The Texas Nursery and Landscape Association Demonstration Garden at the
Dallas Arboretum is a wonderful teaching environment, exhibiting plants that
are WaterWise and friendly. When I visited in the spring there was a ground
cover I found quite curious. New-to-me, cobweb spiderwort, (Tradescantia
sillamontana), has a silver/white appearance. Below is a comparison between the newly
emerging spring foliage and the later, fall blooming foliage. The cobweb spiderwort is a sun loving watersaving plant used in the landscape similarly to it's cousin, the purple heart (Tradescantia pallidia).
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| Spring foliage |
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| Fall foliage and flower |
The spiderwort surrounds the base of several plinths signed to highlight various steps to save water. The sweeping design includes purslane 'cupcake carrot,' agaves, and a large desert willow.
The principles of water saving gardening are described along the path. Texas red salvia and Mexican purple salvia attract pollinators and add splashes of spikey color.
Periwinkle lavender fall flowering mistflower adjacent to an upright purple verbena. The Queen butterfly is reading the sign.
American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
Lantana feeds the monarch butterfly.
Milkweed plants feed the monarch butterfly larva.
This might be a Queen butterfly.
The Queen has white spots on the bottom wings and Monarchs do not.
The orange of the Queen butterfly is more pumpkin pie and the
Monarch butterfly orange is more true orange.
Painted Lady and the Viceroy butterfly can also be confused with the Monarch and Queen.
The graceful arching Mexican salvia attract pollinators.
The rain lily (Zephyranthes candida) accentuate a corner and bloom in response to a late season rain.
Queen Victoria Agave
Grassroots Horticulture
2006-2016
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