July's Wildflower Wednesday

We are now experiencing the time of the season I always look forward to, with so many plants in bloom, but now that it's here, I'm not ready for so many to be finishing up like they are.  It sure has been hot and dry.  It was good to get almost an inch of rain this morning.  While walking around, I decided to do my Wildflower Wednesday post, hosted by Gail, of Clay and Limestone, on the different Mountain mints I have.

This first one, which is growing on the east side of our house, is not native to Nebraska, but to states south of us.  The USDA Plant Database calls it Clustered mountain mint.  Other sources call it what I do, Short-toothed mountain mint, Pycnanthemum muticum.

Here's a closer look at it.  This one has not spread as much as the others here.  It does develop roots along the stems that end up on the ground in the spring.  I have been picking them up, and the clump has not gotten larger than I have room for.  Bees and wasps frequent these.

Virginia mountain mint, Pycnanthemum virginianum (with some other letters and words after it) is native in Nebraska.  This one is a spreader, but I read that after a few years, it will calm down and not spread as much, and this one has spread less the last couple of years.  It's on the east side of the vegetable garden.

The pollinators weren't out much yet, since it had just rained, but they love the white blooms of all of the Mountain mints.  These blooms are smaller than the Short toothed ones.

 This Narrowleaf mountain mint, Pycnanthemum tenuifolium Schrad, is another one native to Nebraska.  It's shorter than the Virginia mountain mint.  This one in the west front yard, near the light pole, and I'm not sure what is going on with it.  Parts of it are turning brown, and it's separating in the middle.  It seems to be the favorite of the black wasps.  I hope it's OK.

I have two more photos of this one.

Now, this one is a mystery to me.  It is right next to the sidewalk that goes from the street to the house, and you can see the Joe Pye weed right there.  I am forgetful, and do not remember whether I planted this or not.  I wonder if the different varieties of Mountain mint can cross pollinate.  

I think it's a good looking plant.  The blooms are smaller than Short toothed, and larger than Narrowleaf.

I decided to share a few more wildflowers that are blooming, some of which will be finished by the next Wildflower Wednesday.  Do you see all three bumblebees enjoying the Wild senna?

I have Butter and eggs, a Toadflax of some kind, in a wash tub because it is too much of a spreader here.

The Cup plant is loaded with blooms!

False sunflowers are the first perennial we bought when we moved here.  Larry and I both liked them, and I thought it was cool that they are native to Nebraska.

I'm not sure if this is the same swallowtail caterpillar I saw on a leaf of a Golden Alexander plant, but if it is, it moved to this stem during the day.   I deadheaded these plants last year, hoping they would bloom again, but they didn't, so this year, I have left most of them on, and they are looking good on the plants so far.

I'm glad there are some flowers, like Monarda fistula now blooming that the bees like, because I need to deadhead the Culver's root, which they had been favoring.

This is my first time growing Sweet black eyed susan, and this one bloom has taken a couple days of showing color to start opening.  I am excited to see all of the blooms open.

I hope you are learning more about plants that are native to your areas, and are able to find some to plant.  It sure has been a fun experience for me, although there have been challenges to finding some of the plants I wanted to try.