Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Summer Flowers!

After long days of cutting down weeds and placing seeds on the green roof, our hard work has finally paid off! The green roof can now truly be called "green", as it is teeming with many native Texas flowers that are in full bloom. We planted the native seed mixes during the winter (January), and while we didn't see any new growth for months on end, the seeds recently germinated and grew into mature, flowering plants.

While not all of the seeds in the mixes germinated, we still have seven beds full of life and vigor. The most prominent plant that grew is Gulf Coast Muhly.

Fields of muhly cover every bed
 Of course, we also had some bluebonnets. Most of the ones on the green roof are from previous plantings or grew from the seeds that the original plants produced.

A bluebonnet with empty seed pods
Flowering bluebonnet
We also had some Plains Coreopsis germinate and flower! 


There were a few Indian Blankets that grew as well. They were localized to a bed or two. 


I think that this flower is a Purple Prairie Clover - not entirely sure though. 


 And this last one is unidentified.

Mystery flower or just a weed?
We are very glad that some of the seeds we planted grew in the end. Given that different plants flower at different times throughout the year, we are hoping that we'll see many different flowers on the roof through the summer. There were some smaller plants that were unidentifiable or preparing to flower, so we'll have to come back sometime to see what we get.

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