Very pretty, Nan. It looks so lush and full.

Karen

Thank You. It is a lot toooooooo full in many places. Black eyed Susan's
taking over here, iris taking over there, I need to develop love for the
maintenance stuff, like moving things. Mostly I like to grow the babies and
plant.

To FINALLY have figured out (with lots of help on the board) how to post
pictures from the pic software I use (Picasa) is so thrilling! I can't tell
you how many times this summer I've wished I knew how, to id a plant or ask
for help in a spot I just couldn't describe. And now I can. People are
really going to get sick of me posting pics (smile)

Nancy

Beautiful! Nancy
I never get tired of looking at garden pics :))

you have my fav colors too- pink, purple and red!
thanks so much,
Linda

Beautiful! So nice to see such green, happy plants. Everything here is just about dried up from lack of rain. Keep the pretty pics coming! :)

Really, really gorgeous and healthy! Thanks

Carrie

Gorgeous!! I'm hoping my verbena will look more like that next year.

What variety is that in photo #2? It's stunning! Well, they ALL are!

Your gardens are beautiful! Don't you love being able to share pics! I love it.

I'm jealous of your cleomes! I used to have a lot, but they disappeared as my gardens got more crowded. I want more!!!

Lisa

I, too, want to know what's in photo number 2. It's all absolutely beautiful. I'm inspired! And it made me think about interplanting Rose Queen Cleome with my Pink Peony Poppy. One should be dying off as the other comes in, right? My neighbor, who thinks my Castor Bean is the same as his poke weed (Hah!), will never catch on to the switcheroo.

Lisa, I've got some commercial Cleome Rose Queen still in the packet. Email me directly.

Us, get sick of pics? I think not. Nice photos, so green and lush. Just lovely. I love the color on that plant in photo # 2, come on, give it up, what is it? Some kind of agastache?

What a great idea, interplanting poppies and cleome, I'll try that next year.

Just got to the computer for the first time today - sorry for the hold up. I wish it was "better news" on the plant that everyone likes so much in photo 2.

That lush, wonderful plant is Purple loosestrife (lythrum) and I bought it at a garden center about 5 years ago before I knew anything at all. Recently, I found out it is considered a nuisance plant -apparently does real ecological damage in wetland enviroments, crowds out other plants. Here is a piece I found just now on the web:

"Commercial Sale and Regulation of Purple Loosestrife. Nurseries across the country still sell purple loosestrife as an ornamental despite its well-known impacts on wetlands. Loosestrife is promoted for use as a landscape plant and as a nectar plant in honey production. About 24 states have listed purple loosestrife as a noxious weed and prohibit its sale and distribution. Since purple loosestrife is very difficult to control once established, the best defense is to prevent its spread and to eradicate new populations as soon as possible (Stein and Flack 1996).

That said - - I have NOT had any problem with this purple one at all, spreads at a slow managable rate (unlike white loosestrife, bought at the same nursery the same day that invaded everything around it and pulling it out almost sent me to my grave one summer.) I have divided the purple one only once and that clump seems very contained in its spot too. It blooms profusely and for a long time, just gorgeous next to that Echinacea white swan. I even took a little piece and added it to a planter and that did well too. But I do worry about birds carrying the seed to nearby wetlands although I've never seen any anywear when we take our Kayak out.

Here is a list of what is captured on the picures (I haven't figured out how to leave space to write under them yet, but I will!)

#1 - Verbena Bonariensis - - self sows.I recommend it to any gardener - it is so polite (quietly springs up between plants, nver bothering anyone!) and pretty. I also collect seed and WS and have a couple of places with thick bunches of it where I planted the seedlings.This way I can cut them all in one spot for arrangments.

#2 - Loosestrife discussed above. Also the shorter gray fuzzy plants are one of my favorites. I bought the seeds from PArks in a foliage set of packs a few years ago and began saving seed. It is an annual,Plectranthus Silver shield, and it gets large and lush by summers end (3'H x 2' wide). I use it a lot in planters. I'll have seed to trade later in the fall if anyone wants to try it.

#3 Agastache foeniculum
Golden Jubilee - also puts out tons of seed if you'd like it. It is great in a semi -shady spot. Really brightens things up with its lime green foliage and long lasting flowers.

#4 A mess of Iris (mostly Siberian) and a few lilies I have squeezed in. Stick that pole with the hanging backets in to try to get some color there as everything else is done blooming by mid summer. Need to rework this bed, it is so overgrown. Believe it or not there is even a tiny pond with a gold fish stuck in front of that huge hosta. You can see some of the rocks bordering it just to the left of the first hanging basket. Pond was hubby's idea - to me it's so small it looks silly. But they were the rage in our neighborhood a few years ago and he just had to have one!

#5 Backyard bed. This was early in the season. It is an absolute jungle now. Those cleomes have been reseeding for 6 years. I will have tons of seed. Let me know if you need any.

#6 WS Love lies bleeding (from a trade) - love it! With the Black eyed susans that compete with the cleome to rule the roost. And the colors aren't a great combo unfortunately. Sorting them out a bit is on my to do list! I am gloing to save seed from the LLB and try to plant a bunch of it with the Black eyed susans as I DO like that combo.

#7 The last photo is all that cleome and a pot of ornamental purple millet. This millet was in the same Parks foliage mix as the silver shield and I've been collecting seeds each year as well. Love it in pots and in Large groupings in the garden beds.

Hope this answers the questions you have asked! I've really enjoyed the chance to share. I am going to take pictures of the current jungle tomorrow and try to post!

Nancy

Very nice Nancy!

More pics! More pics!
I love looking at everyone's pictures...something I NEVER tire of
Thanks for sharing, Nan :-)
Linda

Well, see there! My daddy used to have a nice clump of loosestrife years ago and it was gorgeous! We didn't know WHAT it was but it has been identified by this photo here on GW.
{{gwi:435659}}
It didn't go wild and I don't think it would here on my dry sandy patch, either. If I understand correctly it is very invasive in wet conditions - which I do NOT have. Psssst...if I ever get a chance I'm going to give it a try!

Wow - thats a really TALL patch - nice!

My conditons are sandy, pretty dry too. But the concern is that birds carry seed to wetlands and we do have a lot of that here as I am on an island.

If you live in an area that does not have wetlands at all, maybe it's ok. I am going to use this disucussion as motivation to finally get around to asking an expert about this issue. If it's fine in wetland free areas, I could save alot of seed to share for next year. I think it's too late for this year (they were done flowering about 3 weeks ago) but I'll check if any seed heads are intact.

Nancy