kopp: Great link, thanks!!

Well our state flower isn't very pretty or exciting, it is the Sagebrush! However, our state tree is one of the oldest/biggest trees in the world, the Bristlecone Pine located in No. Nevada especially near Great Basin NP.

Interesting that CT and PA have the same, Mountain Laurel.

vegasnative - we've got lots of Sage here in Austin, although ours blooms purple flowers. It's in full bloom right now. It actually pops up in the strangest places, too. Must get blown in by the winds, lol!

I'm wondering who it was that named all these state flowers. Would be interesting to google.

Maine's state flower is a pine cone???

This shows Illinois with the wild Violet that was the state flower "officially" before 2000. But several years ago there was a huge effort/push for the real native Illinois beauty the Red Coneflower- true name Echinecia; the same entity in its seedsruit that you take to fight colds, flu,etc.

Seeds were given out in the libraries free and at all the schools, parades, etc. And I think there was even a vote on it (like they don't have more important matters to decide!)

Nothing against the wild violet, but it is very tiny and doesn't look like a flower, more like a weed. And the red coneflower grows just everywhere here. You can see them wild along the bike pathes etc. right now. And they are true tall Native American beauties all by themselves plus being used as medicine. Because of the combination of looks and purpose- I believe the a lot of charts/books now show the Coneflower for IL.

I have tons of them in one of my perennial circles and they volunteer like crazy and transplant equally well.

Maybe we are going to have two flowers. They do that with some gems and months. Oh well, the more the merrier.

kopp~our's blooms those purple flowers also about twic a year. We had some in our backyard when we moved into this house. I had DH remove them because when they are not in bloom they are ugly, so he went out and removed them all...or so we thought, those pesky things have grown right back. Apparently if you even leave one little twig behind they grow back, very hard to remove just like oleanders, once they are there they are not going anywhere!!

California Poppies!

As a kid, I used to call them the "Smell Back Flowers" because when you stick your nose in them and inhale, the flower clings to your nose. Like they're smelling you back.

You do know that San Francisco's official flower is the pansy? I know, I know....

Montana Bitterroot flower

mycatmiko - Smell back flower - cute!

dovima -

In Indiana it's the peony. Pronounced "PEE-oh-nee" by many folk. My grandfather (a professional gardener and carpenter) always called them "pine-ees."

Then again he called a "sink" a "zink" and a "bell pepper" a "mango."

It's always fun in Indiana.