wild thing!

Don't you love free gifts?  Wild things that bloom unasked?
Dandelions attrack polinators and they are so yellow.  I have heard you can eat the greens but I have not tried.
 

These purple flowers bloom early in the Experimental Garden and look like they are intrusive but they quickly disappear. 

Wild purple grape hyacinths pop up in the Experimental Garden lawn.  You are never sure where they may be from year to year.  This year we got a good reward before the first mowing.

Then the Atamasco Lilies (Zaphyranthes atamasco for my daughter) appear, always some time after Easter.  But who can complain.  For a long time I thought they were called Easter Lilies but the Indian name is"Cullowhee"   The woods behind our garden have an abundance of these lilies and these are in the lawn.  My Wild Flowers of North Carolina book says they grow in wet meadows.  That would be our back yard.

 They turn pink as they age.

Sourgrass Oxalis, who doesn't like this little yellow gift?

Don't forget the lucky clover.

Some are edible.  Wild strawberries, yum.

Flowers are not the only Wild Things in the garden.  The pond is full of frogs and wannbe frog tadpoles.

There is much more to come in the Wild Things of the Experimental Garden.