Very pretty.

Beautiful, Pod! I haven't been able to grow Spigelia from seed, although I've tried!!! Actually, Kristi, I think you may have given me seeds years ago in a trade...

Thank you both, I think they are beautiful too.

I've never tried to grow them from seed but seems I have harvested and shared seed in the past.

The plants are sparse but have been spreading. From what I have read, they are native to Louisiana. Uncommon in east Texas. I am about 20 miles from the Lousiana border so these were no doubt shared by birds. Far better than some of the invasives they share like Chinese Tallow tree.

Spegelia was my most wanted plant after seeing them in our city's botanical garden.
I finally ordered some a few years ago and here they are this spring:



Just love them!

They are very pretty, indeed!

Beautiful, Betsy!! I was thinking I need to look for plants, maybe on line to buy!

Super pretty Betsy! Everybody's blooms are making me anxious for ours to bloom! 😂 We just have a lot of new growth. Our season is so short. We have a freeze tonight and I had to bring in all my pots. It seems like a late freeze 🙄 I hope it's the last. In CA I could grow most my herbs outside all year long. Oh well, I'll get used to the short season eventually 😄

Got these pictures today:





The wildflowers are screaming this year!

What an interesting selection of wildflowers. Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

Such neat wildflowers, we don't see here.

There's also this one, and I don't know what it is. Someone suggest Virginia Bluebells, but the leaves are really thin compared to a Virginia Bluebells's leaves:



I'm stumped. Any of you have an idea?

Oh pretty. The flowers do look bluebell-ish. Hmm.

Someone on the Plant ID forum confirmed that it is indeed Mertensia, but not Virginia Bluebells. I guess I'll just call it the Black Hills Mertensia.

An unusual twist on this bloomer. On the pond dam.

Neat, Pod. I've seen similar by my pond. It looks like some kind of spiranthes, Lady's Trusses, I think. Don't you just love finding plants like that growing? 💚

Here's what I found down at my pond the other day.


Black-eyed Susans aren't so special to find but they sure do attract many visitors!

Down by our pond (pretty much dried up because of the drought) all we have growing is field pennycress, and A LOT of it. Last year we didn't even have pennycress on the property. The ranchers think the fierce winds we had earlier this year and last year blew in a lot of seeds from the eastern part of the state.

wildflowers said: Neat, Pod. I've seen similar by my pond. It looks like some kind of spiranthes, Lady's Trusses, I think. Don't you just love finding plants like that growing? 💚

Here's what I found down at my pond the other day.


Black-eyed Susans aren't so special to find but they sure do attract many visitors!

Thank you for the ID. I will have to research it as I didn't know what it was.

I do love the Black Eyed Susans. They are generous with their blooms sharing with both us and the pollinators
~~~

Last year we didn't even have pennycress on the property. The ranchers think the fierce winds we had earlier this year and last year blew in a lot of seeds from the eastern part of the state.

The wind may be the culprit but I have also seen seed lay dormant until the conditions were right. Here it seems the birds spread the wealth by eating and processing the seeds.

Yeah, but some of these ranchers have been here thirty years, and never seen it. Only now are they starting to grow in the thousands.

@johannian, those shooting stars Don't see them at our neck of the woods.

Yes, they're certainly beauties, Besty; especially when they bloom by the hundreds, decorating a big field with purple and orange.

Kristi, any chance your "twister flower" could be Spring Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes vernalis) ?