Neighborhood treasures

Within our Texas Wildscape, one of my big goals is to preserve the native species that grow in our neighborhood. Like the prairie brazoria (Warnockia scutellarioides) I found growing in a ditch on an adjoining street. I wish I'd gotten photos of them in bloom. They were so pretty! But I did go back yesterday and gather some seedheads (below). I threw some in our back yard and in the Meadow. Fingers crossed!

For the longest time, I'd also been lusting after a legume vine with yellow flowers that I thought I'd found several years ago in the vacant land across the street. Well, yesterday in the same ditch with the prairie brazoria, I spotted what I believe to be viperina (Zornia bracteata) with tiny yellow flowers. But the leaf arrangements didn't match. This vine has three leaves; viperina has four. But wait! I found some photos on iNaturalist of viperina with three. So that's got to be what I found. At any rate, I carefully dug up a couple of plants... UPDATE: My vine is a Texas snoutbean (Rhynchosia senna var. texana)! Now the leaves match! (Thanks, Blake)

...put them in a pot and added them to my little nursery in the back yard. I've discovered that dug-up transplants don't usually survive if you place them directly in the ground. So I'm trying again with some neighborhood treasures but placing them in pots so I can keep a close eye on them. These are (left to right): 

Scarlet pea (Indigofera miniata) I love the pink-reddish blooms of this legume. I'm hoping to establish it in our back yard so visitors can see how something they probably mow is really beautiful when left untouched. Like Texas bush-clover. I dug one up from our neighbor's side of the fence and planted it in our back yard. It's so PRETTY!

Wedelia and lyreleaf sage These little pots contain transplants from back yard....no biggie.

Velvet bundleflower (Desmanthus velutinus) Prairie acacia (Acacia angustissima var. hirta) This grows in the Meadow, where I dug up a baby. 

Viperina Texas snoutbean

Sensitive briar (Mimosa roemeriana)  I also love the pink powderpuff flowers on this legume (far top right photo). Plus, sensitive briar–despite its prickly branches–is always a hit with the kids. Touch the leaves, then watch them close. Cool! A transplant from the Meadow, too.