Wild & Weedy Wednesday: Desirable weeds?

I'm joining Cathy of Words and Herbs for Wild & Weedy Wednesday again this week to show off a few plants that have shown a proclivity for straying.  They aren't native wildflowers and they haven't shown up on any of California's invasive plant lists.  Their weedy tendencies may be anomalies unique to my garden, or possibly attributable to the heavier rainfall we experienced during the course of the past two years.

The first plant is Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud', which I purchased from a Northern California nursery by mail order in September 2013.  It was described as a drought-tolerant perennial groundcover.  It's a member of the Campanulaceae family and, according to Wikipedia, native species in this genus are found on every continent except North America.  This one delighted me for a few years before seemingly disappearing, at which point I added it to my wish list on the nursery's site.  As it turns out, that nursery no longer carries the plant; however, a replacement proved unnecessary when my original plant roared back with a vengeance in recent years.

It's wiry stems are looking decidedly weedy here in my south-side garden, growing between the agaves and right through the middle of a Dasylirion longissima.  The buff-colored seedpods seen on the right may be responsible for its spread, although some Wahlenbergia species reportedly spread by rhizomes.  The species wasn't identified by the seller, beyond stating that it was native to South Africa.

The plant also likes to place itself in pathways between paving stones, where it's easier to manage.  It can be pulled up relatively easily where it's not wanted, although that doesn't guarantee that it won't reappear.

The second plant is Salvia lyrata, also known as lyreleaf sage.  I saw it on a blog at some point in 2019 and, coincidentally came upon plug plants at my local garden center a short time later so I brought home a six-pack.   I was attracted more by the burgundy foliage than the flowers, which aren't impressive in my view.

I planted all 6 tiny plants in one very dry area in my back border.  They managed to merge into a messy mass as shown in the photo on the left.  I plan to dig them up and move them around this coming fall; however, they've already spread themselves here and there as the photo on the right indicates.  That plant is sitting in the middle of the flagstone path 8-10 feet away from the original plug plants.

Still others have appeared much further away.  The one on the left is in the south-side garden and the one on the right is in the front garden.  How they got there is a complete mystery to me.

The third plant, a white and yellow-flowered Scaevola, gets credit for self-seeding itself in my garden but it's too soon to tell if it'll spread any further, although I'd be happy if it did.

I had a similar plant in a back garden border in 2012-2013 but it disappeared.  This one appeared between paving stones in a nearby area following this year's rainy season, at least a decade following its earlier disappearance.

Any plant that manages through years of drought to reappear with vigor in response to sufficient rainfall is to be cherished in our changing climate, where long periods of drought punctuated by intense atmospheric rivers at periodic intervals are predicted to become more common in my part of California as the years progress.  The challenge will be to manage their spread during the wet years.  Visit Cathy at Words and Herbs for more on wild and weedy plants.

With temperatures rising, plants are suddenly hustling to bloom, some after long periods of what I can only describe as stasis.  As I've already seen a few quick exits in response to last weekend's heatwave, I thought I'd append views of an assortment of the most recent arrivals to this post given the prospect that their beauty may be fleeting.

Echinopsis oxygona annoys me by opening one bloom at a time.  The blooms seldom last longer than a day.

In contrast, the flowers of Epiphyllum 'King Midas' generally hang on for a few days once they open.  Luckily, I caught 2 flowers just as they were opening on Friday evening (as shown in the left column).  I photographed them again the next morning when they were fully open (as shown in the right column).  Epiphyllum 'Monastery Garden', which I mistakenly identified as 'King Midas' in last Wednesday's "Late Arrivals" post, lasted nearly a week before its flowers crashed but these 'King Midas' blooms had collapsed by Sunday morning.

The first of my Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) bloomed last week but its petals were singed along the edges by Saturday's heat

This Hibiscus rosa-sinensis 'Marianne Charleton' has been in a large pot since 2020 but, on the rare occasions in which it's bloomed, it withers quickly in the heat.  I'm thinking of giving its pot to a more worthy subject.

When this large clump of multi-petaled Leucanthemum x superbum flowers, it seems to do so almost en masse

Buds on the first bloom stalk of Lilium 'Pretty Woman' are just opening.  Three other blooms stalks are trailing behind at different stages in development so I'm hoping they'll provide flowers on a more gradual basis.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party