{"id":370,"date":"2014-04-09T12:44:11","date_gmt":"2014-04-09T17:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/?p=370"},"modified":"2014-04-10T10:19:57","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T15:19:57","slug":"attack-of-the-pink-and-purple-spider-worts-one-of-my-favorite-spring-garden-invasions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/?p=370","title":{"rendered":"Attack of the pink and purple spiderworts &#8212; one of my favorite springtime invasions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb_share_1\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"box_count\" share_url=\"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/?p=370\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><\/div><div><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_7222.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-371\" alt=\"IMG_7222\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_7222-1024x683.jpg\" width=\"460\" height=\"306\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;re \u00a0beautiful and they&#8217;re edible.\u00a0They attract pollinators, they bloom in the shade, and they seem immune to pests and diseases. They&#8217;re also adaptable to most soil types and rainfall averages.<\/p>\n<p>But best of all? Texas spiderworts pop up and do their thing every Spring without a bit of help from me.<\/p>\n<p>And yes, I know, Texas bluebonnets do that too, but mostly along the highways. Bluebonnets, which seem to prefer gravelly, poor soil, haven&#8217;t adapted well to my Blackland Prairie clay soil. I once tried planting a few in an old caliche driveway, but they didn&#8217;t like that either and disappeared after one season.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t think my spiderworts will ever disappear. They don&#8217;t seem bothered by anything, no matter how painful:\u00a0Summer heat (they simply go dormant and come back later when it&#8217;s cooler). Drought (somehow they manage to bloom a little even during a dry spring). Seasonally soggy heavy soil (are they wearing little Wellies on their root tips?)<\/p>\n<p>And one more thing: \u00a0Bluebonnets don&#8217;t need any more attention than they&#8217;re already getting.\u00a0Think about that the next time you&#8217;re dragging your kids or your dogs around town looking for a photogenic patch of bluebonnets. One that hasn&#8217;t been tromped flat by hundreds of other baby- or puppy-toting photographers before you.<\/p>\n<p>Spiderworts need love too.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_7276.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-379\" alt=\"IMG_7276\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_7276-673x1024.jpg\" width=\"460\" height=\"699\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A final note: Although spiderworts are edible and nutritious, I consider them &#8220;emergency backup food.&#8221; In other words, they&#8217;re far from my first choice when I go foraging in the backyard for something to eat.<\/p>\n<p>The bees in my neighborhood are of a different mind. This morning they were dancing and dipping and diving all around my backyard spiderwort patch. They couldn&#8217;t seem to get enough.<\/p>\n<p>So I guess it&#8217;s a good thing I&#8217;m not terribly fond of the taste of spiderworts.<\/p>\n<p>(Photos are by Renee Studebaker. Do not use without permission.)<\/p>\n<p>For more about the half dozen or so varieties of tradescantia (commonly known as spiderworts) that grow in our area, visit the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/npsot.org\/TrinityForks\/TrinityForksWeb\/NICE\/Spring%202008.html\">Native Plant Society of Texas<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/wild.its.utexas.edu\/expert\/show.php?id=6683\">Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_7197.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-372\" alt=\"IMG_7197\" src=\"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/IMG_7197-1024x733.jpg\" width=\"460\" height=\"329\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share They&#8217;re \u00a0beautiful and they&#8217;re edible.\u00a0They attract pollinators, they bloom in the shade, and they seem immune to pests and diseases. They&#8217;re also adaptable to most soil types and rainfall averages. But best of all? Texas spiderworts pop up and do their thing every Spring without a bit of help from me. And yes, I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edible-landscaping","category-natives","category-spring-garden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":393,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.reneesnewblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}