Originally Posted by
flangehead
OK, I learned a lot on this one. I know next to nothing about plants. Being able to upload pictures to help identify is the only thing that made completing this search possible.
If anyone knows better please let me know, but I think this is a trumpet creeper:
This is a trumpet creeper flower, according to Plantnet.
Nice color match with the Moots*, I will say.
According to the USDA, it is native to my area. They have maps!
https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=CARA2. And legally, it is an invasive weed.
https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_cara2.pdf In my head, "invasive" was the opposite of "native" but I can see now how that's not right.
OK, flowering plants are nice to look at but I like to eat. We gathered about 2 gallons of wild blackberries out of the reservoir earlier this year:
Wild blackberries.
Next Mission: Your bike with edible fruit on the plant or tree. Blueberries, blackberries, cherries, peaches, etc. After 1:00 am CDT Thursday, July 2nd, inedible fruit will be acceptable (think holly berries).
*Gratuitous mention for the benefit of livedarklions.
If something grows well and out competes the native plants, it can be invasive. Invasiveness usually happens way outside the plant’s normal range but if the plant or animal is moved over some natural barrier and there are no predator in the new area, they can spread unchecked. A “weed”, after all, is just a plant that’s in the wrong place.
And thanks for posting that one. I was unaware that trumpet vine was native. I wouldn’t call the plant invasive or weedy, personally. I’ve seen big trumpet vine plants but I’ve never thought of them as being all that easy to spread.