Oh no, Miss!

The title of this post doesn't make any sense... I know. But that is what I always think when I look at the flowers of one of my newest plant obsessions: Ononis.

Ononis is a European genus, going by the common name of rest harrow because the thick roots were strong enough to stop a plow going through the soil back when plows were powered by horses rather than diesel. These plants are, as that name implies, as tough as nails. They laugh at drought and have been equally at home this summer which has been insanely cool and rainy here in Michigan (In June we had almost TWICE the normal amount of rainfall). And, so far, despite a rash of obnoxious deer, rabbits, and (worst of all...) groundhogs, nothing nibbled on my plants in the garden.

And they are gorgeous. At least they are if you, like me, are obsessed with the unique form of flowers in the pea family.

This, the first of the genus I've grown, came from seed that was supposed to be Ononis rotundifolia, but I'm pretty sure it is actually Ononis repens. In any case, I think it is gorgeous. The delicate, intricate form of the flowers, a wonderful shade of clear pink, the veining on the petals... the flowers are, admittedly, a bit on the small side, but I can live with that.

New for me is Ononis natrix. I grew it from seed this year, and in just a few months it has formed a happy, sizable plant, has been pumping out these lovely yellow flowers since mid-June, and shows every sign of keeping it up the rest of the summer. The form isn't quite as nice as O. repens, but the flowers are significantly larger.

I'm also growing O. cenisia and O. spinosa... Neither have flowered yet. O. spinosa has, as the name implies, some pretty vicious spines, so I'm not in love with it so far, but we'll see if the flowers win me over. O. cenisia has been by far the slowest growing of the lot, but again, we'll see what I think when it blooms.

I have, of course, been cross pollinating them... hybrids between pink and yellow flowers usually give you all sorts of lovely oranges and scarlet, and I'll be breeding for bigger, more profuse flowers while I'm at it. If, of course, they consent to make babies together. Fingers crossed!