Bee balm. The red. I got a couple of blooms, but nothing to write home about. It's been spreading all summer. I'm encouraging it to take over the corner near the driveway. Black eyed susans have reseeded here too. I hope it's stunning.

Epimedium and Wild Ginger.
Got a few more clumps of Epimedium rubrum and the first clump of yellow. Can't wait to see them bloom in spring.
Planted a few clumps of Wild Ginger this year. The canadensis is gorgeous. Still green. Can't wait to see it spread. :-)

In my case, I'd have to say perennial Milkweeds, grown for the Monarch butterflies. I do have some seed started but I've never even seen a mature plant of any except the tropical and wild A. tuberosa, much less seen their blooms.

Mary

Tiffy, you will love that NY Ironweed - such a nice addition to the garden in late summer/early fall.

Red bee balm! I never knew there was such a thing. Sounds beautiful.

I am most waiting on 3 perenniels I got in trade:
milkweed - which did bloom a little this year (surprised me).
soapwort
and esp. Lance Corporeal. This year it grew a couple of long single stems, and along the stems were teeny red blooms. I don't know what it is supposed to look like, so I am also in anticipation.

ellen

Yes ellen, it is beautiful. Jacob Cline is a good disease resistant variety, but it's sterile. I got my seeds from a trade. The few blooms I got didn't seem to produce any seed. I still collected the seed heads. Once dry, I scattered them back into the area. No new sprouts yet, but lots of runners have formed around the original plant.

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I hope I get blooms from: Campanula 'Blue Clips', Catananche, 2 varieties of Dianthus, Siberian Wall Flower (very small blooms this year), Callirhoe involucrata, and of course I hope my Buddleia comes back.

I am looking forward to my English Daisy Habanera Red Tips. All this past summer my husband kept saying they looked like weeds to him. Fortunately I managed to keep him from ripping them out. Also back in September I discovered that one of my H. F. Young Clematis seeds had actually sprouted. I read that clematis seeds can be slow to germinate so I decided to just basically let it be and stashed the open jug behind one of my Adirondack chairs and pretty much forgot all about it. Out of site, out of mind. I am looking forward to see what color it actually turns out to be.

-StLGirl

I learn something every time I post and here we go again.

Token, I now know why my Jacob won't give me seeds. I've been trying to collect from this plant and it now makes a lot of sense. I do get seeds from a pink one which I've had for some time, but never collected this year. It's smaller but just as beautiful as JC. Oh, and you will love the reseeds of the BES. Get ready for a wonderful show with those!!

Drippy,
I know I got the seeds from your side of the border, and if you say I'm going to love it, then I am assured that I will. :O)

Mary and Ellen,
You will enjoy the Milkweed. Did you sow the pink or the white?

Piti,
The Epimedium sound interesting - maybe another alternative for my Hostas? I am replacing most of them and like the foliage of the E.

Northerner,
Be patient with the Buddleia in the spring. Sometimes mine don't show any signs of life until mid-June and then off they go!! My Siberian Wallflowers now reseed in the gardens. They are usually 50/50 on whether they are going to act in a biennial way.

StLGirl,
Ooooh, a Clematis. Now that will be special. :O)

tiffy,

I wished I could bring those beautiful large hostas back to Chicago. :-D Are you replacing them with deer resistant plants?

Here's Epimedium rubrum.
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This one is between a pink Bleeding Heart and a white Bleeding Heart. The leaves are very pretty year round. It blooms in late spring-early summer. Great for bridging spring bulbs and summer perennials. I have been adding it to the garden for the past few years, putting it any where I can fit it in. I have one next to a large clump of Hosta plantaginea, another next to Hosta 'Halcyon'.

Another recent addition to my garden is Mertensia virginica. I got some from a friend last year and begged her for several more this year. Got several seedlings from our spring plant swap too. Can't wait to see how many will make it past this winter. :-D

I didn't sow a whole lot this year, but I have a new pot of Malva sylvestris Mystic Merlin and one of Gaillardia - I think Tokajer, but I can't remember, LOL. Anyway, I am hoping if I can get them into the ground somewhere I will see blooms.

The Montauk daisy chunk I brought with me DID bloom - so did my Magpie aquilegia.

I had started some in SC that I couldn't bring with me, so some good friends of mine are looking forward to new perennial blooms. :)

Token,
Thanks for posting - gorgeous.
Mine are blue, and I've seen purpleish, but I love red flowers.

Tiffy -
My milkweed bloomed in yellow.

ellen

New perennials WS this year: Arizona Sun Gaillardia, and a white dianthus.

I also missed some FYF Hollyhocks this year, but they'll be established next year, so I'll pay attention and probably move them to a better spot. (I need more space...)

Tokajer- have wanted that one since I started WSing, but have never gotten around to getting seed. Will live vicariously through drippy on that one :)

Clematis stans. I sowed the seeds last winter and have about 6 8-inch-tall plants. But with the photo and description (see http://www.anniesannuals.com/plants/plant_display.asp?prodid=2088&account=none ), I can't wait for blooms

Himalayan blue poppy. :-)

My milkweed bloomed in yellow. The only yellow Milkweed I'm aware of is a cultivar of Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed), 'Hello Yellow'. I did not think this came true to seed. I would love to see a pic of yours!

This year was such a weird gardening year, with tendonitis that kept me from digging for FIVE months, that I don't know what to expect next year! I am looking forward to seeing how a lot of plants grow, most of them are not WS, but I finally got them planted in the ground this fall. For winter-sown, I will be watching Heliopsis, Guara (if it makes it through the winter), Mountain mint, and several different Asclepias.

I love the red Monarda too! (So do the hummingbirds.) It is a very vigorous grower so you should see a lot more blooms next year Token. This patch is trying to take over the hummingbird garden and the adjacent pathway -

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I planted out three hunks of red monarda. They've grown to a clump about the size of yours. I hope next year they really take over. The hummers need some early summer blooms in my yard.

Be careful what you wish for, hehe! That patch looked like yours last year. Next year I will probably have to give away 10 pots of it trying to keep it from swallowing its neighbors. That hummingbird garden is a nice rich 2 year old lasagne bed and the plants have grown like nuts.

Once the red Monarda blooms, the hummingbirds start coming around a lot (multiple x per day), and they also go crazy over the Lobelia cardinalis which blooms about a month later, and then the Salvia - Yvonnes and Lady in Red.

Nice Terrene. That's the effect I will be working on achieving in the next couple of years. Good solid stands of plants. :O)

Piti you are right about replacing the hostas. I may actually place them around the entrance to the house where the deers don't touch them until late in the season. Many will have to go since there is quite the spread. I do like the foliage of the E. The Mertensia sound familiar. I'll have to look it up.

Lois... Himalayans adorn my backyard garden. :O) They are truly beautiful! I hope they do return for you and bloom their beautiful sky blue.

Wow Kimka, just WOW!!

Drippy, I'll have to get your new address. We have to get those gardens going. :O) I LOVE mystic Merlin and grow it in my mother's gardens 3 hours away.

Ellen, Sounds like you may have gotten lucky with the Yellow Asclepias. I'm having a hard time establishing the orange, but it is coming along. :O)

Speaking of butterfly weed.....

I bought three bareroot of Gay Butterflies mix. One grew like crazy to around 2 1/2 feet, and bloomed lightly in boring white. The other two grew to around 8" tall, and bloomed in the orange. I'm thinking that the two orange ones were the "plain" butterfly weed, and not the gay butterflies I was supposed to be sent.

I was less than impressed with them, and would even think of ripping them out. I had them in a group on one side of my bird feeder, and planted a Black Knight Butterfly Bush on the other side. DH ran over the Black Knight with the lawnmower so it didnt even get a chance to grow :(

Does the butterfly weed get better once its established?

Is the orange kind slow growing?

Danielle

Flower addict - sounds like the nursery might have mixed up the plants. The white Milkweed is probably Asclepias incarnata 'Ice Ballet', a white cultivar of swamp milkweed. This is a beautiful milkweed, but is a moisture-loving plant (grows in wetlands). The Gay butterflies on the other hand, is Asclepias tuberosa, which is a prairie plant. It thrives in dry conditions and requires well-drained soil. The two don't really grow together.

If the Gay Butterflies are solid orange only, then they don't sound like the true cultivar, which is supposedly a mix of orange, red, and yellow. Yes they get better if they are happy - both of these plants in full bloom are lovely. Not to mention, they are fantastic nectar plants, and Monarch host plants, and attract lots of butterflies and pollinators.

Ice ballet -
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Gay butterflies, which is a mix of light/dark orange for me -
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I have the Ice Ballet and it is in full sun and soil which dries out on occasion. It is established so I dare not move it and it grows really nice. Winter sown a couple of years ago, it did not really do well in it's first couple of years but this past year was WOW!

The Tuberosa pictured by Terrene is wonderful. Again, in my gardens it took a couple of years to get established, but I'm quite happy with it.

In essence I think that in regards to these plants you have to let them go a couple of years to see the true potential. I have another few clumps of Cinderella which hit their fourth year this past summer and I was awed by them straight through 'til frost. :O)

It very well could be the Ice Ballet as it wilted a lot more than the other two did. I had to keep watering it. I dont know if this is because it is Ice Ballet or just wasnt established enough. I planted them in an area that gets full sun.

The other two bloomed in orange but not enough for me to tell if they were the plain variety. They only bloomed maybe 2 inches across. Im hoping they will do better next year.

Is this normal?...they have all turned yellow than brown at this point....Are they just going dormant for the winter?

I will give them a chance, and see how they do. However, if they fail to thrive I will not try these plants again.

Danielle

I love my A. tuberosas. Toughest plants I have.
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Karen

Does any of your 'Ice Ballet' attract aphids?
I had a few many, many years ago, but had to dig them out because of aphids.

KCQ is that yellow flower Heliopsis and is it WS? It's so pretty! I winter-sowed some this past year, they are still just small seedlings because I got them transplanted late, and I'm wondering if they might bloom next year?

Flower addict and pit, I'll be honest about the Milkweeds - they do have some issues. They emerge late, and die back relatively early. They frequently get aphids, although they don't cause any serious harm to the plants, they can be unsightly. Most of mine were plagued with some sort of wilt this year, and the bloom tips were killed off. The slugs had a field day on my small plant this year. Perhaps they shouldn't be in a prominent spot in the garden? But you'd be doing the Monarchs a favor to grow it.

I really enjoy raising Monarch butterflies, and that is the main reason why I grow so many. The link below is to my album on Raising Monarchs.

Female Monarch on 'Gay Butterflies' -
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Here is a link that might be useful: Raising Monarch butterflies

terrene- Thanks for the gorgeous pictures. You're just south of me, and I'm 'borderline' Zone 5 (b- more likely, and close to 6...who knows really; depends on which Hardy-map you're looking at), but I'm thrilled to see your tuberosa, which for whatever reason, I had it in my head that it was not hardy up here.
Guess I'll be adding that seed to my 'next' order from Swallowtail (assuming they have it).
Nice!

Just another bee balm pic. This is "Raspberry Wine," which was WS in 2007. It 'slept' that year, and 'crept' in 08, blooming 'short' at about 2 feet. This year was "leap" year, and filled out nicely (and is planning a silent takeover of the space from what I can see):

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Very pretty Monarda. I thought about adding it, but have decided to avoid all spreading plants (tell this to the Obedient plant in my garden).

I love seeing all the butterflies too. The Monarchs still come around to all my other flowers, and a large bright yellow butterfly. I do like butterfly weed, and maybe it will be better next year. I like to plant flowers that the hummingbirds and butterflies love. My toddler LOVES butterflies. A week ago one of the large yellow butterflies was going around to all the bright things in the yard hoping it was a flower. My daughter was wearing a bright pink shirt, and the butterfly landed right on her stomach. She about died, and was talking about it all day.

Danielle

tiffy,

I planted several varieties of milkweed, so hopefully will have pink, purple, orange, orange/red and maybe a white if I'm lucky.

Mary

mmqchdygg,

I LOVE the colour of your Rasp. Bee Balm!!! I'll have to see if I can get seeds of this one. Is it mildew resistant? Gorgeous!

Mary, Let us know how they do this coming year.