Wildflower Wednesday

I noticed in my sidebar that Gail, from Clay and Limestone has her Wildflower Wednesday post up.  I was thinking the day was coming up.  It was raining when I got up, so I picked up a couple books I have, and came up with quite a list of plants I grow that are considered wild.

My mother-in-law, who died from cancer when she was 62, 18 years ago, grew moonflowers, and I always liked them.  I don't know why there weren't any in the yard  12 years ago, when we bought it from Larry's dad's estate, since they like to reseed themselves.  I set out to find some, because I thought they should be grown here in her memory.  Of course, they weren't sold at garden centers.  Come to find out, they are poisonous.  Well, some poisonous plants are sold at garden centers, though.  I got some from a lady at our farmer's market.   I pull and hoe out lots of seedlings each year, because I only have room for one or two plants.  Plus, it's hard keeping up with deadheading, and I don't want a take over of the whole yard.

Datura is the name I know this plant by, but in my looking at the books and checking on line, it appears this is also jimson weed.

Butterfly milkweed is a perennial that only lives a few years in my garden, so I go ahead and plant a couple plants each year.   One 'Hello Yellow' came up in the side bed.  This one is just beginning to bloom.

I grow several kinds of liatris.  I couldn't find the tag for these.  They may be cultivars, but I'm not sure.

These liatris have been planted longer.  I cut back the milkweed because the plants were starting to lean due to all the rain.

The gaillardia is probably a cultivar.  I'm not sure about the wallflower.  The small reddish blooms are  pine leaf penstemon.

The yarrow on the left and helenium are cultivars of wildflowers, too.

I don't remember what kind of echinacea this is.  It looks like the tall coneflowers on the Dave's Garden's website.

Do you know what these are in my front garden bed?  It looks like the daisy fleabane, listed as a weed in one of the books I looked at this morning.

I'm enjoying the unique look of rattlesnake master.

I think these aliums are wild onions.

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I pulled a bunch of sweet woodruff out of this area, where the pasque foliage is still looking lovely.

I'm not sure what kind of spiderworts I have, either.

I can't decide if I want to keep these in this area.  They aren't always in bloom, and when they aren't, they look like this, not so appealing.  Also, sometimes they die back, leaving a huge gap. 

The black eyed Susans are getting ready to bloom. 

The Dame's rocket is almost finished blooming.  I got the Virginia waterleaf deadheaded and cut back a bit.  It is in the lower left part of the photo.

I've mentioned the lead plant had been eaten down to the stub, with a few short leafless stems left.  I didn't think it was going to live, but look at it now!

One of the purple milkweeds I just planted this spring is getting ready to bloom.  It's only about 18 inches tall.  I put a support by it today, and noticed it has straightened up.  I'll probably cut the bloom off after a few days so the plant can focus on roots, stems, and leaves.

The stiff goldenrod has mildew or something on the lower stems, but the upper foliage looks healthy.  Should I be cutting them back or something?

These false sunflowers must like this spot, because they get taller than the others.

The gray headed coneflowers are loaded with buds.

The tag near this liatris by the shed says, "rough blazing star".  It would like more sun, but is doing OK.  I planted this last spring.

This is the butter and eggs I am growing in a pot to keep it from spreading in the ground.

To see more wild flowers or how to post yours, go see Gail.

Cutting back Lemon Balm, Misc. Pots for Blooming Tuesday

It's time for Bloomin' Tuesday, hosted by Jean.  The lnk to her blog is in the sidebar.  First, I want to show how the lemon balm was threatening to take over the vegetable garden, and making entering it a bit difficult.  That's Spooky Dianthus in the tub.

I got the lemon balm cut back, and it will bush out again in a few weeks.  That's mint in the red tub, with sweet pea blooms leaning into it. 

Butter and eggs and nasturiums are in the tub next to the mint, with more nasturtiums, strawflowers, and sweet potato vines in the double tub.

K.J., our grandson picked out this yellow blooming flower I can't think of the name of, when he went with me to get some plants, and he and I planted this pot together.  The little bench thing is the one I took from the curb when someone in the neighborhood had it out for garbage collection.  These are across the driveway from the other pots. That's a verbena next to the yellow blooms.

These pots are just outside the back door.  I hope to have a nice harvest of sweet potatoes to eat.  I like to grow herbs just outside the door as well as in the herb garden.

This is taken to the north, on the same sidewalk as the previous pots.

This is back south.  I really like that blue star shaped flower.  I'll try to find the tag in the morning.  I've never seen it before that I know of.

I see these pots out the kitchen window.  The big bushy plant in the back of the left pot is salvia, 'Black and Blue'.

I didn't get a good photo of the lantana.  The bushy small white blooms of the euphorbia, 'Diamond Frost' have been part of my garden the last few years.  I sure enjoy them.  I like the summer long blooms of vincas, too.  Heidi is not allowed on the furniture in the house, but she has laid claim to this glider, which sometimes bugs me, because if we get on it, she thinks she has to join us.  Sometimes there's not room.

Here are some shade plants in the sheltered part of the deck.  I had just planted the angel wing begonia on the left.  Look, the holiday cactus, 'Naomi' is blooming!

The oxalis looked like it may not survive when we put them out after spending winter in the house, but are filling out nicely, and blooming.

I have an orange begonia like this, too, that I didn't get a good photo of.

The pots of lavender that barely survived in the egress window well, are all blooming.  The 'Jacob Kline' monarda is blooming, too.

I got some more flowers at the farmer's market to put in some bare spots.  K.J. helped me "plant" them.

Here's a closer view of them.  They were made from can lids.  What a fun way to reuse things!  When I showed our son, I said that in the past, I would not have used fake flowers like I did.  He said that silk flowers are artificial.  These are obviously decorations.  That's a good point.  It  made me fell better anyway.  They were priced reasonably, so I got 5 of them.

We got over 2.5 inches of rain over the last few days.  It was nice to see the sun today.  Happy first (or second by the time Tuesday gets here) day of spring!

A Rainy Day for Garden Tours

Every Father's Day, our local Audubon Society conducts tours of gardens that have wildlife habitat.  Larry goes sometimes, and our daughter-in-law used to go before Grandson was born, but it was just me today.  I decided I wanted to go, even though Larry didn't want to.  I wanted to find out what kind of relationship others had with rabbits. As it turned out, I only made it to 2 of the gardens, because of the rain.  Also, by the time I left, it was only a couple hours to the time I needed to be at my parents to celebrate Father's Day.  (We had a fun time together, by the way.  I had my computer with me, and showed photos and videos I'd taken of Grandson to whoever was interested.  I also got these photos exported.)

This is how it looked out our front door at the time I was planning to go.  It's dark now, but is currently raining just as hard if not harder.  There is also lightening and thunder, and we got some hail, too.  I went out to move my patio tomato plant into shelter, and a piece of hail hit my hand.  That hurt!

Even though we used water from both rain barrels the last few days, they are currently full.

The first place I went to is in a newer neighborhood, and is a nice sized lot, maybe a double one.  In a flier, the owners described their garden as younger than most of the others on the tour.  I think they've done an awesome job with their plantings!

This is the side yard.  A variety of hostas line the side of the house.  The people in the photo are others on the tour, and not the owners.  I love the series of vegetable beds in the middle.

There are mulberry trees along the property that draw a variety of birds.  The owners also said that the pond in the background draws ducks and geese to the area.  I like seeing flowers, veggies and herbs planted together.  Of course, larkspur and basil are 2 of my favorites.  (This is part of the bed on the right of the previous photo, and the photos are going around to the left.)

There is a fun assortment of garden art in this yard.

I think this creature may be my favorite.  I love these rudbeckias, too.  The back area where the trees are is a watershed area.  The owners mow and garden part of it to keep the mosquitoes from being too thick right next to their yard.

In the flier, it says all of the beds are watered by drip irrigation.  I didn't notice it, but wish I had. It also says there are 50 roses.  These sure looked great!

I don't know why I didn't continue to take photos when I went into another section of the yard.  I saw the owner, and asked her about rabbits, and we talked about the watershed and other garden stuff.  I got permission from her to put photos of her place on my blog.  She had some nice clematis and other plants over there.  Oh, she told me she is working to have less and less lawn.  Her husband is on board with her.  It used to take him 2 hours to mow, and now, just an hour.

I didn't spend as much time looking around as I would have if I wasn't needing to go somewhere else.  The next place was on 5 acres.  There are lots of kinds of birds, including owls that live on the property, where there are bird baths and feeders around.  I was less shy about taking photos, and ended up needing to sort through them to figure out which ones to post.

We were given a map of the place, and I headed right for the veggie garden area.  On the way, I saw this awesome structure, with grapes and sweet peas vying for space.  There's a better view of it in the next photo.

I love this!

This owner said they don't have problems with rabbits because they have a dog.  Since nothing is enclosed, the rabbits are less safe than in mine, where Heidi is not even allowed.  Since she is not out in the front without us, the rabbits have no fear there, either.  It looks like they are going to have a nice crop of potatoes and onions.

Look at all those beautiful trees!  In the flier, it says they have over 1,000 trees and bushes.  I really wish I'd have had more time to roam around this place. 

I liked the variety of structures here, such as the wood fence on the right.

This was a pretty space.

There are some nice sized strawberries on these plants, protected by bird screening.

This is what's to the right of what's above.

The house is just beyond the weeping type tree to the right.

The house is toward the back of the property, I think.  I can't remember how much farther behind the house their property goes.  I think the red leaved tree in the back is the kind of redbud that some say doesn't grow here.  It is looking quite healthy and happy, as are the other trees.  I can't remember the name, and when I did a search, didn't find it, either.  I like the variety of planters and decorations.

So, this is the driveway that I didn't take when I first got there, because I veered off to the veggies.

I had to include a close up of this sumac for Joy.

When I saw this huge swath of yarrow, I was in awe, and have to admit a huge desire to move to an acreage.  I have a plant here and there, but don't have any mass plantings.  Maybe someday I will not be such a collector, and put more of one kind of plant together instead of scattering them here and there.

I had to include the photo of the trumpet vine, which I love, and the light, which looks like the one Larry's dad put up in our yard when it was his.

We're back to the entrance to the property.  That's cactus behind the bushes. 

I'm hoping they schedule another day to tour the gardens, since the turnout wasn't so great due to the weather.  One of the places I didn't get to see is down the street from where I grew up, and the gardener there graduated from high school with Larry and me.  I see her in garden centers once in awhile, and may drive by some evening to see if she's out working.  She may let me go ahead and look around.  Also, we know one of the couples, so will be able to go see their place another time.  Larry's already been there before, and says it will be my favorite.

I don't really have a favorite between the places I saw today.  Both families have done wonderful things with their kinds of property. I will choose to be thankful I have a yard that is almost paid for, and content to grow what I enjoy in the space I have. 

Well, it hasn't stopped raining.  It looks like tomorrow may be the day I get rid of some of the clutter in the house.  I hope your Father's Day was a good one, and that you get the things done this week that need to be done.