Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Prickly Lettuce


 Prickly Lettuce in a neighbor's yard. Reviled as a weed, I love the clear yellow flowers.

Bindweed

 

Bindweed in a neighbor's yard. It does not compete in our garden.

Phlox


 Phlox and Outhouse Lilies in a neighbor's garden.

Nasturtium

 

Nasturtium. Yet another edible that we grow mostly as an ornamental.

Rudbeckia

 

Double-Flowered Rudbeckia

Some years this gets very floppy, but doing well so far.

Gray-Headed Coneflower

 

Gray-Headed Coneflower

Can be an aggressive thug, but a modest performer in our garden.

Outhouse Lilies

 

Ditch Lilies AKA Outhouse Lilies

Daylily snobs tell us to get rid of them, but I feel they are an important link to our gardening past.

And they are tough as nails.

Daylily

 

Daylily 'Sun-Dried Tomato'

I love the rich, red color.

Daylily

 

I like the white color but the blossoms are smaller than many other modern hybrids.

Phlox

 

I love the way white flowers glow at dawn & dusk in the garden.

Morning Glory

 

Morning Glory 'Heavenly Blue'

Every morning that there is a new blossom brings a smile to my face.

Agastache

 


The native Agastache is a superb pollinator plant. Bumblebees and honey bees are swarming over the blossoms.  It would be interesting to know the location of the nearest honey bee hive.

Monday, July 12, 2021

Morning Glory

 

Morning Glory 'Heavenly Blue'

Very nice individual flower, but too few blossoms impoverish the view.

Rabbits vs. Mulberry


Native Mulberry I planted this spring.

Clean diagonal cut at ground level, classic rabbit move.  The owls and coyotes need to up their game. Bitter disappointment.

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Phlox

 

Tall Garden Phlox.

In our grandparents' time, this was a mainstay of the perennial garden.  Now, largely fallen out of favor because of susceptibility to powdery mildew, and can be an aggressive spreader where it is happy, like in our garden.

Pansy


Pansies.  I will never understand how the word "pansy" came to be known as a weak person because the plant is tough as nails.

Planted in a pot, survived a week of drought and 94 degrees where other plants wilted and died.

Drought

 

This is what happens when you leave home for a week and it never rains.

Basket was lush and covered with blossoms when we departed.

Rudbeckia

 

Rudbeckia, species unknown, open pollinated volunteer.

Okra

 

Okra.  Worth growing just for the flowers.

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Milkweed


 Old fashioned Milkweed.

Garden Pool

 

Adding a few more fish to the garden pool.

Monday, June 28, 2021

Joan Elliott

 

Bellflower 'Joan Elliott'

Friday, June 18, 2021

Robins vs. Jumping Worms

I personally observed a robin beat a jumping worm into submission and fly off with it, so we can dispense with the myth that robins cannot catch jumping worms. Now whether or not they can eat enough jumping worms to make a difference is another question.

Thursday, June 17, 2021

Costmary

 

Costmary AKA Bible Leaf, so-named because, back in the day, people used the dried leaves as bookmarks in their Bibles.  Features a delicious spearmint fragrance.

Petunia


 Petunia, varieties unknown

Valerian


The flowers of the herb Valerian feature a heavenly vanilla fragrance. This is one of my favorite scented plants.

Cherokee Purple Tomato

 

Sam harvests a Cherokee Purple tomato.

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Columbine

 

Columbine. This is a volunteer. If I plant a Columbine, it sulks, then dies. But volunteers come up in the most inhospitable places.  Infuriating.

Wax Begonia

 

Wax Begonia.  We tried to overwinter several pots, this is the only one that survived.

Black & Blue

 

Salvia 'Black & Blue'

My favorite of all of the Salvia.

Ox Eye Daisy

 

Ox Eye Daisy.  Not as refined as the Shasta Daisy, but a much more reliable performer in our garden.

Shirley Temple

 

Peony 'Shirley Temple'

A few years ago, we received this as a door prize on a garden walk at Boerner led by Dave Wanninger. Now retired, at that time, he was head horticulturist. I think of Dave every time I see it.

Variegated Honeysuckle

 

Variegated Honeysuckle. This has been in the ground several years, and this is the first year it has flowered.

Crimson Rambler

 

Morning Glory 'Crimson Rambler'

Looks more pink than crimson to me.