The Hardiest Wildflowers

by Susan Rozmiarek

We just had a whole month without so much as a drop of rain, plus scorching temperatures up near 100 degrees. I am amazed that even under these conditions, there are a few wildflowers blooming around our house.

This is a Two-leaved Senna plant. Notice how the ground around it is all dry and cracked. All the ground around our house was scraped when it was being built. We haven't dared to try and plant any grass or anything else due to the weather. Yet, there are a few tough plants like this one coming up. Hard to believe.

Firewheels, or Indian Blankets. These start to come up in early spring just after the bluebonnets start blooming. They last much longer, though. They have practically all gone to seed now, but a few are still around.

The very aptly named, Mexican Hats. There are several clumps of these in our yard, although most are almost done blooming.

Finally, we got a teeny bit of rain but it was less than half an inch. Still, it must have done some good, because several of these Wild Petunias were blooming along the edge of the driveway a few days later.

Posted by Susan Rozmiarek at July 10, 2005 12:30 AM