Mostly the Curb Area for GBBD

It's time for a curb area update, but there are lots of other flowers blooming, so I am also including some of those, for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol.  I think I'll go ahead and link this in for Pam's Foliage Follow Up.  Since I showed the east side of the house most recently, I decided not to include those blooms this time.

My part of Nebraska is in zone 5b.  Spring and summer both came early, and the flowers continue to be opening earlier than usual.

First, when I walked out of the house, I decided to take a photo of the liatris, love lies bleeding, and helenium, 'Ruby Tuesday' in bloom.  The plants that I think are rudbeckia 'goldquelle' that I knocked on a woman's door to get are about to bloom, too.  I've mentioned I moved all these from other parts of the yard, except for the love lies bleeding, which came up where they are growing.

Here's the helenium 'ruby Tuesday'.

OK, here's the curb area.  I am in the process of changing out some of the plants on the west (left) side of the bed, because this area gets afternoon shade.

I planted several of these sedges that were recommended for dry shade at our local arboretum.  Their name isn't coming to me right now, though.

I can't remember which liatris I planted, and which planted itself.  I didn't know liatris self sowed.  Much of the first plants I got are 'Kobold'.  I wish I would have understood there are native kinds, and gotten some of them instead.  I do have a collection of them now, though.

I trimmed back the first spent goldenrod blooms, and there are new ones coming on.  The black eyed Susans are looking great this year.  The newer kind of rudbeckia, behind and to the right of these, that I thought was going to be an annual, has nice looking blooms, but the stems are not looking so great.  Actually, they may have self sown, because I don't remember if I planted these in this spot.

The persicaria I got from a friend last year has been blooming a few days.  The Jupiter's beard behind it is on its second flush of blooms.

I was pleased to find a couple kinds of native grasses on sale, buy one, get one free last week. I got several pots of this blue grama grass, and the last prairie dropseed.   When I got home, I decided to divide each one into two clumps, so I got a very good deal on these! 

I got the perennial geraniums deadheaded, and several of them are starting another round of blooms.

The lantanas were slow to grow, but most are now blooming well.  That's another blue grama grass plant.  I hope it grows OK.

The lavenders are on their second flush of blooms, too.

We've made it to the edge of the bed, facing back west.  The white blooming plant on the right is winter savory.

We'll head over to the east side of the sidewalk.  The plant across from the winter savory is germander.

The iris has a new flower stem coming up.

I have also been trying to keep up with deadheading the Stokes asters.

I have a number of volunteer plants with little salvia like blue blooms.  To the right of one of these, is a sedum from several short stems I stuck in the ground a couple years ago.  It sure has grown, and is blooming early, like most other flowers.

Here's a close up of the volunteer plant.  Do you know what they are?  I've been pulling some of them out.

The other butterfly milkweed plants are finished blooming.  This one is looking awesome next to the salvia plants behind it.

The day lily plants have been struggling in the heat this year.

Here's a peek at the east front bed.  Again, I deadheaded the helenium, 'mardi gras' and it is reblooming.  I've had to pull a number of the coneflowers, due to aster yellows, but I'm glad there are some that seem to be healthy.  Can you see the Joe Pye weed in the back?

Now, we'll go back to see the curb beds from the other side.

In May, I cut back the fireworks goldenrod, and am glad it's not blooming yet, but it looks like it will soon.

I didn't get any baby's breath picked to dry, but probably still could.

I cut the New England asters back each year, to help them stay somewhat compact and healthy.  The lower stems tend to turn brown.  These beds were started two different years, so when I got some knautia (the maroon colored blooms) to put on the east side, it turned out to be a different kind than across the way.  It self sows, but the other one does not.

There really isn't room for this cleome here, but I'm letting it stay here so far.

Continuing west, I hope some monarchs lay some eggs on the milkweed.  The foliage is pretty cool, even after it blooms.  The daylily foliage does not look so great.

The daylilies are almost finished blooming for the season.  I hope next year is better for them.

This ironweed is almost finished blooming.  The ones I transplanted from this clump in the area where the tree used to be are just starting to bloom.

The snapdragons live over most winters, do well in the cold, and have handled the heat alright, too.   I'm glad this bee likes them.

We made it to the end of the bed, and are now facing east.  There are fireworks goldenrod plants, a different kind of baby's breath, and daylilies to somewhat tie in with the other side of the sidewalk.  This is the area where I moved some of the coral bells to from in front of the house when the tree was cut down.

I will continue to speak of the merits of deadheading.  This bush clematis plant has been blooming since early spring.   I kind of hated cutting the seedheads off, though, because they are so cool looking.  I can see one in this photo.

I took out the sedums that weren't doing well in this area.  I planted a couple of ironweeds, a different kind from the ones I already have.  There is still some room for other plants, though.

I planted the prairie dropseed between the ironweed plants.

This salvia 'caradonna' is more toward the street side of the bed.

Heading over to the area across where a sidewalk would be, this lisianthus survived the winter, because it was so mild.

The gray headed coneflowers are loaded with blooms.

This bloom is on a very tall, wiry plant.  I'm not sure what it is.

The bees sure have enjoyed the monarda.  This is the first time I've grown the native kind.  I love it!  I wonder if it will spread much.  Before it bloomed, I would snip a stem or two off, and put it with a few decaf tea bags to make some ice tea, or just a small amount with one bag for hot tea.

The Mexican sunflower is not as tall as it was last year, but it's probably still growing.  I'm pleased to see it is blooming.  Now, monarchs, come enjoy them!

This clematis is 'Mongolian Snowflakes'.  I found it at the arboretum.

Finally, here is Heidi, showing you how large the butterfly bush is this year, and how lovely the hibiscus blooms are.  Oh, and there is a stem of the Joe Pye weed towering over everything.

Some of you have gotten too much rain, and others are desperately dry.  I hope the weather in August is better for us and our gardens.  Still, I am enjoying the blooms and most of the foliage on the plants in our garden.

Side Yard Update

First, I want to say that with Freda Cameron's help, I thought the problem with people getting a warning message when starting to get on my blog was taken care of, but a few days ago, I received an email from someone who said he had gotten the warning when using his PC.  A day later, I noticed on Randy Emmit's blog that someone had mentioned getting a warning about his blog.  I asked him about it, and he said he had to take a blog off his blogroll of someone whose blog he liked to keep up with, but they hadn't posted for a few months, and that was what was causing problems.  He suggested taking the blogs that hadn't posted for awhile off of my blogroll.  I did that yesterday.  I'm thinking that if someone comes to my blog they are OK.  If they get a message, do you think is it best not to click on any links from my blog, even if it's a blog they are familiar with?  Please let me know if you get a warning message.  (Added 7/9/12:  Two different people on FB had problems with messages saying my blog is infected with Malware.  I decided to take out my two blogrolls, and one of them said she was able to scroll down my blog without getting the message.  Someone else suggested running a scan.  I'll have to ask Larry to help with that.)  Added later in the evening, 7/9:  Mike, the first person to let me know about the warning message let me know that he was still getting it until today.  Yippee!  I'm thinking the problem is fixed.  Thanks, Mike!)

Now, back to the post, which I started July 5th.

What happened to the beginning of spring, when we were so excited about things popping up early and blooming?  Maybe that was nature's way of allowing us to enjoy some of the blooms before the heat set in.  Still, most of the plants in our yard are doing OK.  A number of daylilies have brown leaves, and look stressed.  I am relieved that the highs in the 100s seem to be gone for now.

I took these photos at two different times.  I waited until the parts in the sun in the first photos were in the shade in the afternoon.

The butterfly bush sure got large this year!

I have not made many changes to this area in the last few years.  I am thinking about taking a number of plants out, and may see if I have room for some native shrubs.  I haven't made up my mind, though.  Maybe I'll do that in the east front bed.

This is a skull cap, I think, 'Smokey Hills'.

Rue is one of the plants that I have in more than one planting area.  It is a host plant for swallowtail butterflies.

See?  This is the first caterpillar of any kind I've seen this season.

Salvia 'Purple Rain'

The yellow buds are on zig zag goldenrod. 

Salvia  Nemorosa:

I didn't cut the amsonia back as much as usual this year.  The short toothed mountain mint has gotten a little taller than usual.  I trimmed back the goldenrod, 'Wichita Mountains', but it looks like it will still be blooming early.  I am thinking about taking out the spiderwort plants.  They always look so ratty this time of year.

The bees and wasps sure love short toothed mountain mint.  They ignore me when I am taking their pictures, although they sometimes move away from me.

The tall plant is rudbeckia 'Herbstonne'.

This is a bellflower of some kind.

This daylily isn't struggling as much as many of the others.

Here's a closer view of the 'Herbstonne'.  I think that's a gray headed coneflower next to it.

Rudbeckia 'Herbstonne' even closer:

Gray headed coneflower and a purple coneflower of some kind:

Veronica:

Looking back south, the plant that looks so bedraggled is a bleeding heart, which is going dormant, like they frequently do.

The tall plant, rudbeckia 'goldquelle' is the plant I knocked on a door to ask for a start of a couple years ago.  I sure like it!

It is just starting to bloom.

This is the daylily named after a woman whose name I've long forgotten, but was a splurge a number of years ago, at a local daylily farm, which is no longer in business.

This is the view to the north.  I don't think I cut back the amsonia hubrichtii this year.  I may have deadheaded it a bit, though.

Here is a peek into the back yard over the fence.  I did not get good photos of the monarda, 'Jacob Kline' this year, but am still enjoying them as they fade next to gray headed coneflowers.

The bulbs in the front of the border leave troublesome (to me) blank spots.  I sometimes put annuals in there, but I am also hoping some of the perennials in there fill in more.

I had planned on burying a tub to keep the bear's breeches from spreading too far, but didn't get to it.  This is its first bloom in 3 years of being in this spot.  I wonder if it will get one that is the longer spike they usually get.

False sunflower is the plant we found that Larry agreed to have planted in the area where they had left dirt in after putting in an egress window in our basement when we first moved in.  He had wanted to plant grass there.  I guess you know I have gotten my way more than once, but he actually won some of the disagreements with how big areas were going to be, but in later years changed his mind and was comfortable with the areas getting larger.  He finally got to the point of offering up even more of his grass space.  ;o)  Oh, and some baptisia seed pods are turning dark.  Most years, I cut the plant back, but did not this year.

 

I cut back a few stems of the amsonia, but left most of it.

This narrow-leaf ironweed looks like it will be blooming in a few weeks.

The false sunflower, amsonia, and baptisia do well leaning against each other.

Continuing north, the butterfly bush on the far left was supposed to be a dwarf one, and get only up to 4 feet tall.  I got it deadheaded after taking this photo.  Oh, do you ever check to see what searches lead people to your blogs?  At least one person recently found mine that way, but I'm not sure what post they got to.  Yes, it is good to deadhead butterfly bushes.  I cut the blooms off between the two new ones that are usually coming on.  If the plant is taller or wider than I want, I'll cut it farther back.

We're facing back south.  Larry found this hook in the shed while getting chairs out for our Fourth of July family gathering.  He placed it here with the bucket on it.  He is the one who places these things around for the most part.  If I have a bare spot, I'll sometimes move something he's put out, or find something else on my own.

I got the goldenrod deadheaded the other day.  I hope it blooms again.  I need to be cutting some of the globe thistle to dry before it's too late.

We have arrived at the end of the post!  My goodness, I need to learn to make them shorter!  Next week is my last week of working summer school.  I have enjoyed it, but we are all ready to have some full days off before going back in August.  I am looking forward to spending more time gardening, especially, now that the highs are supposed to be in the upper 80s and lower 90s.  Have a great week!