Camassia scilloides, Justicia americana, and a few more...
Dennis Kramb (Sat, 17 Jun 2006 11:00:47 PDT)

Indulge me for mentioning some non-geophytes, but...

This spring during a nature hike I stumbled across a vast patch of
Camassia scilloides in bloom, and I just went back to collect some
seeds. Sadly I was a little bit late and got a scant few. Still,
I'm thrilled to death to have acquired some locally native material
to add to my garden.

Alongside the banks of a nearby stream are huge colonies of at least
2 kinds of plants. One of them was in bloom and I recognized it as
Justicia, probably J. americana. I definitely want to add this to my
collection, too! The other plant was not in bloom, but looked just
like Justicia americana with darker foliage, and was growing in
deeper water. I really don't know what it is, but I plan to find out.

Oh, and another plant growing alongside the stream was Silphium
perfoliatum. This is a huge pest in my yard! I planted it 5 years
ago, allowed it to spread freely, and now I'm constantly pulling
seedlings out of EVERY flower bed in my entire yard. (And I have a
big yard.) At any rate, it brought a smile to my face to see it
growing in the wild where it belongs. I wonder if the deer find it
tasty? It seemed very well behaved, so something is certainly
keeping it in check.

Oh, and I also got seeds of Tradescantia, probably T. subaspera var.
montana, in the woods too. :-)

Dennis in Cincinnati (who loves late spring in Ohio)