June's Wildflower Wednesday

I enjoyed reading Gail's Wildflower Wednesday post today, as always.  I like how she said we need to be willing to have imperfection due to insects feeding on the plants in order to provide for their needs, which in turn meets the needs of larger critters such as frogs, birds, etc.

I took a break from getting ready for a garage sale we are having Friday and took some photos for a WW post.  I know I've shown some of these blooms before, but wanted to have some with insects on them, and these must be their favorites.

This bee on the New Jersey tea was about half an inch.

The foxglove penstemons are almost finished blooming, and even though I've tied them up, they are flopping a bit.  Since they are still being fed from, I will keep them looking a bit untidy, embracing imperfection, like Gail recommended.

Here is another example of imperfection in the eyes of us.  I forgot what bulb this was, and wonder what this wasp was doing on it.

In my last WW post, I showed a photo of lead plant.  It is a good looking plant all season.  It is now blooming in several places in the yard.  This is the first plant I got.  It takes a long time to reach full size, and I am thankful I was patient.  The blooms are visited by a number of kinds of small bees.  It is hard to get photos of them.  I realize I am not just showing wildflowers in this post.  The daylilies were planted by my mother-in-law when she lived here many years ago.  They are also visited by pollinators.  That's a spent foxglove beardtongue growing through the plant stake.

The blooms of leadplant are unique, and I think they are pretty cool.

I decided to include some longer views of the yard.  I was thinking about what Gail said about embracing imperfection.  I am thankful to live in a neighborhood where people stop from time to time, to let me know they like the flowers.  Some also take photos.  I sometimes hope they don't notice a blank spot or some other imperfection that has been bothering me.  I know they don't, though, because they are looking at the blooms.

I am not good at making plans for flower beds.  I am a plopper.  I want it that way, though.  I am taking liberties with Gail's theme of embracing imperfection.  I do not strive for a neat and tidy look.

A few days ago, when a guy in a car told me how much he enjoys the flowers, I told him I am thankful to live in a neighborhood where they are accepted.  I said if this yard was in a different neighborhood, then he finished my sentence, saying something like others may consider it messy.  LOL  Can you see the common milkweed plants that will be blooming soon?
 

This is the area that bugs me the most.  I have some things too far apart, and others too close together. In the spring, there is a lot of dirt that shows.  Still, open ground is good for some insects.  We did have some ground nesting bees in there one year.

I pulled out a lot of the purple coneflowers from this area, hoping there will be less aster yellows.  Rabbits have eaten down some of the pale coneflowers, but at least there are some blooms.  The imperfection of plants being eaten down does bother me, I have to admit.  This has been the worse that I can remember, and I am hoping all of the plants recover.

This is back in the area in front of the fence where I was saying there is a lot of dirt that shows. I am glad to see the Mexican hats are blooming.

I may have mentioned that I am not seeing as many insects this year, but there seem to be more bees than butterflies.  The butterflies I do see are pretty flighty, and do not land on blooms long enough for me to get photos.

The purple milkweed on the side of the house is taller than that in the front yard.  I wonder if it's because it is surrounded by tall plants.  Milkweed blooms are one of my favorites.

Spring started out cool and wet.  It continued to rain a lot, then jumped into being hot.  It is 8:12 pm, central standard daylight savings, and 91 degrees!  I am thankful the plants are doing fine for the most part.  Yes, there are insect holes on the leaves.  They are supporting life.  There are also birds in the yard every day.   I hope you have been able to spend time in your less than perfect garden.

Thank you to those who have left comments on my last two posts.  I plan to visit your blogs in the next week.