Tuesday, August 27, 2013

I can't believe it's late August Wildflower Wednesday

I am not ready for August to be over, but since I don't have a say in it, I'll try to make the best of it, upper 90s to 100s and all.  Gail from Clay and Limestone hosts Wildflower Wednesday the 4th Wednesday of each month.  I am showing blooms from different parts of the yard this time.

Starting at the front porch, we see the lovely foliage of Illinois bundleflower.  It's not blooming, but has lovely seedpods, which are turning brown.


See?  I love it!


Here's a closer view of the Sweet black-eyed susan, Liatris pycnostachya 'Eureka', and Gray-headed coneflowers.


Wild quinine continues to be one of my favorites.  Normally, there are bees and wasps on it, but these photos were taken in the evening, when there aren't as many around.


Whorled milkweed is another favorite of mine and the bees and wasps.  I've mentioned that I dug some up from our church property, where I'm pretty sure they were growing on their own, so these are closer to being native than the other plants which do grow naturally at least in my part of the country.


The Stiff, or Rigid goldenrod, Solidago rigida, is just starting to bloom.


I think this Liatris is aspera.  It is just opening its flowers this week.


The Pitcher sage, which I got from our Community Crops plant sale, is a local native.  I'm thinking this is the kind found north of Lincoln that a cultivar was bred from.  I'm pretty sure it is not the cultivar.  I'll have to ask about that.


This Clematis pitcheri may be a cultivar, but I couldn't find the name of it online.  When I did a search of images, I found a number of photos of this plant.  LOL


The bees are continuing to enjoy the Joe pye weed.


The Cup plant is still blooming!


I have tried growing Flowering spurge, Euphorbia corollata several times, and am glad I tried again, because this one is doing pretty well.  I hope it seeds itself around.  Do you know if it will?


The Mexican hats seeded around, and I was able to give some of these away.  I wonder how many there will be next year.  At least, when pulled, they stay pulled.


I think this Goldenrod is a cultivar of some kind.  It looks more similar to the native kind than some of the others I have.


The butterfly milkweed is still blooming and I think this is a hoverfly enjoying some nectar.


This is Zig zag goldenrod, a native I just discovered a couple or three years ago.  I like it.


There are some Brown eyed susans invading the space of the Short toothed mountain mint.  If it they spread more, I will have to pull some out.  I have to pull extras out from the vegetable garden, where they grow on the north side of the garage.


I've had this Helenium autumnale for a long time, and don't remember if it's a cultivar or the native kind.  There is also Blue mist spirea, another Brown eyed susan, and a mystery Goldenrod.


This is a volunteer.  I wonder if it's Cut leaf coneflower.  What do you think?  It also reminds me of Grayheaded coneflower, but the bloom color seems to be a little lighter.


I have deadheaded the False sunflower once, and will continue to, because the blooms get dark and ratty looking when they are finished.


I have not counted how many favorite native/wild flowers I have, but Rattlesnake master is another one I love.  It, too, is normally loaded with pollinators.


Back to the porch, here's the view of the east side of the yard, facing southish.


Heading west:


Further west:


Too soon, these things will be brown, and providing food and cover for a number of critters.  Then, in the spring, I'll clean it up, putting whatever I can on a compost pile, and will wait for the new growth to begin.  Now that I'm working fewer hours, I will be able to enjoy fall more, and not feel as rushed to get the vegetable garden picked and taken care of.

I am helping a local Rotary Club plant a butterfly garden at a Girl Scout Day Camp at the edge of town, or at least, it used to be, and since the land, complete with prairie grasses was donated to a foundation, it will remain undeveloped, even though the city has expanded beyond it.  I will show some photos.  I forgot to take some while we were planting, but will remember Friday evening, when we go plant some more.


I was told the person who used to live on the property planted this area in native grasses quite awhile ago, and some non native plants have grown in the area as well.  There were not many flowers, but I took photos of the few I saw.  I'm not sure which thistles are native here.  I think the "turkey" looking blooms are Big bluestem.  I loved the fallen tree in the background.  It is in the next photo as well.


I was told they cut and bale the "praire" in the fall.


I asked people on FB to identify some of these grasses.  Big bluestem is in the background, and I think, someone said the golden blooms are Indian grass.


I was excited to see a few clumps of ironweed.   Greg guessed at a name for the fluffy flowered grass, but I don't remember what he said.  Maybe I'll get a chance to look tomorrow.


Thanks again, Gail, for hosting Wildflower Wednesday!

15 comments:

  1. I always look forward to your updates-you have such a great variety of blooms for the critters. So beautiful!
    I'm looking forward to autumn and the slowing down of projects so I can take more time to just enjoy the blooms.

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    1. Thanks, Sue! I enjoy all of the variety, too. I just clicked on your name to visit your blog, if you have one, but got a message that I could not access your profile.

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  2. Beautiful flowers, I like the images of nature :) Regards

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  3. Sue, I love all your plants...I'm so excited to see you are growing the Bundleweed...those seed pods are amazing! I love that reclaimed prairie...and you are right on your grass indents, Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) and Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans). I'm guessing the fluffier grass in the foreground is Bromus (which is a bit of a weed). Can't wait to see what you come up with for that space!

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  4. Wonderful photos of beautiful wildflowers!
    Most unusual seedhead - I love it. Probably won't grow here in Mississippi, but I'm going to look for it.
    Do you save seeds from your Butterfly Milkweed? I have seeds from mine, but not sure how or when to plant them. I wrote about them on this week's Macro Monday post, but no one has given any suggestions yet.
    Happy Wildflower Wednesday!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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  5. Hi Sue,
    Glad to hear that things are getting back to "normal" for you. You have the greatest plants! They are so unique! The Mexican Hats blow my mind. I've never seen them anywhere but on your posts. Love the Rattlesnake plant, grey headed coneflower and the bundleweed.....You are the gardener extraordinaire!
    Keep 'em comin'.
    Sally

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  6. What a great project. All the native grasses and soon butterfly flowers!!!

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  7. Thanks for a wonderful tour!
    That bundleflower pod is so sculptural. :-)

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  8. How fun to help the girl scouts plant a butterfly garden! I might borrow that idea. ;-) It's funny that we are highlighting some of the same plants for our Wildflower Wednesday posts. They are the stars of the prairie, aren't they? Cheers!

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  9. Hello I so enjoyed your beautiful garden blog .

    It was a real joy and a pleasure .

    I am now following you .

    I like your cup plant .Is it hardy?

    Would it survive a Scottish winter?

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  10. My goodness Sue, such variety. Several I'd never seen - the bundle flower seed head - isn't that cool. I bet every pollinator in town has you at the top of their dining list. Fabulous. Goodluck with the butterfly project, should be lovely. And, the dear creatures need every bit of help we can give them these days.
    B.

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  11. I can always count on you to learn something new, Sue--Illinois bundleflower is a new one to me; I'll have to check it out. I am familiar with Pitcher Sage, though; thanks for reminding me that this is a plant I've always wanted to add to my garden.

    It's wonderful that the land complete with prairie grasses has been donated and will remain undeveloped--we need more natural spaces like this!

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  12. When I see your happy prairie wildflowers, I think about moving or cutting down my trees. Ahh that glorious sun! Every thing looks splendid Sue. I do think that the Euphorbia should seed itself~I see it naturally in large drifts on the side of the road in Middle Tennessee. Happy WW and thank you for your thanks.

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  13. Your wildflowers are gorgeous, Sue. We just got back from a road trip and there were black-eyed Susans along the road all through Colorado.

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  14. You have a very nice collection of blooming natives. Several of them are also native to Texas. It is interesting that most of the ones in Texas bloomed in the spring, but the pitcher sage and brown eyed Susan are on the same bloom schedule.

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I welcome comments and questions from anyone, including those who do it anonymously. Some people find my posts by doing searches, and I like hearing from them. I guess spammers won't even read this message, but I will delete spam as soon as I see it.