I grow Manfeda, most have the purple spots or blotches and one from a swap a few years ago seems fleshier and is solid green.The blooms from the spotted variety are cool looking, I've not yet had a bloom from the bigger solid green one. These are very prolific and reliably return from roots every spring. I'm just north of Fort Worth.

That's good to hear, about their hardiness. If my husband keeps mowing them down, they're going to HAVE to be hardy. LOL I suppose I'll put a couple marker stakes with flags out next trip so he can see them better. Or perhaps build a rock edged little bed around that tree base to really protect them. I'll have to eagerly await my solid green one's bloom then, as I couldn't find much info on that strain. Only found the one photo on-line, so thanks so much for sharing your pics with me.

They move pretty easily but it has grown in a spot that meats is needs naturally. I like to honor a plants choices,... or it could have been a birds choice to plant it there. I have found that deer like to eat it so it is not only your husband on the mower that this plant has to worry about.

buttoni, we both know that learning is more effective when the learner is out of his comfort zone. I suggest you whip him 5 times with the longest manfreda you can find.

Omar

LOL Omar. I'll try that next time he slips up. LOL Mara, I had read that deer like to eat them. They'll have to jump over our fence to get in the yard for them, but I'm sure that's no biggie for deer. I'm going to adopt the philosophy of planting natives as much as possible, which is a good start. Then if they die from our summer heat, freeze and die off in our winter freezes, or the deer (or a wild hog) eat them, well................that's not one to replace. Makes perfectly good sense to me. I'll keep trying new natives until I find the ones the critters DON't like and that DON't die in the scorching heat or the freezing temps without bouncing back in the Spring.

My other tactic is to by variants of plants that are defensive of their delectable parts. IE. small yuccas will have their blossoms eaten with and irritating pervasiveness in the spring. SO Y. rupicola and palida are deflowered easily but the larger Y faxaoniana, Y. treculeana blooms are safe.

I'm definitely doing the safe "pots of the porch" and hanging "up in the air" tactic for smaller blooming items. Am even going to pot 3 Blue Moon rose bushes at the end of the porch to set on the ground. We have a gopher (or two) tunneling and playing with our heads. I think large 22" pots for the roses will be a big help for extending their lifespans. As a rule, we don't care for thorny plants, but out at the cabin, it may become a necessity, so they can, as you say, defend themselves.

When we lived in Wimberley the deer ate the plants at the porch. We had a little Maltese but she was an indoor dog.

Omar

There is that. My porch is quite difficult for them to get there in their high heeled shoes. But I wouldn't put it past them.

Omar, that’s incredible. Mine do get to edge of paved patio and nibble on citrus and potato vine. Foliage on side they can access will be bare and opposite side will be quite luscious.

It concerns me when hi 90s weather starts so early b/c Gulf water gets hot and more auspicious for hurricane activity. I’ll never forget the first time I went in the Galveston water. It was as if I were taking a bath! And it wasn’t even a ridiculously hot year like 2011 or this one seems to be shaping.

Wimberley should be renamed as "Deertown". Those deer there are quite "tamed", social and daring. A lot of people feed them and there is a huge golf court where they get fresh grass 24/7. Dozens of them gather at dusk, offering without intending, quite a beautiful view. People drive around at that time just to see them, Of course, very few people have "normal" gardened front yards. Oaks, cedars, yuccas, grass and whatever wildflower on season dominate most of landscapes.

Omar

I will never forget this one yard down by the river that I passed one day that had a grouping of ceramic lifelike deer posed and in amongst them a mother and her two fawns sitting "camouflaged". Not a flower, perennial growing in the yard. No grass either. It did make me laugh.

Well, last trip down to the cabin last week, I now think these are lilies of some sort. I recognize the buds on the bloom stalks I think. Should be opened up next trip down and I'll get a photo to post. I'm almost certain it's a lily. But the one odd one out farther from the tree trunk, all by itself, with thicker, fleshier leaves may be a Manfreda. Will have to wait until it recovers from Lance's mower haircut. It hasn't grown much from the state he left it in. Not dead, just still in shock. LOL

I had the one with dark blotches and people often asked me about it. It is low maintenance and I think it froze on me but came back. I cantt tell you why I eradicated it from my garden but I did. It produced a really tall fragrant flower.

There is a solid green, I never got it but I remember seeing it in the yucca-do catalog years ago. I think a little vignette with this Plant and some blackish irises would be awesome. It would be an interesting addition to a goth garden.

OK, mystery solved. They are orange day lilies. I had some down in Texas City years ago. They bloomed during the week and the blooms were dying off already. But that's clearly what it is.