Fireflies and blooms (and booms)

In the gloaming, I like to sit on the deck and watch the fireflies. There are a LOT in my yard this year. I like to think my yardening practices have something to do with that. The larva winter over in the ground or under tree bark. I assume my habit of eschewing mulch, doing fall cleanup in the spring, and favoring native plants all help. With over 2000 species, I hate to be more specific about them, but in general the light-emitting ones are females attracting a male, to mate or eat.

The summer blooms are starting to come out. Is it early? I think not - tomorrow is July 1. It just feels early, probably because of our erratic weather patterns.

Coneflower

Common milkweed

Bee on milkweed

Bee balm

I've been relatively diligent about removing blossoms from the strawberry plants, but have missed a few. The resulting fruit is delicious! There is nothing like a sun-warmed strawberry plucked right off the plant.

A few cherry tomatoes have developed, so I am looking forward to dining on those as well in the near future.

I've been lacksidaisical about staking my one and only tomato plant, and this is what happened. I'm also learning that container plants require a daily watering no matter how much rain has fallen.

Now a pet peeve. Here in Indiana, individuals can purchase their own fireworks. In my city, there are limits as to when one can set them off. However, I live near the edge of the city limits and the county has no such rules. Fortunately, Clio is relatively okay with the noise as long as she is inside and near me.

And while we are on the subject, once upon a time, fireworks displays were limited to once or twice a year, thereby making them special events. Now it seems like almost any reason is cause for fireworks. At least xmas is still only once a year.

End of grumpy rant.

I cry "Uncle!"

When I decided to let the clover re-establish itself in my lawn, I failed to anticipate how much it would infiltrate my flower beds. Also, spot treating the weeds in the lawn last summer was a piece of cake compared to now, when more unwelcome plants are taking root there. So I will cancel that experiment and let the lawn guys take care of the weeds for me.

I did manage to do a lot of weed spraying before the heat wave it. Temps in the 90's, heat index over 100, sunny to boot, but breezy, too. My daughter and I kayaked on Cedar Creek today. It's a good thing we got an early start, as by the time we came off the water, many more folks were heading in. We both did a good job applying sunscreen, so no sunburns. Also, very few bugs, so no bites, either.

We had even more rain before the heat wave, which brought down a limb from my elm tree. My theory is the tree is so leafy that the added weight of the rain water was too much.

I followed through on my threat to pick some of the fruit from the serviceberry bushes and freeze it, but just enough to experiment with, to see if anything is interested in the berries mid-winter. A few days later I noticed that the remaining berries were gone. More than just robins dine on them, but I failed to observe the feast.

I've seen yucca plants in others' yards blooming. About all that is colorful here is the penstemon. I watch the bees climb in and out of the blossoms, and a brief overview online indicates that Penstemon barbatus 'Coccineus' is attractive to pollinators. I'll take that with a grain of salt, as it's difficult to find definitive information anymore on the Web, especially about cultivars.

Clio and I have been walking in the early part of the day (6:30am) before the sun becomes too brutal. Ordinarily, she likes to bake on the deck, then come in and flop onto the kitchen floor to cool off. Lately, the baking is short-lived. Not so for old cat Finn; I think the heat feels good on his ancient joints. Summer has definitely arrived.

What's it good for? Meadow rue

The three meadow rue plants by the rain garden were an impulse purchase, driven by the sign indicating they were good for wet areas. The rabbits dined on them a bit, but they persisted, and this season are TALL and blooming. I found a plant tag that indicates they are Purple Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dasycarpum).

They are mostly dioecious, which means male and female flowers are on separate plants, and the male flowers have showy yellow stamens, which is what mine look like. They are supposedly clump forming (which means I probably should have planted them farther apart from each other). I'm hoping they don't spread a lot.

The blossoms don't look purple-ish to me at all, but the stems do.

The blossoms attract pollinators, which I have observed, so that is a good thing. The plants prefer a little shade, so I hope they do okay when the afternoon sun starts beating down on them... if it ever warms up around here.

Yes, I'm going to complain about the weather AGAIN. We have received plenty of rain, but the temps keep dipping. The rain is interfering with my yardening plans, but tomorrow is supposed to be dry (fingers crossed), so maybe I can get a start on the weeds that are taking over.

What else is blooming around here? All the winterberry bushes are in flower, but the blossoms are so small they are not visible from the house. If you stand next the bushes, though, not only do you see the blossoms but also all the pollinators enjoying them. The blossoms are white.

The 'Chicago Lustre' viburnum is also blooming, also white blossoms. The penstemon in the meadow (and now on the south side of the house) is starting to bloom, with pinkish flowers that closely match the honeysuckle vine which has been blooming for a while and will continue all summer long.

The blossoms on the ninebark surprised me because I did not select the plants based on flowers but on foliage. Now that the blossoms have passed their peak, the flower clusters are red. Another surprise.

The wrens are back, finally. I hear them in both the front yard and the back. Just as last year, nobody seems interested in the serviceberries. I wonder if climate change has caused the robin nesting period to be out of sync with the berry production. I may harvest some of the fruit, freeze it, and set it out come winter, to see if the robins want it then. They certainly are hungry for the winterberries then.

I saw a monarch butterfly about a week ago. I'm hoping the milkweed does its job this year and attracts more. And of course there has been a paperwhite or two. I spotted a pale lavender butterfly, but it may have been a paperwhite as well.
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My experiment of growing garlic in containers and the raised bed has not been working out very well. A friend posted a photo of her garlic scapes, and mine are nowhere near as large. But it may be because I planted them in the spring instead of fall, so I won't give up on this experiment yet.

I've been pinching the blossoms off the strawberry plants to let them put their energy into getting established. Luckily, one of the local farmers markets has been able to keep me in supply. Those big and beautiful strawberries in the grocery store have nothing on homegrown when it comes to flavor. Today I was also able to get snow peas and snap peas, as well as the freshest scallions I've had in a while. Oh, and sourdough bagels and a huge, incredibly rich chocolate chip cookie. Yum!

Ecological gardening

The New York Times published an article by Margaret Roach whereby she discusses ecological gardening with Douglas Tallamy. Since you probably cannot access the article without a subscription, I'll briefly list the four actions that are crucial for an ecological garden:

• Manage the watershed
• Support pollinators
• Support a viable food web
• Sequester carbon

That's a lot to ask of a suburban homesteader who has to abide by local tall-grass-and-weeds laws and whose neighbors employ lawncare companies that not only fertilize and treat weeds but also spread insecticide with every application, but a good place to start is to add natives and remove invasives.

Two books that can help guide us are Tallamy's Bringing Nature Home and his latest, How Can I Help? Saving Nature with Your Yard.

Tallamy suggests that one does not need to completely redo one's landscape, just add something beneficial here and there...

... like plant some goldenrod...

... but not hostas (which I justify because the hummingbirds feed at them).

Catmint is good... but I'm not sure whether the cultivar currently in bloom, Nepeta 'Cat's Pajamas', attracts pollinators. The other, Calamintha Nepeta Nepeta, does - a lot.

And so I try, best I can.