Blooming on the 4th of July

It is hot and flowers are blooming!

This is the first big purple coneflower that really opened up.  It is in the sunny part of the garden that we do not mow.  The coneflowers in the shade are still getting their pink petals.

In the back of the last picture you can see the three false sunflowers that are blooming.  Can you see the little monarda blooming in the background?

One little monarda bee balm is blooming among the weeds.  Maybe others will get going.

From the patio I enjoy watching the goldfinch in the meadow.  Here she was eating grass seeds.

A few days later the goldfinch was working on the coneflowers.

Nearby the Shasta daisies are still looking good.  In the background is blue hill sage, or if you prefer blue hill salvia.

The zinnias are getting going…

This garden is near the patio and is cheery.  I need to deadhead the gaillardia, frequently.  The red hot pokers made an appearance. The spike speedwell will need to be trimmed back before long.

Red hot pokers in front of Miscanthus ornamental grass.

Coleus

Yellow marigolds

Agastache ‘blue boa,’ false sunflowers, and butterfly weed right by our patio.

Juvenile robin and coreopsis tickseed

Coreopsis ‘zagreb’

Swamp milkweed

Lady’s mantle, though not a great picture.  On the left is blue fescue grass.

Prairie verbena grows next to dragon’s blood sedum.

My son, with false sunflowers and butterfly weed in the background.

Fireworks:  On 7/3 I went to bed early, as usual, and I had just fallen asleep when the fireworks started, which I had forgotten about.  I turned out the lights and opened the shades and saw a yard full of fireflies lighting up in the dark in nature’s own fireworks!  I enjoyed watching them for a while, then read a good book until the fireworks died down.  I do enjoy watching fireworks, but only make the effort to do it every few years.

Sedum’s Visitors

The sedum is in full bloom.  I often take a break and go out to see what has come to visit on sedum’s sweet landing pad.  Talk about pink!

Red-spotted purple butterfly on sedum.  This one had fresh, beautiful wings.  While I was taking this picture there was another red-spotted purple butterfly on the sedum that had torn, dull wings.  It looked like it had been around for a while.

Spider hiding in sedum.  I might not have noticed this spider, but when I was filling up the bird bath I saw this spider run out and unsuccessfully try to nab a wasp that was on the edge of the sedum.  It looked like this spider had a fly in his web that he had already caught.  There are so many flies on the sedum that it seemed like a great strategy.  I have seen quite a few other spiders around the garden this week.  I only like spiders from a distance!

Bee, maybe a carpenter bee, on sedum.  Aren’t those tiny flowers beautiful?  I can see how all the pollinators would be attracted to this area where they can just walk around and graze on the sweet nectar.

Silver-spotted skipper on sedum.  Here you can see the open flowers on the left and the almost open flower buds on the right.

This year I planted my pole beans at the end of the sedum bed.  In the back on the left you can see the blooming blue caryopteris, which is also buzzing with bees now.  If you want to plant a sedum bed, just visit a friend with sedum and break off four to eight stalks.  Stick the bases of the stalks in the ground and water it until it gets established.  You may have to water every day or twice a day and then slow it to just once a week.  Now I never water them.

The bean pole structure is heavy with beans, but did not fall over this year with the added support. Almost three weeks ago I got stung by a bee or wasp on my foot while I was picking pole beans.  I am not exactly allergic, but don’t do well with bee stings so I decided to stop picking the beans, since we still have plenty of yellow wax beans to eat.  Of course the pole beans kept coming.

Pole beans and ‘Incrediball’ hydrangea.  My first idea was just to leave the beans until they dry on the vine and then cook them like dried legumes.  However I read that you can also shell the beans before they get completely dry and it is a little like shelling pea pods.  That way you can avoid the tough outer skin, but not need to soak the beans before cooking them.  The hydrangeas were looking pretty good, so I just brought in another batch of them to dry in the house.

I bought some ginger at an Asian market this spring and stuck it in a pot to see if it would grow.  It was slow going, but now the base is bulging some and it looks like I will have ginger to eat before long.  I am not sure what a good recipe would be….

Here is the view from the patio, where I read and took a nap today.  The abundance of mosquitoes this year has dimmed my appetite for much gardening.  I am keeping my eyes on the ‘fireworks’ goldenrod in the back center of this picture that is just starting to turn yellow now.

This is the time of year when I really enjoy that flowers along the walkway to the garden in the back of the yard.  The yellow mums have been blooming since I planted them in the spring.  The orange zinnias are getting going and there is always a lot of alyssum.  A few petunias and hosta flowers add a blue touch and in the front I still have a few coreopsis tickseed blooming.

Time to cook:  We have a tiny cauliflower that grew from a shoot after we cut out the big cauliflower.  That will go into the weekly stew of garden vegetables.