November Wildflower Wednesday

We are enjoying a mild fall, even though we've had a number of nights that have dipped down to the 20s.  I have mostly wider views for this month's Wildflower Wednesday, hosted by Gail, of Clay and Limestone.

We'll start out with the curb beds.  I've mentioned that I do the clean up in the spring, so that birds can have the seeds to eat, and whatever native bees and such who live in the stems can live safely over the winter.

I love the puffy seed heads of the various kinds of liatris.  I'm thinking this is aspera.

The spikes of puff on the left are another kind of liatris, I think, a cultivar.  I think the dark colored seed heads are black eyed susans.

I guess I really do like liatris seed heads!  Here's another clump, with New England asters on the right.

The plant on the left is a coneflower of some kind.  The plant in the front is New England aster.

The Mexican hat plants are still green and have some color in their blooms.

This is across from where a sidewalk would be from the west curb area. The wild senna seed heads are pretty cool looking.  I'm also seeing more liatris, stiff goldenrod, riddles goldenrod and some grasses in this photo.

The false baptisia on the south side of the fence still has seed pods that look good.

Heading into the area where the tree used to be, we see meadow rue and cup plant.

This was the last clump of New England asters to bloom, and I see it still has one bloom on it.

I found a photo of wild quinine that I liked better than this one, but decided to include both, because if I delete this, I'll have a wider gap that I have to edit the post to fix.  The gold in the back is Amsonia illustris.

The gray-headed coneflowers still have a bit of color.

These are sweet black eyed susans.

I just transplanted this clump of ironweed from another part of the yard this spring.  It did very well.

Here is the other clump of wild quinine.  I have it in several spots in the yard.  It has the longest bloom time of all of the flowers, and I see pollinators on it all of its bloom time.  It looks nice afterward as well!

I am still enjoying the Illinois bundleflowers.

Since we started with a view from the street, I thought we'd end with a view from the porch.

I hope all is well with you at the holiday season.  There are so many bad things happening in the world that are out of our control.  What we do have in our control is how we treat others.  I hope we all find ways to show kindness and respect to those we come into contact with.  This time of year is also a good time to remember to forgive those in your life who have hurt or offended you.

October Wildflower Wednesday

We were busy today, getting in the last of the frost sensitive harvest.  I picked some kale, but what's out there should be fine with lows in the 20s tonight.  I just got a few photos taken for today's Wildflower Wednesday post before our granddaughter came over, and took a few more with her here, so decided to include some of her.  Gail, from Clay and Limestone is the host.  It's always fun to see what all wildflowers people have growing.

Most of the plants are finished blooming for the season, but there are a few showing color.  It was good to still see a bumblebee on the New England asters that are still blooming.  This is the only clump that still is.  I don't remember if it started blooming after the others.

The Mexican hats are still looking good, but I do not see much insect activity on them.

Granddaughter is 16 months old now!  I watch her four days a week, from 12:50 pm to 9:15ish pm.  The seedheads on the right are ironweed.  The grass is a cultivar of switchgrass.

I believe she is going to be a gardener.  She loves being in the yard, and likes to point out blooms and insects.

I was tickled to see a skipper today, too.

 Some of the pitcher sage blooms are still blue.

She loves to pick up things from this area, and carry them around.  The grass on the right is a different kind of switchgrass cultivar than the one on the other side of this area.

The gray headed coneflowers still have some color.

Here is today's harvest.  Sage usually survives in the garden at least until Thanksgiving, but I like to dry some just in case it doesn't.   Pole beans do much better in my garden than bush beans.  I have been able to make lots of soup with them and other veggies.

Most of the food here is from farmer's markets, but a bit is still from our garden.  We have to keep our dog's water dish on the counter while Granddaughter is here, so she can't play in the water.

One of these days, I will spend less time on FB, so I can catch up on my blog reading.  I hope all is well with you and your gardens.

New England Asters

It is hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that it is October.  I am thankful for having blooms this time of year that are having so many insect visitors.  I am also glad that I did not thin out all of the volunteers that are around the yard.

I am seeing more sulphurs than usual this year, I'm not sure how many different kinds.  I like this kind with the black on it.

We are still seeing more than one size of bumblebee. This looks to be the smaller kind.

I'm not sure how many kinds of skippers have been visiting, but there have been a good number of them this season, too.

I'm not sure if this is the same sulphur shown earlier.

I always like to get more than one insect in a photo.

These two New England asters are the original ones, whose seeds have ended up in different parts of the yard.  I moved them from where we lived before here.  The stems get diseased late summer most years, even though I cut them back a few times in the spring and early summer.  That does not stop them from having loads of blooms with pollen for the insects.

We are still seeing monarchs each day, but not as many as a few weeks ago.  I counted 7 insects in this photo.  Is that how many you see?

When I saw this at first, the wings were out, like a butterfly, but like this, it looks like a skipper.  Do you know what it is?

Here is another skipper, a sweat bee, and I'm not sure if that is a bee or hoverfly on the right.

I am pleased to be seeing a painted lady or more most days.

I've been seeing a buck eye or two off and on for awhile.  This poor one's "eyes" did not fool some bird or other.

I like the little green sweat bees.

Here's another view of a painted lady.

I decided to add a few more photos, these taken today.  I've learned this is a tachnid fly.

I am not sure what kind of wasp this is.  I've also had yellow jacket hover flies this year.  I didn't even know there was such a thing, but I'm thinking this actually is a wasp.

This clump, in the area where the tree used to be, mixed with some rigid goldenrod, is one I did not plant.  I like where it chose to grow.

This is a different kind of sulphur than the one I showed previously.

I thought this was an interesting looking critter.  I was glad it came to a spot where I could take a photo of the rest of it.

I am not sure what it is, though.  If you know, please tell me.  It's about half an inch wide if my memory is correct.

I have not yet visited those who left comments on my Wildflower Wednesday post.  I am spending too much time on Facebook!  I need to make an adjustment so I can get more blogs visited.  Have a great fall, all!

September's Wildflower Wednesday

This spring and summer sure did fly by!  There were a number of things, like record rainfalls and things coming up that kept me from being out in the yard as much as I like or need to be.  It seems like the only blog posts I am doing are for Gail's Wildflower Wednesday.

My photos did not appear in the order I took them, the order I wanted them to be in, so I'll just have to make do, because I do not have time to put them in the right order.

I like to include insects that are making use of the blooms in my photos.  This is Riddell's goldenrod.  Right now, all of the goldenrods are having lots of activity on them.  It was cloudy today, so I didn't get as many as usual.  Can you see the preying mantis?

I am not sure what kind of aster or ex-aster this is.  The blooms are smaller than the others.

I am not sure what kind of goldenrod this is, but it sure is loaded with little insects.  The lighter colored plant, short-toothed mountain mint is still getting some activity.

Here's another Riddell's goldenrod plant loaded with insects.

I am pleased to have pitcher sage in different spots in the yard.  It sure is a nice color to break up all of the yellow this time of year.

This photo was supposed to be first.  Not all of the beauty is in the blooms this time of year.  I love the seed heads on Illinois bundleflower.  The foliage is also continuing to look pretty good.

There are loads of seed pods on the wild senna plants.

I like the clematis pitcherii seed pods, too.

The New England asters are very cheerful.

The brown-eyed susans get visitors, too.  They are so cheerful with their large amounts of small, about 1 inch blooms.

Blue mist flowers is one that spreads, but I got brave and planted a couple clumps the spring of 2014.  They are spreading, but not too aggressively so far.  Almost every time I go out, I see skippers on these blooms.

 I hope all is well with you and you are getting lots of visitors on your wildflowers!  I love Gail's post, where I see she posted some of the same flowers.  If you haven't been there yet, head on over to Clay and Limestone to see her Wildflower Wednesday post.