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.
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.
Your garden is looking absolutely lovely! It brought a smile to my face tonight.....
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, I've never heard of Cup plant. Very interesting how the leaves do that. I have a question, if I may. On your banner photo, behind the coneflower is something tall with light pink flower clusters. Is it a type of milkweed?
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of cup plant either. What a wonderful variety! Your garden is looking lush and so inviting!
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful borders along your pathway! So cheerful and such a lovely variety of plants. I've never heard of a cup plant before, I'll have to see if it's available here in the UK.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!!!! Sue, you have such a beautiful front garden. It is packed with so much interesting beauty.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing ~ FlowerLady
Sue wow what a stunning pollinator heaven there...the deer love my cup plant so it has never bloomed but I am determined to protect it a bit more so it can...I adore all your beautiful flowers as they flower there together is perfect harmony!
ReplyDeleteHi Sue. Your garden is beautiful and lush. July is such a wonderful time for the flowers.....the Cup plant is interesting.....I may try it to see how it behaves here in MA. Enjoy your new grandchild! Sally
ReplyDeleteSue, in my experience cup plant is a rampant self seeder, much more so than the other Silphiums. The photo I posted on Facebook that you saw of my "cup plant forest" consists mostly of self seeded plants. The original seeding included only 2 ounces of cup plant seed spread over 2 acres. These cup plants have even seeded into dense brome grass along the draw adjacent to my prairie, which is quite a feat. I wouldn't expect to see hundreds in a small garden though as the seeds are quite large and the birds do eat a lot of them. They are not all that difficult to control in a garden either if pulled when small.
ReplyDeleteOh my, Sue, your garden looks AMAZING!!! I just love it. I also love that you garden organically. What you do is good for the environment, the pollinators, and the butterflies. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!!
ReplyDeleteSue, I would expect no less than a spectacular yard again this year after reading your blog for a couple years. Your yard is always filled with life both plant and insects. It's always a joy to see how your yard changes through out the year. I do have a flower bed built at Terra Nova Gardens but I need to fill it with dirt and get it ready for next year. I haven't decided what to plant in it just yet. I'm still working on the fence and have 9 more panels to get up and 10 more posts to plant before the sweet corn matures. Hope you are having a great summer.
ReplyDeleteHave a great wildflower garden day.
The wonderful way you get plants to grow in clumps and cover the ground well is so attractive, and use of native plants. Your garden is such an inspiration, I will have to work on getting my plants to grow closer together. It must cutting weeding a lot.
ReplyDeleteI've always loved cup plant. In fact, on a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden one year, I sneaked out with some seeds--shh, don't tell anyone:) They were from a section that had fallen to the ground anyway. But they never germinated here. After reading Gail's post, I was a little concerned that if I ever get them to grow here, they might take over, but perhaps they're not as aggressive in the Midwest. I'm plan to try some winter sowing of natives this year, so we'll see if I finally have success with this plant.
ReplyDeleteIf I were your mailman, I would definitely enjoy the walk up to your mailbox!
I was mentioning to Gail that my husband is a huge fan of the Cup Plant. I love it, too, but he usually doesn't get as excited about plants as I do. He gets all excited when we see it during our hikes. We frequently see it at restored prairies and Oak savannah habitats around here. Your walk up to the house looks so inviting!
ReplyDeleteYou have such a wide variety of plants Sue. It looks glorious. I've recently started introducing some purple in my garden too, it's one of my favorite colors and I love all the different purple blooms you have -- envious!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I like your Pollinator Habitat sign too :-) I did a belated Happy Pollinator Week post last week. Where did you get the sign?
ReplyDeleteI'm plotting and planning for a pollinator and bird habitat in our False Bay garden. A generous path, and even more generous planting. Like yours!
ReplyDelete