Photo Submission Request: Favorite Native Plants

~ melaniereynolds

Hello Nature-led Friends!

Let’s see some of your favorite native plants from your country or region!

I know I’m not giving you very much time on this month’s photo submission request, but let’s see what we can pull together, eh? When asking for topics on the next three months of photo submissions there was the recommendation of “pretty weeds”, but alas, this is just not a frame of mind I can put myself in. I spend too much time pulling out invasive non-native plants that someone once thought was “pretty.” So instead, I’m doubling down on my love for native plants. If you are not familiar with native plants in your region now is the perfect time to get to know some of them!

I hope this request won’t be too difficult for anyone. Some native plant are so prolific they span entire continents! Try doing an internet search to the effect of “Native plants of [your county/prefecture/township name].

Here is one of my favorite plants native to the Pacific Northwest region where I live.

Western Columbine (Aquilegia Formosa ‘Blue’) Western Washington USA By Melanie Reynolds

same species different color…..

Western Columbine Red (Aquilegia Formosa ‘Red’) Western Washington USA By Melanie Reynolds

Here is a native plant that I’ve only seen in my yard so far, but I’m sure there must be colonies around here. I’m proud to say I’ve been a good steward to these little Starflowers that also help support native bumblebees.

This year’s emerging blanket:

Starflower Blanket (Trientalis borealis Raf) Western Washington USA By Melanie Reynolds

Closeup Western Starflowers (Trientalis borealis Raf) Western Washington USA By Melanie Reynolds

Unwelcome interlopers…

I regularly fight Himalayan blackberries which while edible, are just “okay” when it comes to flavor. Better varieties can be found in the store during blackberry season which is usually July and August around here. The ones in my yard often have little white worms that I drown out in an icy cold vinegar water bath before I can eat the berries. If you ever have doubts or concerns about the freshness and safety of salad greens or fruit, I definitely recommend giving it a 10-minute bath in cold water and white vinegar.

The other two things I battle most frequently are Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens) and Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon). The archangel is in the mint family and is a “C” class noxious weed in my state, which means that when I pull it out of the ground, it cannot go in my personal compost or the municipal compost, but instead it has to go into the garbage.

Lamium galeobdolon ‘Archangel’, a noxious weed for Washington State USA By Melanie Reynolds

This is only a fraction of what I’m battling. Sigh.

The Fine Print:  Photo Submissions Guidelines

Email to: natureledlife@gmail.com, 

Subject line: Photo Submission for [month] (Multiple months of photos in one email is fine.) Image: Attached as a .JPEG or .PNG file preferred. Captions each picture: Subject in the photo (if known), State/Providence & Country, Date (optional). Your name as you want it to appear, and a link to your blog (if you have one.)  It’s great if you can take a current picture during the submission month, but picture you’ve previously taken is fine too.

Feel free to add any interesting notes about a picture. I love interesting stories behind things! Let me know if it’s just for ‘my eyes only’ or if I can share any part of it with your photo. Pictures must be your own or you have permission from the Photographer to share it. All copyrights belong to their respective owners. This is a free, fun, community site about nature. Non-commercial and ad free.

Take care and go have fun outside!

29 thoughts on “Photo Submission Request: Favorite Native Plants”

  2. Hahaha!!! This is an excellent way for me to learn about native plants – I wonder if we have any left? Or have they all been pushed out by all the interlopers that the Victorians introduced – such as Japanese Knotweed? I shall be Googling and trampling around trying to find something that originated here.
    Sx

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  4. I will see what a have here and send in. Columbine is one of my favorites. That is an excellent picture, Melanie. I planted one several years ago, and nothing. But this spring it bloomed and went nuts!!!! I featured it a few weeks ago. Next to it was a bleeding heart I thought died and disappeared, and it too popped up from nowhere. Nature truly is amazing. The garden is going insane this spring.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  5. I just looked up the native plants of NYC and I have never seen any of them. So I’m not sure I will be able to contribute. But I look forward to others’ contributions. (K)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I thought of you when I made this post and I’m thinking Central Park has to have native plants in it. Museums and libraries are often good places to find native plants around the exterior. I found this great website. If you have time maybe you’ll want to participate in the community science project to catalog NY plants using iNaturalist app, which is also the one I occasionally use. https://www.nybg.org/plant-research-and-conservation/center-for-conservation-strategy/new-york-city-ecoflora/plants-of-new-york-city/

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I don’t use apps, and I have less than no time. I know nothing about plants at all–I can identify trees and a few flowers. The parks department website as photos of native plants which I looked at, but I have never seen any of them. And they recently “cleaned up” all the wild looking parts so there’s nothing left to see anyway. Sorry.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I’m sure if I lived near one of the Botanical Gardens they have lots of native plants and they would be identified for me, which is what I would need. But I don’t have a car and it would mean several hours of buses/ subways and an entire day. I just can’t manage it. Sorry.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. It’s okay, I understand. At the end of the day this is supposed to be about getting outside and having fun. The Sycamore tree you did for The Tree post is a native tree, but I don’t want to give you any stress. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Most of the trees here are native, but even though technically they are plants, I did not think that was what you were looking for. None of the common flowers I see seem to be native. Maybe dandelions–I would have to check that one.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Maybe I should have said plants and trees or used the word flora. I usually avoid the words “flora” and “fauna” because historically they always seemed to imply a pretentiousness about the speaker. Maybe that’s just my own association with the words though.

        Liked by 1 person

      6. I get it. I just found a better website with lots of photos of native plants. I’m going to go through my own photos from the parks and see if anything matches. Next week probably at this point.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. I love your blue Aquilegia photo, so I’m glad it gets another showing here! My favourite native plant is the foxglove which is about to bloom in these parts – hopefully before the end of the month so that I can take some new photos.
    I’m also partial to the stinking iris and the hart’s tongue fern, so I’ll see what I can do.

    P.S. Those little starflowers are so pretty!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Am I too late ? Sorry. Vexes me.
    For Mittelfranken native and typical would be garlic / Knoblauch, or perhaps old forms of Wirsing. For Unterfranken die Weinrebe, yes, I know the Romans brought it here, but we did the rest over the last two thousand years or so. Then there should be some orchids, but I can not go to the places where they grow, sorry.
    My idea was to snap a picture of a Weinstock.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. I’m not sure whether I sent just introduced weeds or native flowers. But Mr Next Door’s Callistemon(the one that had the mistletoe that he chopped out!) is a blaze of red right now so I’ll try for a close-up before the wind defeats me…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment