Garden Report
Took another day off of work...I was spazzy, stiff, in pain and dull all day. How do I love thee, Avonex...not much. the heat gets to me. I wish it would cool off...I spent the whole weekend indoors. MS doesn't like heat and humidity.
Late Spring to mid to late summer are pretty dull, native flowerwise, here in the midwest...our native flora is smarter than we are...it rests during the hottest part of the year, for the most part. They know it's too hot and humid for bees and butterflies. Why bother blooming if you're not going to be pollinated? Mother Nature watches and waits, and sends up a big crop of pollinators in the spring, when temps are manageable, and the Spring ephemerals are blooming and another big push in the late summer/early fall, when things have cooled down a bit, and the prairie will be blooming with a vengeance.
I rely on interesting shades of green and interestingly shaped foliage in my one tree native shade garden. Right now...the soloman's seal is getting ready to bloom, but really, it's about the last of the last to bloom. And subtle. And about form. Graceful, arching plants they are! The tiarella are about bloomed out. I really like tiarella and huecherella, and have decided I must have more. The virginia waterleaf are getting ready to quit, too. Which reminds me, I must go cut off the spent blooms...they seed around like crazy! If anyone needs some virginia waterleaf seedlings, let me know, I have plenty.
Thank goodness for ferns and foliage! And the Penstemon Digitalis, which will bloom soon! Yay!
The elm-leafed goldenrod will start blooming later this month, and the wood asters after that. Not much else going on in my one tree native woodland garden. The wood aster is very aggressive and rhizhomatous, and I'm afraid it's going to meet it's maker(via Roundup)after it blooms this year. I'm sick of trying to keep it in check.
My front yard is blooming nicely, however. I have a slightly higher percentage of the non-native there. And Irises. While I think native plants are superior, there are some non-natives that I just will not give up. Irises are one of them. They are beautiful, non-invasive, and I have this one that smells just like grapes.
It's a buzz when people stop their cars and tour your garden spontaneously, and when the small town garden club asks you to please join. Almost as good as being in a band. Almost. I've worked hard on my garden, and have spent lots of time correcting planting mistakes! I'm still making them...D'OH!
My little prairie is biding it's time..it's heyday is in the late summer through late fall. Right now, the Dame's rocket and daisies are blooming faster than I can kill them off. They look nice together, but...they're not native, so they have to go. Off with their heads! They will crowd out the native plants and grasses I have seeded back there.
We sure could use some rain..you know it's droughty when your native plants start drooping from lack of water..you just know it's the definition of drought. You also get out the sprinkler. God save the farmers. The baptisia australis(picture #2)I have, which is the species and not a cultivar(to my knowledge), just gets bigger and better every year. It doesn't have the competition in the flower bed that it gets in a prairie. It's about 4 1/2 feet high, and about 5 feet across.
It has been transplanted at least once, and after one season of confusion...has gone gangbusters! Don't believe it when people say you can't transplant Baptisia...you can! You just have to get as much of the root as possible..in this case, I dug down about 2 feet.
The white flowered plant in picture #1 is known commonly as "meadowfoam", it's native, and it's binomial is Filipendula somethingorother. The Black iris is called "Before the Storm" The purple Iris is a named Iris but the tag was destroyed by my DH, also known affectionately as Big Foot, or FH. The F does not stand for fabulous. The bright red thing is Yarrow "paprika" The yellow thing is Iris pseudocarus, Yellow Flag Iris. This plant is a noxious, invasive non-native weed that disturbs wetlands and pushes out native irises like the blue-flag iris (Iris Cristata). I dead-head them religiously, so they can't spread off my property. It looks nice in my front yard, and that is exactly where it stays. I have a big Dame's Rocket in my front yard. Non-native, and an aggressive seeder that will push out native plants. I cut it to the ground before it even has a chance to set seeds. I leave it to bloom because DH likes how it smells, and frankly, so do I. I plant a row or two of marigolds for him every year.
Late Spring to mid to late summer are pretty dull, native flowerwise, here in the midwest...our native flora is smarter than we are...it rests during the hottest part of the year, for the most part. They know it's too hot and humid for bees and butterflies. Why bother blooming if you're not going to be pollinated? Mother Nature watches and waits, and sends up a big crop of pollinators in the spring, when temps are manageable, and the Spring ephemerals are blooming and another big push in the late summer/early fall, when things have cooled down a bit, and the prairie will be blooming with a vengeance.
I rely on interesting shades of green and interestingly shaped foliage in my one tree native shade garden. Right now...the soloman's seal is getting ready to bloom, but really, it's about the last of the last to bloom. And subtle. And about form. Graceful, arching plants they are! The tiarella are about bloomed out. I really like tiarella and huecherella, and have decided I must have more. The virginia waterleaf are getting ready to quit, too. Which reminds me, I must go cut off the spent blooms...they seed around like crazy! If anyone needs some virginia waterleaf seedlings, let me know, I have plenty.
Thank goodness for ferns and foliage! And the Penstemon Digitalis, which will bloom soon! Yay!
The elm-leafed goldenrod will start blooming later this month, and the wood asters after that. Not much else going on in my one tree native woodland garden. The wood aster is very aggressive and rhizhomatous, and I'm afraid it's going to meet it's maker(via Roundup)after it blooms this year. I'm sick of trying to keep it in check.
My front yard is blooming nicely, however. I have a slightly higher percentage of the non-native there. And Irises. While I think native plants are superior, there are some non-natives that I just will not give up. Irises are one of them. They are beautiful, non-invasive, and I have this one that smells just like grapes.
It's a buzz when people stop their cars and tour your garden spontaneously, and when the small town garden club asks you to please join. Almost as good as being in a band. Almost. I've worked hard on my garden, and have spent lots of time correcting planting mistakes! I'm still making them...D'OH!
My little prairie is biding it's time..it's heyday is in the late summer through late fall. Right now, the Dame's rocket and daisies are blooming faster than I can kill them off. They look nice together, but...they're not native, so they have to go. Off with their heads! They will crowd out the native plants and grasses I have seeded back there.
We sure could use some rain..you know it's droughty when your native plants start drooping from lack of water..you just know it's the definition of drought. You also get out the sprinkler. God save the farmers. The baptisia australis(picture #2)I have, which is the species and not a cultivar(to my knowledge), just gets bigger and better every year. It doesn't have the competition in the flower bed that it gets in a prairie. It's about 4 1/2 feet high, and about 5 feet across.
It has been transplanted at least once, and after one season of confusion...has gone gangbusters! Don't believe it when people say you can't transplant Baptisia...you can! You just have to get as much of the root as possible..in this case, I dug down about 2 feet.
The white flowered plant in picture #1 is known commonly as "meadowfoam", it's native, and it's binomial is Filipendula somethingorother. The Black iris is called "Before the Storm" The purple Iris is a named Iris but the tag was destroyed by my DH, also known affectionately as Big Foot, or FH. The F does not stand for fabulous. The bright red thing is Yarrow "paprika" The yellow thing is Iris pseudocarus, Yellow Flag Iris. This plant is a noxious, invasive non-native weed that disturbs wetlands and pushes out native irises like the blue-flag iris (Iris Cristata). I dead-head them religiously, so they can't spread off my property. It looks nice in my front yard, and that is exactly where it stays. I have a big Dame's Rocket in my front yard. Non-native, and an aggressive seeder that will push out native plants. I cut it to the ground before it even has a chance to set seeds. I leave it to bloom because DH likes how it smells, and frankly, so do I. I plant a row or two of marigolds for him every year.
posted by April at 6:44 PM
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