Lots of Growth in the New Bed

I lasted longer in the garden yesterday morning, getting lots of deadheading done, and some watering.  The heat did win, though, and sent me inside.  While out, I went in for my camera several times.  There was a black dragonfly on the top of a trellis that posed for lots of photos.  I know some of them turned out pretty good.  I also finally got some photos of a male Eastern Swallowtail butterfly.  Sometimes when I have a large number of photos, iphoto crashes a few seconds after I click for them to be deleted from my card.  A window comes up saying iphoto crashed, and one of my options is to reopen, which is what I do.  Well this time, the window wasn't coming up as soon as usual, so I just reopened from the icon on my desktop.  That caused me to lose whatever photos had been deleted before iphoto crashed, which was all of my insect ones.

I was very upset, and decided to do a post on the new bed, since I had also taken lots of photos of it later in the day.  Some of those were lost, also, so some of the photos in this post were taken a little later.  The first ones were taken at 4:00 p.m. when it was 100 degrees out, and much of the area was shaded by a neighbor's tree.

The last post I did on this area was 2 weeks ago, and I am very tickled with the growth of the plants.  Some of the perennials are still smallish, but next year they should be larger.

I planted several grasses since the last post.  This is switchgrass, Panicum virgatum, 'Heavy Metal'.

Knifophia, Little Bluestem, Knifohia, with nasturtiums in the back, and a euphorbia in the front left, with lisianthis and a couple red blooming salvias that are finally doing well.

Heading to the east, I want to find some native or native friendly early spring blooming flowers to plant in some of the bare spots.

I bought this phlox with my "fun money" from a local garden center.  It said, "native"on the tag, but on the back, it said it was Phlox paniculata 'Robert Poore'.  I like the spot I found for it.  I chose the plant that wasn't blooming.  I wasn't sure if it was finished or hadn't started.  I'm pleased it's blooming now.

The one surviving tihonia, Mexican sunflower, started from seeds inside in March, is doing well.  Squirrels tore the smaller one up before I got a chance to deadhead its one short bloom.  I didn't know they would eat these seeds.  Rabbits ate the seedlings I planted from seed in my garden across the street.  They are attempting to grow again, so hopefully, some will survive.

It's hard to see, but the agastache rupestris plants are blooming now.  Isn't that dahlia pretty?  There would have been another like it if it had come up.

I like the combination of the marigolds and lantanas with the statice and other plants in here.  The grass in the back, left of the photo is native switch grass.

Let's go to the upper level.

The nicotiana 'syvestris' sure has grown taller.

The lisianthus plants have more than one bloom open now.  The other prairie clover, 'Stephanie' was eaten half down, but this one, they have left alone.  The 'Serena Purple' angelonias started blooming at about half the height they are now.

There is a Culver's Root near the trellis.  I mostly put the trellis there to provide some height, and an illusion of screening.

I wish we could bury the stepping rings, but there are tree roots under them.

Turning back to the east:

I bought some rocks to put here and there for butterflies to land on.  I haven't seen any on them so far, but I think they use them to warm up when the temps are low.  Is that right?  I may find spots without roots and bury the bottoms of the rocks.

Wild Quinine is an awesome plant!

Facing south, I have some "new flowers" that I got for their height.  I want to see if I have a colored glass plate or bowl that will fit in the lower circle in the middle one.

West and south:

This is one of the Little Bluestem plants I got.

I got this Little Bluestem from another nursery.  It looks different to me.  I think it was mislabeled.  Do you know what it is?  I may call them and have them try to figure it out.

I think I included this photo because the pots are in it.

I planted a few sunflower seeds, but then ended up only letting this one stay.  They put out a chemical to inhibit the growth of plants around them, so I'm not sure if I am going to let this one stay.  It is one that is only supposed to get up to 5 feet or so.  I will watch to see if the rudbeckia maxima in the bottom middle of the photo is growing.  That is the plant I am most excited about in this area.  The agastache is doing well.

The west end, facing north.

Facing south, the beautyberry bush was already there.  I am pleased the verbena bonerensis I transplanted from the vegetable garden and kiss me over the garden gate from the east front bed are tall and blooming.  The tall plant on the left is either love lies bleeding or celosia.

I still need to figure out what kind of perennials to plant here next year.

Facing east:

Facing west, the grass on the right is a switchgrass, Panicum virgatum 'Northwind'.  The plant next to it is an annual milkweed.

Strawberry plants under the bench:

You can't see the switchgrass, 'Prairie Wind' on either side of the steps, but it will show up in a year or two, getting 6 or 7 feet tall, if I'm remembering right.  There are other plants in the area that will be taller ntext year, too.

Have a great weekend!