New Flowers for the Garden

About a month ago, we were on an outing with several members of my side of the family. This outing took us out in the country to explore what was my Great Grandfather's homestead. It was a lot of fun looking around, trying to imagine my ancestors working in the garden or plowing a field. My sister, Jeanne was walking close by and spotted what looked to be a weed of some sort. She decided to dig it up and try to keep it alive and plant it in her garden. I don't think it was so much the plant itself, but more of a reminder of the day and that she can say that the plant came from the area of our forefathers. Anyway, it was a neat idea and she actually kept the plant alive and it seems to be thriving.

So this past weekend I went on a camp out with a men's group from  my church. We went to Beaver's Bend State Park in southeastern Oklahoma. We had a good time fishing, canoeing, and even a little hiking. Along one particular hike, I spotted some interesting and pretty wildflowers along the way. I was taken back to when Jeanne dug up that plant and successfully kept it alive and transplanted it. I decided that I would like to try to do the same thing. Why not? Beaver's Bend is one of my favorite places to camp and this would be a way to remember the weekend and the State Park itself.  The one that caught my eye was a tall, single stemmed plant with small, purple flowers. When I say tall, I mean about 4 feet tall and I had no idea what it was, but what interested me was that it was growing in what appeared to be full shade. And I have a lot of shade around the yard. So I thought that if I could just keep it alive on the trip home, it might grow in my yard. I had nothing to dig with except my bare hands, but I did have a foam cup that I could put it in. So with as much strength as I could, I dug around with my fingers and got as much soil and hopefully all the root system. It actually wasn't too hard. It was growing on the side of a hill and the dirt was pretty soft around the plant.

Amazingly enough, the plant made it back to the campground, then the 2 1/2 hour trip back home. Here is what it looks like.

And I finally found out what this plant is. This is a Streptanthus maculatus ssp. obtusifolius or more commonly known as a Twistflower. It is native to Arkansas but I guess has crept into eastern Oklahoma. Yes, I know, I don't live in Arkansas or Oklahoma, but don't tell the plant that. We will see what it does if it survives my flower bed.