Detemination

This little guy is growing right in front of the garage door. Every time we go somewhere we drive over her. Obviously the wheel doesn't run her over but she can't get too large because she's hit the undercarriage. She doesn't care. She's an annual. She gets one chance to reproduce and dammit, she's going to give it her best shot.

Determination, indeed.

Garden Blogger Bloom Day July 2014

My garden is in full summer form right now and the native pollinators are HAPPY! As am I.

The Echinacea purpura wild type has gotten established and is blooming well.

I also planted a couple of different colored Echinacea but they aren't doing quite as good. This is consistent with what I've heard from others - the fancy hybrids just limp along and die out while the species does fantastically well.

Likewise, my Liatris spicata Kobold has gotten established. The first year it flopped over really bad but now it's producing strong flower stems. And it's spread around a little. I'm ok with that. I'm ending up with a garden that has a few different plants that do well and have spread around so that they look like I deliberately repeated them. THEY are making ME look like I know what I'm doing.

This is Rudbeckia hirta Cappuccino. I bought several types of Rudbeckia when I first moved in. I didn't realize they were self - seeding annuals at the time. Cappuccino is the only one that's come back. Just goes to show you can't always trust what you read on the label. Perennial, my a$$

Veronica spicata Red Fox (I think, either that or Eveline, I planted both and can't remember which one went where and did NOT do a good job of record keeping - Bad Gardener!)

And Friend.

Monarda fromaneighborii

Our winter was warm until the end then it got cold. Because of this many people's hydrangeas had started to come out of winter mode too early and got nipped back to the ground. This Hydrangea mislabeledus (labeled as Lady in Red) is planted close to the house so it was protected and is blooming just fine, thank you.

The Helenium Mardi Gras is not looking as good as last year but I still like the flowers. It accidentally ended up too far back in the bed and needs to be moved in the fall. Remind me to go out and stick a label on it while it's in bloom and I can remember where it is.

I moved several of these Coreopsis verticallata Zagreb to the Hell Strip. So far they're doing well. This is the remainder of the clump. I like how it contrasts with the Hyssopus officinalis. I just have to keep the Zagreb in check. It has delusions of taking over the world [with a name like Zagreb of course it thinks it's an Evil Genius]

I like daisies [Leucanthemum Becky], although the white color doesn't go well with the rest of my bright summer garden. Or my bright, colorful house, or my messy, mud-covered life. 

I do not have to be consistent if I don't want to be and you can't make me.

Thou Shalt Not Pass. Also know as I need to find a better way to stake up the Gaura. I have several varieties: whites, pale pinks, bright pinks and the offspring of them. It's another plant that volunteers to move about the garden and create a sense of repetition. I just wish the middle and dark tones pinks survived as well as the pale pinks...

I bought a collection of Petunia called "Blueberry Muffin". I have to say I really, really like the result in that thin wedge of dirt between the front landing and the fireplace. 

Finally, last week's plant of the week - Asclepias tuberosa, friend to gardeners who want summer color, friend to those of us who don't like to water the garden, friend to Monarch Butterflies, and friend to lots and lots of bees.

I support native pollinators.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams for this meme.

RudEbeckia Surprise

I bought about 9 Rudbeckia (Black or Brown Eyed Susan) of three different varieties last year.  All went in during April.  Two of the varieties did very well (the other sort of limped along).

Now the snow is gone, the perennials are up and even my late starting Asclepias tuberosa (orange butterfly weed) is out of the ground and several inches high.  Where are the Rudbekcias?

None here.

 

Not this one.

Here's where Prairie Sun sat last year.  It's supposed to readily reseed.  Those are all Liatris (blazing star or gayfeather) seedlings (make note to weed this spot if I don't want Liatris to take over).

I'm not sure what happened.  The roots are well established (I can't tug them out of the ground) and undisturbed by burrowing critters.  Rudbeckia are supposed to be rabbit resistant but it's possible the young leaves aren't and were chewed by the Hungry Hoard of Hares that live in our neighborhood (yes, yes, I know they're rabbits, not hares but hare makes for nice alliteration and I always enjoy a nice alliteration).

I do fence the rabbits away from a few plants (notably Baptisia) but I'm not going to fence the whole garden.  That might cause issues with the coyotes, foxes and turkeys that pass through.  Not to mention the neighbors who would have to look at the ugly chicken wire around the garden.  I guess I'll replace the Rudbeckias with something a little less appetizing to the Hungry Hoard.

That means a trip to the garden center!  Woo-hoo!  New Plants!

Miscellaneous Monday

Random flower picture.

My Buddleia Evil Ways (from Plant Delights) is doing good so far.  I love the combination of the yellowish-green leaves and the reddish purple flowers.  [I type yellowish-green because I'm not sure how to spell chartreuse.  Oh, wait, that's what spell check is for!  So I don't have to get up and go in the other room to get the dictionary if I want to use big words.]

Topic 2.

I've put in a bunch of Rudbeckias (from Bluestone) in one are of the Mad Garden.  I'm calling it Rudbeckia Row.  Part of the difference in plant size has to do with the Guerrilla Rabbit Invasion earlier this year.  They attacked the plants to the right in this images.  Hopefully next year we won't have such a large Invasion.

Here's a close-up of Rudbeckia hirta Cappuchino.

Here's Solar Eclipse.

Not pictured:  Prairie Sun.  Hopefully I'll have a nice bloom for next weekend's Garden Blogger Bloom Day.

Topic 3.

I also photographed some pollinators.  I have quite a variety of these small butterflies, called skippers.  I've been taking pictures to try to identify species.  These butterflies tend to skip around a lot so most pictures are not good enough to post.  These are on my Scabiosa Butterfly Blue.  Can you spot both of them?

I don't have a good guide to bees.  Too bad.  I have plenty.  These next shots are on my Mountain Mint (Pycnathemum virginianum).

Look closely at these Cappuchino flowers.  See the friend?

Topic D.  

The "big" project for The Husband this weekend was installing the patio for our grill.  Our deck is small and there just wasn't enough room.  [I had the exciting job of writing an exam for tomorrow.  The down side to working partly at home, if you procrastinate you end up loosing your weekend.]

Here's The Sweaty, Hard-Working Husband.

And here's the patio.  He actually dug down and laid a base of two types of material under the pavers.  [We still need to put down some sand to fill the cracks but we're out of sand and didn't want to drive to the Big Box store in a nearby town to pick up more.]  Way To Go Husband!

And here's the grill in it's new home.

That was my weekend.  Excluding the errand running, the bike ride, the house cleaning, the answering of frantic emails from my students, the....