Wildflower Wednesday

For Gail's Wildflower Wednesday, I decided to first show the plants that are along the sidewalk going up to our house.  Some are wildflowers, and some are not.  In our yard, they grow right along side each other.  There are also herbs, like the white blooming Winter savory.

Any marigolds you see in the front yard are heirloom volunteers that I don't remember the name of.  I am seeing Whorled milkweed, Lead plant, coneflowers, Liatris, Wild quinine, Monarda, and maybe that is Little bluestem grass on the front left.

We are getting closer to the house, and the plant Gail posted on today, and what I want to feature for this post as well.  Our mail carrier has been a good sport, with all of the plants leaning over the sidewalk.  After taking the photos, I tied the Cup plant up so it would not lean into it as much.

Here's a closer view of Monarda fistulosa with a visitor.

The Meadow rue is taller than the Cup plant, but not as much as it appears in the photo, as there are some taller stems of the Cup plant behind it.  This will be the third season for the plant here.  It has spread, but it does not have room to spread much more.

Gail is in Tennessee, so I am assuming her Cup plant has been blooming longer than this one, which just opened its first bloom 2 or 3 days ago.  The first year I had this plant, I deadheaded it because I was afraid it may start coming up in the neighbors' yards, and they could get upset about that.  Last year, I went ahead and left them for the birds to eat, and did not get any volunteers here.  I am curious to see if I do next year.

Here's a closer view of why they are called Cup plant.  We had quite a bit of rain this season, and it was fun to see the water collected in the leaf "cups".  I'm pretty sure these are aphids of some kind.  I choose to leave them on for a meal for the critters who eat them.  They aren't on every stem, otherwise I may choose to squish some of them, if I thought they would be a threat to the plant.  I do not garden for perfect foliage, and use no pesticides.

Here's the view from the other direction.  Now, the Cup plant is hiding the view of the Meadow rue a bit.   Gail said that it prefers moist conditions.  This does not get watered often, so maybe that will prevent it from spreading as much as it would with more moisture.  The plant in front of it is a Golden alexanders that has gone to seed.  I did have some of those come up this year.

Do you grow Cup plant?  What are your experiences with it?  I am wondering if it behaves a little differently in different zones.  To learn more about it, go visit Gail's post. 

Bloom Day

Here it is, the middle of July, the peak of the season for blooms.  There are way too many to show for one post, and I almost decided not to do a Garden Blogger's Bloom Day post, but I have a few minutes, so I think I'll go for it.

I like the color of the Sideoats grama blooms next to the Wild quinine.

This Larkspur is behind the ones in the vegetable garden, which will be going dormant soon, but not before dropping seeds for next year's blooms.

The bees have been enjoying the Ironweeds, now that they've opened.

I am not seeing as many pollinators on the Wild senna this year, but hopefully, more will be showing up soon.

Culver's root is another one the bees and wasps love.

This is one of my favorite Daylilies.

Narrowleaf mountain mint, Purple coneflowers, and Black eyed Susans

I don't remember what kind of Liatris this is, but I sure am enjoying the different ones that are just starting to show their colors.

The black wasps are finally showing up.  Rattlesnake master is usually one of their favorites.

Love lies bleeding:

I am sad that a local nursery I have shopped at for years, B&B, is closing this year, due to health problems of one of the owners.  They are trying to sell the business and the property.  So far, no one who has wanted the property has been interested in keeping the business going.  I wish I would have gotten more of these 'Spooky' dianthus plants before they sold out.  They are tender perennials, and usually only live a few years.

False sunflower

Sneezeweed:

Here is another of my favorite daylilies.

When I went to Carol's blog, May Dreams Gardens to get the link, I saw that I was going to be #75.  I hope to have time to check out many of the posts to see what is blooming in other parts of the country.  Our weather is going to be very nice for gardening the next few days, though, so I may wait until the highs are back in the 90s.

From our Front Porch

I have been putting albums on Facebook showing photos taken from our front porch.  This time, I decided to put them in a blog post.  Oh, wait!  I just went to label this, and saw that I have done a post showing photos from the front porch.  I checked, and it was done earlier in the spring, I'm thinking, May.  There is a big difference in the view from then!

These photos were taken a day ago.  Today, I trimmed back the Joe Pye weed so there will be room to walk in the yard.

The zoom on my camera works pretty well.  I am please that the Rattlesnake master plants are blooming, but I am not seeing as many insects on them as in the past.  I hope more show up soon.

This Kiss me over the garden gate was given to me by a friend.  It's an old fashioned reseeding annual.

Wild quinine, Purple meadow rue, I forgot what kind of Liatris, and Pale purple coneflower

The bees and hover flies have continued to visit the Foxgloves, even though they are almost finished blooming.

This clump of Purple prairie clover started blooming before the others, so while they are just in their prime, this clump is fading.

I am loving this view with the Liatris, various conefloweres, and Mexican hat blooms.

We will head west, to the other side of the sidewalk.

I forgot what kind of Allium this is.  I think the grass is Sideoats grama.

Today, I cut back some of the seedheads of the Golden alexanders so they don't flop as much.  The Cup plant is looking pretty good, even though some of the leaves have aphids on them.  I like having another Purple meadow rue on this side of the sidewalk.  I've mentioned this is the house my husband grew up in, and this light belonged to his parents.

I don't remember the name of this Clematis, but I always have to tie it up so it doesn't flop.  We should probably be painting the railings soon.

A friend gave me a couple starts of Illinois bundleflower last year, after I had mentioned planting seeds that did not come up.  It is one of my favorites.  These blooms will turn into awesome brown seedheads that I posted photos of last year.

There is a path in here, but it is not visible in this photo.

Wild quinine is a plant I like having in different spots.  The Ironweeds are beginning to bloom, but the pink blooms are Swamp milkweed.

Continuing to the west, the pink on the right is a different Swamp milkweed.  The coneflowers in the background are in the curb bed.

Here is a closer view of the Gray-headed coneflowers which have just opened, more Wild quinine, Swamp milkweed, and on the right is Wild senna.

I hope to see lots of bees and such on the Wild senna like I did the last couple of years.

Rudbeckia maxima

The Purple poppy mallows are blooming better than I've ever seen them to this year.  The yellow blooms are Lanceleaf  (I'm pretty sure) coreopsis.

This Wild senna, next to the Switchgrass cultivar I'm not thinking of the name of is not blooming quite yet.  I'm thinking the two didn't bloom at the exact same time last year, either.

I love Clematis pitcheri.

I didn't pay attention to the tag on this, and am thinking it is Tall poppy mallow.  I have enjoyed it iin this area, holding its own with other tall plants.

The Joe Pye weed on the west side of the bed is younger than the one on the east side.  I'm glad to see it is doing OK.  This one does not get as much water as the other one, either.

There are strawberries growing under the bench, and traveling around a bit.  My mother-in-law's Peonies and Lily of the valley, which I sometimes try to thin a bit are in the area behind the bench.

I zoomed in on the tubs that are on the sidewalk, these, behind a Beautyberry shrub.

Love lies bleeding is another one that self sows, and I have some on the east side of the house that did, but I got these already starting to bloom so there would be some good color for the garden tour that we participated in in June.

Well, here it is, July 3!  This will be the first 4th in many years that we will not be hosting a big family gathering for.  I am sad that we are not doing it, but we've had lots going on, including helping our daughter with her baby, Ruby, who will be 2 weeks old Sunday.    I hope you have a safe holiday!