Today I am grateful for the beauty and ease of growing native or indigenous plants in my garden. After planting mainly non-natives or exotics in my garden, this spring I “accidentally” discovered the beauty of and ease with which indigenous plants grow and flourish in my garden – a valuable lesson learned and one I’ll recommend to all newbie-gardeners. Exotics are of course great, but if you don’t have the greenest of fingers, planting indigenous flowering plants in your garden that are suited to your growing conditions is a sure recipe for success – wonderful blooms and foliage with minimum fuss!
Photograph: Ixias. See my original post on Ixias that “converted” me from gardening with exotics to including more and more native plants in my garden.
The genus Ixia consists of a number of cormous plants native to South Africa from the Iridaceae family and Ixioideae subfamily. Some of them are known as the corn lily. Some distinctive traits include the sword-like leaves, and long wiry stems with star-shaped flowers. The popular corn lily has a specific, not very intense fragrance (Wikipedia says it smells like vegetables, I don’t agree!). The Ixia are also used sometimes as ornamental plants. The genus name is derived from the Greek words ixias, meaning “the chameleon plant”, and physis, meaning “bladder”.
About the 30 Day Challenge
Cat of The Whimsical Gardener, has invited Garden Bloggers the world over to join her in the 30 day challenge of posting a photograph and sentiment that you are thankful for – every day for 30 days. Find something you are thankful for every day, for 30 days, can’t be too difficult, can it? See all my posts filed under “30 Day Challenge“.
