Blooms and Foliage

I am going to do a post for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and Foliage Follow Up by doing a side yard update.  Things have grown since the last post in June.  Some plants are finished blooming, and others have taken over to provide color.

I think it was the clump of Outhouse flower, Rudbeckia laciniata 'Hortensia' that I dug a clump of to plant near the house here.  It is not as tall as the others, but should get taller next year.
 

The clump of comfrey in front of the meter needs to be cut back after the first blooms because it flops over.  As usual, it grew back quickly and is on its second flush of blooms.  The foliage is very good for the compost pile.  Some put it in a bucket of water for a few weeks and use the liquid for fertilizer, but I'm afraid I'd forget about it or spill it.

I think this Liatris is a volunteer of some kind, maybe 'Kobold'.  The foliage of the Amsonia tabernaemontana looks pretty good all season, but I trim it back a time or two to keep it bushy.  Oh, and the foliage of the Baptisia on the left is looking good, and does not seem to have the caterpillars like the one down the way does.

I'm pretty sure this is Salvia nemerosa Plumosa.  I don't know why it flops so, and doesn't stand up straight.  I guess the flowers are too heavy for the stems.  Do you grow these?  Do they do this for you?

The Short tooth mountain mint normally has a number of bees and wasps on it.  I'm thinking that Black eyed Susan got planted by the birds.

I normally trim back the Rudbeckia 'herbstonne' and Helenium, I hope, autumnale, so they will be fuller and less floppy, but didn't get that done this year.  I loosened the string that I wrapped around the Rudbeckia today, but it still looks awkward.   The blooms on the lower right are Black-eyed Susans, which self sow prolifically. 

The Blue mist spirea blooms are welcome this time of year, when a lot of blooms are finished for the season, or soon will be.

That's the Black-eyed Susan on the left, and I don't remember what kind of Goldenrod this is, but I'm not ready for the Goldenrods to be blooming.  It seems like they should wait until closer to September.  Oh, well, I guess they have their own timing.

Here's another volunteer clump of Black-eyed Susans.

This is a volunteer growing into the Amsonia hubrichtii, which is noted for its lovely foliage all season, but especially in the fall.  I'm not sure if they are Gray-head coneflowers, or something else. 

This is the Rudbeckia 'Goldquelle' that I knocked on the door of a woman I didn't know a couple years ago to ask for a start of.  I told her to stop over and see what I may have that she'd like a start of, but she didn't.  Next year, I plant to cut it back before it's time for it to bloom so it will have stronger stems.

I forgot what kind of coreopsis this is.

I don't remember which blogger recently asked me if this clump of False sunflower is one of the original plants or not.  In looking around for the names of other plants, I found a post where I mentioned I had dug this clump as a seedling out of the vegetable garden.

Do you deadhead your native plants?  I am trying to figure out which ones will bloom again if I do.  I think the faded blooms of the False sunflowers are too ratty looking, and am glad they do bloom again when I cut the old ones off.  (This one is still looking good.)

The bees are enjoying the anise hyssop.

The bees are still feeding on the Globe thistles, but they are about finished, and I cut most of them off today, because I needed to get into the poor Baptisia to cut the stems back because they were full of Genesta Broom Moth caterpillars. 

Here's the original Outhouse Flower that a gardening friend of mine gave me a few years ago.  I'm pretty sure she said this is from the clump that had been in her family awhile.   It looks a lot like the 'Goldquelle' but is a little different.  I cut these back today, so they aren't leaning as much as in this photo.

Now, here's some lovely foliage!  This Lead plant was a tiny slow growing thing when I first got it for free from the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum at some kind of event they were participating in.  I love this thing, and have purchased a few others to plant in other spots.  I hope to remember to take some leaves off to dry and use for tea this winter.

I deadheaded this Goldenrod today.  I want to see if it will bloom again.

Most of the Coneflowers are finished blooming.  I moved these when the plants were small, so they bloomed a little later than the others.  I did have to pull a bunch today, though, because I saw that they had aster yellows.  I hope the rest are safe.

I wanted to show the foliage of the Buttonbush I planted a few weeks ago.  It was in a small pot.  I hope it's OK.  I read that the leaves turn yellow in the fall and fall off.  These seem to be turning reddish, and it's not fall yet.  I forgot what the purple blooms are, some kind of Salvia, I think.  Oh, and I see some parsley foliage.  I planted a couple in this area to see if the swallowtails would find them to lay eggs on.  I think they are used to the ones up by the house.  I've been seeing quite a few little caterpillars.

Love lies bleeding usually does well in the front yard, but this year, they aren't so much.  This one, near the garbage cans took awhile to grow, but is doing better than the others.

I don't remember what kind of mint this is, but the flowers sure look pretty to me.

In case you didn't know what a genista broom moth caterpillar looks like, here's a photo.

I hope you have lots of blooms and foliage to enjoy, and that the rest of the season doesn't fly by too quickly. 

A Fun Discovery to Share for Foliage Follow-up

Friday after work, I went to a few garage sales where garden supplies were listed, because I was looking for some wire baskets to put over some plants the rabbits have been eating.  One of them was in the neighborhood where we used to live before moving into our current home, where my husband grew up.  When I turned onto the street where the back of the elementary school property is, the area that was planted as a butterfly garden when the kids went there caught my eye.  Of course, I stopped, and took photos with my phone's camera.  This is where my kids entered the school grounds.  (I just looked this up to share on Facebook.  I am going to add the names of plants that I know now, that I didn't know when I first wrote this.  I'll put them in parentheses.)

Things sure have changed on the property since I was there last.

Can you read the bottom sign?  I wonder why the trees were treated with fox urine,  Maybe there are deer in the area that eat on trees.

We're getting closer!  Can you see the school?

It looks like a full fledged prairie!

I either don't know, or can't remember many of the names of the plants.  This one I should, but can't think of it.  (I think this lighter colored foliage is Pitcher sage.)

I think this is a dock of some kind.  I didn't see many of these.

If you know what these are, please let me know.  (This looks like Cup plant to me.)

I was pleased to see some gray headed coneflowers.  I don't think I saw any at a local prairie I went to a few weeks ago.

I like the different kinds of foliage here.   (I am pleased that I now have some Illinois bundleflower, shared from a local gardening friend, Jill, who is in the Facebook group, Gardening with Nature in Mind, that I'm glad I started this spring.)

I'm not sure what kinds of grasses are in here, either.  I took photos as I walked around the whole prairie garden.

I wonder if this is an ironweed.

I think this is a teasel of some kind.  (I looked it up, and found that this is not native to the U.S.)

Here's a closer view of the buds.

I think this is a silphium of some kind.  (Again, I think it's Cup plant.)

(Plants in the wild look different than the ones I thin here at home.  Now, I can't tell what these are.)

I didn't see many butterfly milkweeds.

There were more of these common milkweeds.

I thought this was something different, but now, I'm thinking it may be the same kind of silphium as the one shown earlier.  You can see the homes across the street here.  (Yes, they look like cup plants.)

I like the jagged edges on the foliage of this mystery to me plant.

This may be the only leadplant I saw.  I wanted to go in and pull out some of the plants that were crowding it, but that was not up to me to decide.

 

I wonder if this is an aster of some kind.  (Yes, I think these are asters, but I wonder what kind.)

You sure can find different textures, sizes and shapes of foliage in wild or native plants!  I wonder what these are.

Now that I've rediscovered this garden, I hope to make it back there at different times of the year and see what's going on.  Pam, at Digging hosts Foliage Follow-up on the 16th of the month.  Thanks, Pam!

Oh, and I was excited to find 5 or 6 baskets at the estate sale I decided to go to.  I snapped them up and put them over some asters and other plants that had been eaten down (by rabbits).