Wildflower Wednesday

I seem to be running behind these days.  I noticed during my lunch break today that people were posting for Wildflower Wednesday, hosted by Gail, of Clay and Limestone, so when I got home, I took some photos of what I thought were wildflowers.  When I came in to try to confirm them, I looked at some lists, but then realized I didn't have time to check all of them, so if I post some that are not wildflowers, I don't mind being corrected.  Some of what I took photos of I saw on Gail's post, so I was right about those.  I need to do more research.

It's a good thing I got myself around to participating in WW.  I already knew the rabbits have been more destructive both in the veggie and flower gardens than in the past.  In fact, I had just sprayed Liquid Fence around, when I went back out to take photos of the woodland phlox I had forgotten to include when I was taking photos after work.  The patch I had planted on the east side of the house was completely eaten down.   I went to the back yard, and saw some seed heads, and one little hold out stem with blooms.  (The rabbits also ate my leadplant down to a few stems.  I had asked Larry if he weedwacked it the other day, because I knew it had started growing.  Maybe it will regrow, and I will be able to post it later.

When I first went out, I saw a dang bunny, and yelled at it.  In the past, my instinct to go grab the camera would have kicked in, but I was so mad, that I yelled.  It jumped out of the tub, which I brought the phlox in when we moved here 12 years ago.  It didn't run away right away, though.  A little brown patch of it is just behind the fence to the right of the pot.  The neighbor's luneria and iris are on the other side of the fence.  You can see how much has been eaten from this plant on the left side of the pot.  I am not so happy.

I've shown the orange hawkweed before.  It may not be blooming much longer, but I enjoy it.  The clump with orange and yellow blooms in the back is blanket flower, which we saw growing wild in North Carolina when we were there.  I think this is a hybrid of some kind, though.

I was thinking primroses were wildflowers, so I was glad to see them on Gail's post.

I'm pretty sure oxe-eye daisies are wildflowers.  I don't think foxgloves are, but I'm not sure.

These forget me nots like to seed themselves around.  I keep them from spreading where I don't want them by pulling or hoeing them.

Pasque seedheads are as cool as the blooms.

I think I saw toadflax on  one of the lists.

It looks like the sweet rockets won't be blooming much longer.

Babtisias have to be one of my favorites.  I've been letting the seedheads stay on.  If you grow them, do you deadhead?  The reason I've deadheaded in the past, was to control the size and shape of the plant so it didn't flop over its neighbors.  Now, I just put a string around the bottom stems.

The shell leaf penstemon is a native flower of our area.  I think these have a heavier, moister soil than they prefer.   They are a bit floppy.  They are blooming nicely.

The plant above is a spiderwort.  I'm not sure which ones are considered wild or native.  The ones in the side yard are just starting to bloom.

I think I am almost finished buying plants.  I decided I wanted a heliotrope this year, so on the way home form work, I stopped at a garden center.  I ended up buying several annuals for my pots, and one perennial that caught my eye.  I thought it was an amsonia, but it's not.  It blooms late summer or fall.  When I saw that butterflies like it, I decided I needed to find a spot for it.  I saw that it's a wildflower, too.

I hope to get a chance to do some blog reading in the next few days.  I  hope all of you in blogland are doing well and enjoying your gardening.  I will come back tomorrow and edit this, if it needs it.  I have been struggling to stay awake.  (I did come back and do some editing.  I'm glad I caught the "weewack" and fixed it to say, "weedwack".)

Blooms for Tuesday

I was going to do a post on the clean up of my herb garden and add some blooms for Jean's Bloomin' Tuesday, but ended up taking over 300 photos.  I had to decide which ones to use for a bloom post, and will post on the herb garden later.  Besides, I lost my light after watering the pots, and didn't get the herb garden worked on.

The peonies in front of the house have been over 30 years.  They were planted by my mother-in-law.  I need to deadhead the coral bells that aren't pretty. 

I need to see if I can find the tag of these bulbs I planted in the fall in the new curb bed.  Do you know what they are?  These are the first of them to bloom.

This is the new curb area, too.  The jupiter's beard on the left is a division of the huge one in the more established curb area.  Even though it is smaller, it's full of blooms.  I included the rose in the photo with the salvia to show it is short.

I got the rose on a bargain table, and don't remember if it came with a name.  It sure is pretty.  I hope it has a long bloom time.

It has been quite windy, but I haven't gotten everything staked that would benefit from it.  I need to find something for the bush clematis to lean on. I sure like the looks of it, though.

I do need to find those tags from the fall planted bulbs.  I didn't think I'd gotten more iris reticulatas, but these look like them to me.

Do you know what the yellow blooms on the left are?   They were bulbs planted a number of years ago, so I don't think there's hope of finding their tags.  The dianthus are such faithful bloomers, and the yellow blooms in front are some kind of sedum.

The orange hawkweed is at its prime bloom time.  The blanket flower in the background had lots of holes in the foliage last year, from some kind of insect.  These were both here when I had a circle shaped bed with mostly orange flowers.  I was thinking about digging out the blanket flower, but now, it's looking pretty, so I'll see how it looks the rest of the season.

The snapdragons are from last year.  I'm pretty sure they survived the winter, because if it had reseeded, I don't think they'd be blooming yet.

The daisies are looking nice and cottagey.  The foxglove is full of buds. 

I don't remember if they bent over like they are last year, or if they bloomed, for that matter.  I need to look at last year's photos.  That's not a disease or problem, is it?

I'm pretty sure these are peach leaved bell flowers.

The next blooms on the clematis by the veggie garden are larger than the first one.

Do you recognize this bloom?

It's from that kale "bush" behind and to the right of the cilantro that wants to populate the garden with more little cilanto plants.

Some radishes are starting to bloom.  I didn't do a good job getting them thinned this year, but am getting a crop.

I had trouble picking out which raddicio to post, because I thought they were all pretty photogenic.

I'm not sure what this is, maybe a mustard of some kind from a salad greens mix.

Well, I'd say spring is in full swing, but summer is getting ready to spring.  It took several sessions to get this posted, and in the meantime, more flowers are starting to bloom.  I'll save them for another post.  Happy whatever day it is in the part of the world where you live!

Some Commotion in our Yard

Tuesday, when I was taking photos of some blooms, the birds in our tree were excited about something.  Different kinds would land on a branch and chirp loudly, then fly away.  I tried to take their photos, but only one, of a robin, turned out OK.  The worm was an added critter for the photo.

Heidi got excited, too, and at one point, tried to get up the tree.   Then, I saw a squirrel all agitated.

That's not what Heidi was after, though.  I looked up and saw a cat!  No wonder all the other critters were agitated.

The cat kept going back and forth in the fork of the tree, and the squirrel kept dashing around scolding it.

Larry came out to see what the excitement was, and I told him I was thinking about getting the hose to squirt the cat to get it to get down, but Larry was afraid it would fall out of the tree.

 Finally, the cat skidded its way back down the tree.  It had a collar on, but I don't know whose it is.

I couldn't get a good photo of it once on the ground.  It skulked away, looking to be in a grumpy mood.

Did I get a thank you from the squirrel?  No, it turned around and scolded me!

Wednesday, I took some photos of a couple birds through a window.  They didn't turn out so well.  I have 2 to post, but I'm not sure if these are of both or just one of the birds.  I don't remember what kind of birds they are.  Do you know what they are?

To see more critters, or find out how to post yours, click on the Camera Critters button in my sidebar.  Thanks Misty Dawn, for hosting this Saturday event.