decided to go with the Texas Wildflowers that are blooming in our yard. Now mind you I did not go out into the pasture as I am sure I would have found more wildflowers but these are the three I have blooming in my yard for the month of November...A little bit of Texas sunshine :o)

The bloom above is a Violet Wood Sorrel. It loves dry sandy soils and is a bulb. They bloom from March to May and then again from October to November. In the spring they have leaves that almost look like a shamrock and in the fall they don't. Brewed correctly a mild tea is said to be good for the blood and a cold tea stops vomiting. But then it says if the leaves are chewed in large amounts they can cause violent convulsions, so probably best to just enjoy the bloom and not put it in your mouth! The Omaha native Americans used the flowers in a poultice for swelling.

Normally I call this bloom a "Wild Texas Mum" but technically it is called "Golden Crownbeard" and it is from the Aster family. They are also known as Cow-Pen Daisies and are found all over Texas from February to December. In the olden days some portions of the plant were used for treating boils, skin diseases, and spider bites. It has an unpleasant odor and I wouldn't recommend it for bouquets. The caterpillars of the border patch butterfly use it as a food plant. And as you've seen in most of my butterfly photos as of late the butterflies love it for it's nectar!

The bloom above is a silverleaf Sunflower and so named because of the showy silver leaf. It likes to grow in sandy soils and if spring rains are sufficient it is one of the dominant plants in this area. Because we were in a drought this spring there are not too many but still a few managed to survive and bloom.

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I hope you enjoyed your Texas Wildflower lesson for the day!
Ms. Sarah has a wonderful blog post on the Bexar County Courthouse with some beautiful photos too...so go check out her blog too!