October Wildflower Wednesday/East Bed Update

The garden season is wrapping up, and there are not many blooms left.  We had a heavy, wet snow a week and a half ago, which caused a number of plants to break or lean over.  I am glad most have perked up and are showing nice fall colors.  I decided to do a post showing the east front bed instead of focusing on one plant for Wildflower Wednesday, hosted by Gail at Clay and Limestone.  I want to look at some older posts to see changes over time.  I am in the process of making changes to a number of areas, including this bed.  I wonder if I will reach a point where I won't want to keep making the changes. I tend to plop plants in without a design, and while there are lots of blooms and pollinators, there are also holes that are not quite big enough for a plant the size of the ones around the space.

I am not a fan of the eastern fox squirrels we have, but we co-exist the best we can. 

The squirrel is eating some of the seeds I scattered from the maximillian sunflower, and maybe the rosinweed, after removing a wild senna that was taking up too much space.  I also scattered some pale Indian plantain seeds in the area.  I don't know if they eat those.

I skipped over some of the west side of the area, and went to the front of the bed, where we are facing south.  I think my plan was to start here with the photos, and not include the squirrel photos, but I changed my mind.  The tall plant on the left is sweet black eyed susan.  The brown plant in the middle is one of the sneezeweed plants that have self sown around.  The other ones are not as brown as this one.  I am also seeing brown coneflower plants and seedheads that the birds have been eating from.  The sign shows we are a Monarch Waystation.

The New England aster in front did not bloom this year.  I cut several of them back, because they had a disease that was causing the leaves to turn brown.  The others bloomed, thankfully, and I am glad the foliage that came back is looking better.  The brown stem is common milkweed.

The green foliage next to the sign is one of a number of amsonias of different kinds, which seem to have cross pollinated with each other and given me my own kind of amsonias.  They are loaded with lovely blue blooms in the spring, but need to be trimmed back a couple or so times in the summer so they won't flop over.  I am thinking about taking some out to make room for other plants with longer bloom times.  I need to figure out which ones.

This is facing west. The brown seed heads are yellow giant hyssop, a new to me plant that I am enjoying.  My memory has not been very good the last few months.  This is either the first or second season for this lovely plant, which I have two of.  Oh, I also scattered some seeds from it in the area where I made a space for seeds.  The plant to the right is gray headed coneflower.  The tall plant in the back is cup plant, which is on the other side of the front sidewalk.

You can tell it is fall!  The yellow amsonia hubrichtii will be staying.

You would not see a number of the plants I have, such as maximillian sunflower and meadow rue, the plant with the lovely colors growing together in nature, but they seem to do OK here.

This amsonia on the left side of the photo may be one that I dig out at some point.  The sweet black eyed susan is flopping.  Oh, the little shrub on the right is an American black current.  It replaced the butterfly bush that had been there before I found out the seeds can get into the waterway and grow down the way, crowding out native plants.

We turned the corner and are facing north.  The area between the bicycle and the fence is where the seeds are planted.

I wish I could remember which kinds of asters are which.  They have self sown around.  I don't even notice them much until they bloom.  It is fun to see the different kinds of pollinators that depend on them in the fall.

Here is where we started with the squirrel.  I was thinking the plant with the tall brown seed heads was prairie bush clover, but just now, when I did a search, I think I figured out that it is round-headed bush clover.  I had two of them, but one died after after a few years.  The asters and mountain mint are mingling nicely.

The liatris by the fake bird house has grown here a number of years.  I don't remember what kind it is.

Here is the maximillian sunflower clump that I scattered some seeds from in the other area. I was pleased to read recently in Heather Holm's Pollinators of Native Plants that it is a host plant for silvery checkerspots and bordered patch butterflies, which must explain why I saw bordered patch butterflies several times this season.  I don't remember seeing them in the past, but there may have been an occasional one.  There have usually been some silvery checkerspots around, and I did see some of those this season as well.  There is a bordered patch on the asters in the header photo.  (There are some seedheads of pale Indian plantain leaning on the sunflowers.)

I wasn't remembering what the plant next to the stake is, until I asked in the Facebook group, Gardening with Nature in Mind, and was told it is rosinweed.  I may have picked it up in one of our plant shares we have for the local members.

We are back to the sweet black eyed susan.  I think I am going to trim them back early in the season so they won't get as tall and flop.

I don't know what I was thinking when I planted pussy toes in an area with tall plants around it, but the clump has spread, and looks to like it there.  There is a bare space behind this, where I planted some prairie milkweed plants, which did not grow much. I hope they do better next year.

I am thankful for our yard, and hope to start using my time more wisely, so I can be outside more. I hope all is well with you and your gardens.

Changes, Heidi, and the Yard

Heidi, who appeared in many of my header photos, passed away March 1, 2016, at the age of twelve and a half.  She had some lumps for quite awhile, and in the last few months, had trouble going up steps.  She stumbled, and scared us sometimes.  In the last few weeks, it had gotten worse.  Then she started leaking urine.  The medication she went on helped, but then she started having trouble breathing.  I went with them to the vet this time, because I was afraid she wouldn't be coming back with us.  The vet said he was going to be brutally honest, and that it was time.  He said her lungs were filling with fluid.  We sat with her as she passed away. 

I went back to look at photos of her, and decided to do a post showing her over the years, along with the changes we've seen in the yard over time.  I had to start with 2008, because something went haywire with my iPhoto library, and Larry was not able to retrieve the ones I had taken up until then.  I am still sad about that.

Larry said I have too many photos, but I decided to keep them.  This has turned into a photo history of the yard as much or more than a tribute to Heidi. As soon as she saw me with my camera, she was ready to go outside with me and watch the world.

5/19/08:

5/28/08:

6/3/08:

9/21/08:

11/15/08:

6/12/09:

6/23/09:

7/7/09:

8/11/09:

8/11/09:

10/28/09:

4/17/10:

6/21/10:

4/14/10:

5/4/11:

6/18/11:  (I think.)

8/9/11:

2/4/12:

4/26/12:

8/26/12:

8/26/12:

6/6/13:

6/28/13:

7/18/13:

5/22/14:

7/17/14:

5/19/15:

6/15/15:

6/15/15:

 
10/20/15:

10/30/15:

I watch our granddaughter 4 days a week.  She has been a dog person from an early age, and loved Heidi, even though it took awhile for Heidi to get used to her.  She is still asking for Heidi.  I feel so bad for her.  I couldn't find photos of the grandsons with her, except for the one from 2011.  They come over on Saturdays.  The 8 year old loved playing with her when he got a chance, but she was usually in the basement when they were over, because the 4 year old was afraid of her. 

Larry and I have had 2 other dogs besides Heidi, and I didn't mind them, but I did bond more with Heidi, even though I got upset when she scratched on a closet door, and my Hoosier  cupboard door, trying to get to my chocolate.  She also dug some of my plants up in the back yard.  The friend we got our other yellow lab, Katie from asked us to take Heidi, shortly after Katie passed away, because the former student he gave her to couldn't keep her after all.  She and their other dog or dogs got into too much trouble.  As it turns out, she was mistreated there, and came to us with issues, some of which she outgrew, some she didn't.  I myself am not a dog person.  As a girl, I was afraid of dogs.  I used to choose the ways to walk to school that would avoid me being barked at by dogs.  I do not want to get another dog. I think I am in the minority, but they tie you down, and cost lots of money for their care.