Wildflower Wednesday

We had record rainfall in the spring, and then very hot temperatures with high heat indexes, which made getting out into the garden more of a challenge this season.  The time sure has slipped by, too, and now that the days are getting shorter, I am feeling sad, and trying to get out as much as I can.  Barring that, I open the front door and look to see if there are any insect visitors on the flowers. 

Here is my post for Wildflower Wednesday, hosted by Gail, of Clay and Limestone.  I like the way she highlights flowers, giving information about them  I can't seem to find just one or two for a post, so I usually end up showing many of the native/wildflowers that are blooming.

The Illinois bundleflowers have just started blooming in the last couple of days.  I love the plants for the foliage and cool looking seedheads, which turn brown in the fall.

I think this is a bee of some kind that has found one of the blooms.

I love the native clematis pitcheri, and am thankful I have them in two spots.

The wild senna plants have been loaded with pollinators the last few days.

I trimmed back some plants, like this monarda fistula, so they would be bushier and less floppy.  This also caused a delay in blooming.  It's good to see they are now blooming.

This is Euphorbia, I think, corollata.  It is hard to photograph, but is one I wish I had more of this time of year.  I love the many little white blooms on them.

The hoary vervain given to me by a friend who has real prarie is almost finished blooming, but still looking good.

I got the prairie petunias started before I knew what they were.  There were some on the property where we built our church, and I liked them, so brought some home.  They self sow well, and I like the places they show up.

Usually, there are lots of insects feeding on plants, such as this short toothed mountain mint  There have been a few this year, but not as many as usual.

Black eyed susans and this ironweed have been blooming for a few days.  Some of the ironweeds are still in bud.

The gray headed coneflowers are not getting as many visitors as usual, but  I am glad there are some.

I've mentioned that I watch our granddaughter 4 days a week.  She turned a year the end of June.  I am thankful she loves looking at the flowers and insects.  She'll point, and say, "Pretty!"  We spent a few minutes yesterday looking at the multitudes of tiny black insects of some kind on the rattlesnake master blooms.  At least they are getting some activity, but then, not as much as usual, either.

Most of the liatris blooms are open, but the aspera and some others are still in bud.  I was glad to see a skipper today.

I was pleased to see what I think is a black swallowtail butterfly going to each clump of golden alexanders, hopefully, depositing eggs.  It was hard to get a photo, but I did manage to get a good shot of its shadow near the mountain mint that may have self sown, and be a cross between different ones here.

Gene, from a Facebook group, Gardening with Nature in Mind, told me these are gray-headed coneflowers when I posted them, thinking they were something different.  When I tried to remember what I thought they may be, I looked around on the internet, and finally figured it out, that yellow coneflowers, Ratibida pinnata are the same thing as gray headed coneflowers.  Here I already had enough to divide, but bought more, thinking they were something different.  I guess learning the scientific names is a good idea. These are in the bed across from where the others are.  I have also been adding other plants from across the sidewalk so that they look like a large planting area separated by the front sidewalk, so these will be fine here.

Since I mentioned Ruby, I thought I'd share a photo of her enjoying some dirt.

Some of the people in our Gardening with Nature in Mind are having some difficulty with one or a few neighbors due to their choice of gardening with prairie plants.  I hope people will become more in tune with nature one of these days and be thankful for neighbors who garden with native plants.  I hope none of you are experiencing problems like that.

June's Wildflower Wednesday

I enjoyed reading Gail's Wildflower Wednesday post today, as always.  I like how she said we need to be willing to have imperfection due to insects feeding on the plants in order to provide for their needs, which in turn meets the needs of larger critters such as frogs, birds, etc.

I took a break from getting ready for a garage sale we are having Friday and took some photos for a WW post.  I know I've shown some of these blooms before, but wanted to have some with insects on them, and these must be their favorites.

This bee on the New Jersey tea was about half an inch.

The foxglove penstemons are almost finished blooming, and even though I've tied them up, they are flopping a bit.  Since they are still being fed from, I will keep them looking a bit untidy, embracing imperfection, like Gail recommended.

Here is another example of imperfection in the eyes of us.  I forgot what bulb this was, and wonder what this wasp was doing on it.

In my last WW post, I showed a photo of lead plant.  It is a good looking plant all season.  It is now blooming in several places in the yard.  This is the first plant I got.  It takes a long time to reach full size, and I am thankful I was patient.  The blooms are visited by a number of kinds of small bees.  It is hard to get photos of them.  I realize I am not just showing wildflowers in this post.  The daylilies were planted by my mother-in-law when she lived here many years ago.  They are also visited by pollinators.  That's a spent foxglove beardtongue growing through the plant stake.

The blooms of leadplant are unique, and I think they are pretty cool.

I decided to include some longer views of the yard.  I was thinking about what Gail said about embracing imperfection.  I am thankful to live in a neighborhood where people stop from time to time, to let me know they like the flowers.  Some also take photos.  I sometimes hope they don't notice a blank spot or some other imperfection that has been bothering me.  I know they don't, though, because they are looking at the blooms.

I am not good at making plans for flower beds.  I am a plopper.  I want it that way, though.  I am taking liberties with Gail's theme of embracing imperfection.  I do not strive for a neat and tidy look.

A few days ago, when a guy in a car told me how much he enjoys the flowers, I told him I am thankful to live in a neighborhood where they are accepted.  I said if this yard was in a different neighborhood, then he finished my sentence, saying something like others may consider it messy.  LOL  Can you see the common milkweed plants that will be blooming soon?
 

This is the area that bugs me the most.  I have some things too far apart, and others too close together. In the spring, there is a lot of dirt that shows.  Still, open ground is good for some insects.  We did have some ground nesting bees in there one year.

I pulled out a lot of the purple coneflowers from this area, hoping there will be less aster yellows.  Rabbits have eaten down some of the pale coneflowers, but at least there are some blooms.  The imperfection of plants being eaten down does bother me, I have to admit.  This has been the worse that I can remember, and I am hoping all of the plants recover.

This is back in the area in front of the fence where I was saying there is a lot of dirt that shows. I am glad to see the Mexican hats are blooming.

I may have mentioned that I am not seeing as many insects this year, but there seem to be more bees than butterflies.  The butterflies I do see are pretty flighty, and do not land on blooms long enough for me to get photos.

The purple milkweed on the side of the house is taller than that in the front yard.  I wonder if it's because it is surrounded by tall plants.  Milkweed blooms are one of my favorites.

Spring started out cool and wet.  It continued to rain a lot, then jumped into being hot.  It is 8:12 pm, central standard daylight savings, and 91 degrees!  I am thankful the plants are doing fine for the most part.  Yes, there are insect holes on the leaves.  They are supporting life.  There are also birds in the yard every day.   I hope you have been able to spend time in your less than perfect garden.

Thank you to those who have left comments on my last two posts.  I plan to visit your blogs in the next week.

Some of the Critters this Week

We had just gotten 6 inches of snow when I did my last post.  Yesterday, we got 6 more!  I've been looking out the door to see what kind of critters we have visiting, and taking some photos from inside the door.  My husband is the one who takes care of the feeders.  He has other feeders in different parts of the yard.  He also puts out suet for the woodpeckers, but other birds also eat it.

The photos with the snow coming down were taken yesterday.  I couldn't get a good photo of the bird on the left, but I'm pretty sure it's a woodpecker.  The others are some of the plentiful sparrows.

This photo is not as clear, but more of the beak shows.  After looking up woodpeckers in Nebraska, I'm thinking it's a red-bellied woodpecker.  Do you know if I am correct?

 The blue jays have been around a lot lately.  I also saw a cardinal or two the other day.

There have also been a number of dark-eyed juncos.

We have just gotten to today's photos.  There were quite a few birds and other critters hanging out today.

This morning, before I opened the main door, leaving the screen closed, I counted 4 blue jays.  They all flew off as soon as I opened the door, but this one came back, seeing that I did not open the screen door.  He or she kept a close eye on me, though.  Larry must have just had a bit of seed left, so he put it on this old apron.

The squirrels like to scold Heidi when she goes out, and she has been looking for them when she goes out.  She's not a fan of them.  I am not, either, but I don't dislike them as much as I used to.

I actually dislike rabbits more than I dislike squirrels.  Squirrels dig out plants, and if you find them in time, you can replant.  Rabbits eat things down to the ground.  Sometimes they regrow, and other times they don't.  I wish rabbits would just eat part of the plants, and not the whole things.  This one lives under our deck, and Larry said he saw two the other day.  We all know what that means!  Dang it!  Well, I do have their favorite plants caged so that they can't get to them.  Larry has been teasing me about wanting to get some alfalfa hay for the rabbits.   He said he saw one eating some bird seed the other day.

I counted 4 or 5 doves in the back yard a few days ago.  I really like them, and the sound they make as they fly off, which is made, I think, with their wings.

What kinds of wildlife are you seeing at your place? 

In a few days, our highs are supposed to start getting into the 40s for a couple weeks.  The snow will melt, and the ground should go into garden season in pretty good shape.  I am starting to see some of the posts from places where spring is waking up.  I always enjoy that.  We actually have some early things starting to green up as well, but it will be awhile before we see blooms. 

Wildflower Wednesday

The day is almost over, but I want to join in, and have had my photos ready since yesterday for Gail's Wildflower Wednesday.  I saw that Gail did her post on Black-eyed Susans, and she included a number of photos of insects, like I like to do.

This is Tall coreopsis, not quite native here, but is in near by areas.  It likes shade and moisture.  I have one clump of it, and it is on the east side of the house.  It does not get a whole lot of watering, but the area probably does not dry out as much as more exposed parts of the yard.  This is the second year for it, and I have seen a number of insects on it.  I'm pretty sure this is a Hoverfly.  http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=COTR4

I am pleased to have a number of Pitcher sage plants, 'Nekan', which are locally native.  Now that a number of summer bloomers are starting to form seeds, these are coming into their own.  It's a good thing, too, because most of the other blooms in our yard are yellow.

The Prairie dock plant is blooming now that the Cup plant is almost finished.  The blooms are very similar, and both are frequented by the pollinators.  Can you see two in this photo?

This is my second year growing Sweet black-eyed susans.  I sure like them!  I have seen a number of bees on them, but this time, it's a Soldier beetle.  http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=rusu

We have Brown-eyed susans, smaller blooms than the Black-eyed ones, and very prolific self sowers.  I have to give some away and still pull some out each year.  They are nice for color this time of year, though, and are frequented by a number of insects.  Can you see the one in the photo?  http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=RUTR2

Here's a closer view.  If you can identify any of the insects in these photos, please let me know.  This one was about half an inch long if I am remembering correctly.

This Painted lady butterfly was originally on the Helen's flowers mingled with the Brown-eyed susans.

Back to the Tall coreopsis, I am thinking this may be a Long-horned bee.

I'm not sure what this tiny creature is, but I like the details of the Tall coreopsis bloom.

Oh, wait, maybe this is the Long-horned bee.

This photo was taken later in the day.  I was excited to see a monarch on the Prairie dock bloom.

I had also seen a Monarch on some Rigid goldenrod, but it didn't stay around for a photo.  I decided to take a photo of the Blister beetle, and just noticed another Soldier beetle as well.  I just read that it is a heavy self sower, and needs competition.  I guess I have had some self sowing, but not too much so far.  I need to plant some things closer to mine, and maybe move a couple that get too tall for the space they are in, and tend to flop over.  They are just now opening their buds, so they extend the blooming season when a number of plants are finishing up.  http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=OLRIR

There are still things going on that prevent me from getting into the garden to work, but I have found time to take photos or even take our granddaughter, who I am providing childcare for outside to observe the insect activity and blooms.  A Facebook friend sweetly pointed out that observing and enjoying what you see is also gardening.  Next week, I should be able to get more accomplished.  I am thankful for the rain we've been having.  Like I seem to say each time, too, I hope to spend a little less time on FB and get more blogs visited.  I can't believe it is almost September!  I hope all is well with you.