I live in North Alabama and there are a lot of "garden" flowers that have gone wild here. We have wild daffodils, grape hycynths, day lillies, shasta daisies and more that bloom here in the wild. In the Fall we have Autumn Clemantus that cover the ground and trees like a blanket of snow. Those are my favorite,, they get a tiny white bloom with five petels and the flowers are so dense they remind me of snow on the ground. We also have wild dogwood and redbud. What grows wild in your area,, be it something that has naturalized or something that is naturally wild?
I don't know that they are my favorites but I have come to appreciate lupines since moving to Maine. If you drop a seed pod on the ground, it will sprout. They don't require babying, and can compete with any weed.
I don't know all the kinds of flowers but we have several acres of meadows that we don't mow until the wildflowers bloom and go to seed. There is blackeyed Susan and tickseed among them as well as many others. There is also a lot of prickly pear cactus. Flowering trees include dogwood. redbud, mimosa, and crabapple. Hoping to add wild plum.
I am originally from Texas and my favorite wild flower there are the bluebonnets. A field of blue with spots of red Indian Paintbrush and delicate yellow Buttercups is a sight to behold. It is we in Texas know Spring has finally arrived. And the smell when you are in the middle of a field of bluebonnets is reminescent of Grapico soda. It is just so wonderful.
I'm originally from Virginia, so my favorite "wild" tree is the dogwood. For me, they mean spring is here. I love the flowers in the spring, the seeds in the fall, and the craggy branches in winter. I also love the story behind the dogwood. If you're not familiar with it - "An old and beautiful legend has it that, at the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood was comparable in size to the oak tree and other monarchs of the forest. Because of its firmness and strength it was selected as the timber for the cross, but to be put to such a cruel use greatly distressed the tree. Sensing this, the crucified Jesus in his gentle pity for the sorrow and suffering of all said to it: "Because of your sorrow and pity for My sufferings, never again will the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a gibbet. Henceforth it will be slender, bent and twisted and its blossoms will be in the form of a cross -- two long and two short petals. In the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints -- brown with rust and stained with red -- and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see this will remember." * from http://www.the4cs.com/~cathy/Photography/dogwood.html
I enjoy seeing wildflowers blooming, and they come in so many shapes and colors that it is hard to choose only one as my favorite. I think, even if i narrow it down, there are still two that would vie for top choice. The first one would have to be the dandelion, just because they have so many uses, from making "coffee" from the roots, to eating the leaves as greens, and the blossoms are supposed to make a good jam, although I have never tried doing that yet. When I lived in Idaho, we had a lot of wild roses, which blossomed in the spring. Each year, I looked forward to seeing the wild roses blooming. We even called our little house "Wild Rose Ranch".
In this part of New York and in Pennsylvania we have a late spring early summer plant that grows of the road sides that is a wild flower that is just beautiful to me. It is perhaps one of my favorite flowers for the spring season. It's called Dames Rocket and the color varies from light purple to a deep purple. It only lasts a few months but does come back. I have Lesser Celandine that grows in the yard, it goes till May, it is a wildflower that forms small yellow flowers in wisps that look like little butter cups, they mound and billow which always reminds me of fairy's in the morning fog. There is bugle weed all year around. We also have many areas that have naturalized bulbs, many are daffodils which are up now, they just are not open yet. I think in the fall we have many more wildflowers, there is Golden Rod everywhere here, with these little blue daisy like flowers, so type of Aster and the purple Cone flowers. When I drive past the fields south of me the colors are amazing in the fall. I really do love it. Funny but these are the things that keep me dealing with the snow here in New York. It seems so worth it after winter.
This reminds me of a story my brother told me. He was an avid gardener and loved buying annuals for the non-stop color they provided. He also hated having to constantly pull weeds out of the garden. One year, he went to South American to perform (he was a dancer), and as he was driving through the countryside, he saw impatients growing every where - in ditches, alongside the road, even in cracks in the sidewalks. He realized that to the South American's impatients were like dandelions are to us. He found it funny that he always spent so much on buying impatients here, while they were wildflowers and weeds elsewhere.
My favorite one is not in bloom at the moment; it is a tiny cluster of about 1/8 inch flowers in a two inch flower. It is so beautiful and when it comes back I will take some shots of it. These are some flowers that I just shot that are growing wild in my courtyard but I have no idea what their names are. They all grow wild and require no care except what nature provides!