emilycompost - Celebrating gardening, plants, and weeds

Emily (who we are)

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Wildflowers and Weeds

Commelina erecta
Day Flower, Spiderwort
COMMELINACEAE

Day Flower, Spiderwort This is a perennial wildflower. It has two showy blue petals and one smaller white petal.

Its stem is long and trailing. The plant grows in dry sandy soil and in cultivated sites.

How nice it flowers all year long in warm tropical areas.

The seeds of this plant is eaten by doves, quail, and songbirds, so it makes for a very wanted wildflower.

Some questions from Emily's mailbox:

Q: I have dayflowers growing and a friend would like some seeds. Would you know how to harvest the seeds? Where are they located, what do they look like etc.

A: Dayflower seed are tiny and black in mature color. They usually are very plentiful at the end of the season.....If you do not deadhead along the way all the blooms will go to seed. I sometimes get a second wave of blooms in cooler weather, so I cut back during the middle of the season.

Native and wildflowers are sometimes hard to harvest. Look for spent blooms that have browned and are crusty to the feel and break open. Sometimes Mother Nature beats you to it .. I usually do this over an envelope. They may have to 'winter-over in the soil for best results. That is why it is recommended
to have a period of coolness in the refrigerator to go on to the next generation.

Q: Emily, I just found your web site. Very nice and informative. AND, I found one of the weeds -- yes, to me definitely a weed -- DAY FLOWER!! I have WAY more of them than I want. They seem to be taking over my back yard and I would love to know how to relieve myself of an over abundance of them.

A: I suggest manual digging of the dayflower to eradicate the plant. I know this is hard work but usually it may be the only way to get a good grip on the plant. You could use other herbicides but read the directions carefully. Some will kill everything in its path. Sometimes a stronger specific chemical might be needed rather than a broader product. If you have animals, I do not recommend a chemical. Temperatures and winds do play havoc.

I would dig and then cover the area with newspapers or a weed barrier for areas you want to die back.

Personally, I do not use herbicides so there would be no specific recommendation.

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