Sweet!

This past week, I have been laboring away in the so-called orchard. This includes what I optimistically designated as the Blueberry Bed. The blueberry plants have not fared well, falling victim to wascally wabbits. Also, thanks to volunteer milkweed plants, the b-berry plants barely see the light of day.

Find the blueberry plants

Last summer, the milkweed in my yard fell victim to aphids, farmed by ants. I have tried several natural ant repellents - coffee grounds (thanks, Starbucks!), Russian sage, catmint - but the ants are back. So far no aphids, though. Fingers crossed.

Indian hemp too

Along with the milkweed is a cousin, Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum). It was only on last year's Garden Bloggers Fling that I was able to identify this plant. A native, it is supposedly very attractive to butterflies, so its presence among the milkweed seems natural.

Mmmm!

The scent of milkweed blooms is incredibly sweet, a gardener's reward for battling bindweed and other unwanted plants in the bed. I'm hoping by developing an entire stand of milkweed, I will someday also be rewarded with monarch caterpillars (and not the "other milkweed caterpillar" that last year destroyed my butterflyweed). One can only hope.

Uggy muggy

I'm reading Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren, in which she states plants love humidity. Their pores relax and they breathe in the moisture. Not so us two-leggeds - that humid air seems particularly devoid of oxygen. The rhododendron appears to be an exception to the rule, curling its leaves against the heat. This dense gardener finally got a clue and watered the 'PJM' today.

Indian hemp seed pods

This is the time of year when I am a little sick of gardening. The heat index has been around 100 lately, so I've been sequestered in the house, not even venturing out to water. Maybe because of the humidity, most plants are fine with my neglect, but not the annual vines that were supposed to cover the pergola. They failed to do so, so I lost interest in keeping them alive. Oops!

Cardinal vine at top of redbud tree

Cardinal vine, up close

It's too late to start anything very ambitious and too early for fall planting. There are always weeds to tackle, but other than beheading the Queen Anne's lace, I'm not motivated. I can think of things to do - transplant iris, order in some wood chips, call around for shrubs I want to plant this autumn - but all I do is think about it.

Identified: Berries of Solanum dulcamara

Next week the temperatures are supposed to be more moderate, plus it might actually rain significant amounts. Sounds like a good time to broadcast the mini clover, plus address those tasks rummaging around in my brain (see above).

Bumble bee on Joe Pye

Meanwhile, I think I'll take advantage of these lazy hazy days and just relax. Inside. Where there is AC. And iced tea.

We saw plants, too

It occurred to me that I have posted very few photos of plants from the Garden Bloggers Fling. Believe me, we saw LOTS of plants, from acres of daylilies to native cactus. I didn't photograph many, just the ones to remind me of this or that.

These orange lilies remind me of the "ditch" daylilies growing in my yard, but in color only. They are Turk's Cap Lilies, a native wildflower. The blossoms perch on long stems. They can spread to form large colonies, but usually not in cultivation, where growing conditions may be less than ideal (like my claybound yard).

At the Eloise Butler Wildfower Garden

This plant is growing in my blueberry bed, among the milkweed. I did not plant it, nor could I figure out what it might be. Now I know: it's Indian Hemp. It's the kind of cannabis one makes fiber with, not the kind one smokes. It's related to both Dogbane and Milkweed. It's also poisonous.

At the Eloise Butler Wildfower Garden

This plant is also in my yard. I did plant it and I do know that it is Blue False Indigo. I did not know it would get so big. So now I am thinking I need to move it to a location more accommodating to its future size.

At Vera's Garden

I used to have the tall reddish plant in my yard (if it is Red Husker Penstemon - I need to replace it), but that is not why I took this picture. Below it grows what I have always considered a weed. And of course, I can't confirm it's identity, but it is some kind of mallow or althea. We were shocked that it is deliberately allowed into the garden, along with other "weeds" like mullein (said the gardener spreading fleabane seeds all about).

At Vera's Garden

I was impressed with this tall specimen of what turned out to be Queen of the Prairie. It prefers moist soil, but so does Joe Pye and it grows in my yard, albeit through the deck. I bet I could get this going, too.

In the garden of "Ruth," a member of Wild Ones. At least, I think that is where I took this pic.

This is bent grass, the same kind of grass used on golf courses. Separating garden beds, it looks like a smooth green carpet. The owners said it was there when they bought the house, in the 1930's. It takes some special care, which made me remove it from my list of must-haves, but it still was a spectacular contrast to the lush garden beds.

At the garden of Lee and Jerry Shannon

My front yard is made up of primarily purple and yellow plants of one sort or another, but mostly purple. When I saw this Sunkist Arborvitae, I immediately pictured it as an anchor plant in my front yard.

At Bailey's Display Garden

Ditto this Golden Spirit Smokebush.

At Bailey's Display Garden

My Blue Muffin Viburnum refuses to produce the profusion of blue berries it is named for, so when I saw one lush with fruit, I had to snap it just to prove to myself that it is me, not the plant.

At Bailey's Display Garden

And finally, we have this echinops. I thought it might be some kind of rattlesnake master, but it is actually a kind of globe thistle. The pollinators *loved* it.

At Squire House Gardens

The Garden Bloggers Fling has filled my head with so many ideas, I barely know where to start. But hopefully I will at least keep in mind the plants above that I want to add to my yard.