What native plants are you growing this year?

I have a digger wasp and a bunch of holes in my sand garden. It's been digging there for years. Something ate my only 2 humistratas. There was nothing left of them, so they couldn't have died. I had to bid for those seeds on ebay! Javi, the prerennis plants you gave me have flower buds. I have all the milkweeds that need full sun in a bed and I'm going to put the perennis, variegata, and exaltata into a bed with dappled sun. I transplanted the Tephrosia into the sandy bed and sowed more seeds of it. It looks fine. I'm going to keep at it this time, and eradicate the trumpet vine and morning glories forever! I think I found a couple small figwort plants.

Thanks for the bookmark, Skip...my new normal, I suppose. Glad to hear all your plants made it through the heat: yay, you get to leave the house! :)

Jay: Great to hear about the perennis -- most of my plants have so many seed pods dangling right now, I'm daily brow beating the milkweed bug nymphs to back off. The local FB milkweed/monarch group is starting another phase of their GrowOut, an all hands on deck effort to grow natives. Since I have so many perennis pods/seeds, I've offered to send them to folks if they send me an SASE. At least they'll go to good homes.

Iris: Crazy times on your mountain mint...amazing. These are daytime creatures, but I see a shadow .. and you have these planted in sun. Did you use a flash? Just wondering. What's new here? Hmmm...the 'cold' front that'll move through tonight will have temps in the bone chilling upper 60s tomorrow morning. Oh, the possibilities! Maybe I'll go turn a couple of compost bins. Something has been eating a ton of holes in my Turk's Caps, and some of the newer leaves are growing in crinkled and weird. I just pruned them back -- didn't think to take pics, but I should have. I was too upset. It's always something around here, it seems. Still just too quiet on the butterfly front. I'll keep plugging away.

There is nothing left?! Did you poke around for roots? Maybe they will grow back. My green milkweed is flowering again, how come I never see any seeds? I am wondering if the latifolia is ever going to flower. Wild petunia seedlings are popping up all over the place.

Javi, I used the “fill in” flash feature. Otherwise it would have looked like this one (had some of the same group, but didn’t bother uploading them to the iPad)

I also saw a rat! At least I think it’s a rat. A mouse can’t be that big. Where is the snake, Fox or something when you need it?!

Edited to say I am sorry about your Turks cap, Javi. The deer ate mine down to about 10 inches.

Oh, yeah! Forgot about this critter, a cicada killer wasp -- is that what you're talking about, Jay? DH was working in the garage last year and a giant wasp invaded his personal space. We've noticed them flying around the yard again this summer, and I found this one burrowing on the edge of the lawn. Didn't even notice it was hole #2 (see the dirt pile from #1 on the left?).

It kills bugs, spiders, and puts them in the holes. I think they're still alive, but rendered helpless.

I think they have tarantula hawks in Texas. There's a sphinx cat on my tomato plant.

Oh! I love Sphinx cats on tomato plants! Probably sounding a bit overly enthusiastic after looking at Facebook groups. If you are growing a garden for pollinators, why are you so happy your milkweed is being eaten down to nothing, but are mad about the tomatoes being eaten? Done with my rant.

I agree, Iris. Even in my own yard, I've decided if I'm going to grow crops, it's at my own emotional peril. :) I don't use chemicals any more, so any cats can have at my grape tomatoes. So far, so good, as the plants are currently untouched.

Oh, here's a happy update -- orange tree is doing great in its pot.

Just with the Giants would start depositing eggs.

This is looking great! My little lemon tree has fruit about that size. Always surprised it is doing so well since it is spending the winters in the garage.

A Monarch cat on a pink Tweedia? I was worried if whether my Tweedias would get pollinators. I guess they did. Anyone want seeds?

I will let the tomato worms eat my whole bush if they want to. I wonder if the will eat Daturas?

Jay, your plants are looking great! My neighbor moves her hornworms to my weedy datura. Still not certain if it is Jimson Weed. Should look it up. They don’t have any problem switching over.

Wow, Jay -- all your hard work and patience is truly paying off! And your tweedia looks amazing. I'm trying to germinate a some tweedia I received, but it's a very slow go. Must...have...blue...flowers! If I fail, I may need to hit you up for seeds. :)

I woke up to the first dry, cool morning in many months; so, I've been out since early morning and forced myself indoors right now to have breakfast...at 1 p.m. :) Will catch up on work emails, chow down on my muesli, and head back out. All the plants in the yard are breathing a collective sigh of relief.

All the milkweeds look good after the transplant. The viridis and viridiflora are barely hanging on so I'm giving thrm some shade. I think some of these seedlings suffered from the 100 degree temps, that's why I want to get them all in the ground asap.

Update on the speciosa (from seeds you sent me, Jay) -- mixed results, so I'm giving myself a solid C+. :)

We never got the rain I expected while I was away, so I definitely lost two to lack of water. Knowing how resilient MWs are, and given these grew to a spindly 4-5" before I left, I carefully dug around the stem and found tuberous growth. I transferred one to a yogurt cup + premium potting media (ProMix BX w/ myco + fungicide --purchased for a different project), and left this one in the ground:

(It's a super-duper zoom shot. Actual size ~ 1" long -- pink part is where the stem was.) I didn't remove this one from the ground as I noticed a good number of white feeder roots ~ 7-8" away. I didn't want to dig around too much and damage these, if the roots are potentially from the speciosa.) Fingers crossed.

This one's in a different part of the yard -- full afternoon sun, but it saw only filtered light for the past month or so until it could get situated. Still spindly, but stretched out, measures 9-10" tall -- with new growth at the base:

It still has that mottle leaf thing going on, which has been very typical of all my natives.

Here's another, planted in the same bed about 5' away:

Shorter, at ~ 5-6" tall, but also has new growth lower on the main stem.

I hope in the several months they've been in the ground, what's beneath the soil is in much better shape than what's above. :)

Hmmm? Your speciosas look entirely different from mine. Mine have wider and darker leaves. I think I know for sure which ones are speciosas, but some of mine are mixed up now and I'll have to ID them later. I'll take a picture of my speciosas tomorrow.

Unless I've completely reversed my labelling, these (orange utility flag!) are the asperula:

(Happy to see second growth/branch in pic #2!). So, do I have them reversed, Jay? I guess time will tell when they DON'T die and they DO flower.

Ha ha! Guess I will see you all on Name that Plant, soon. Any idea what this is? It’s coming out right at the base of one of my citriodora, so maybe it came with it in the pot. Not seeing anything like it anywhere else.

kind of messy looking thing, isn’t it?

I think I have asperula, but I'm not sure. The sharpee wore off, my bad. My 2 latifolias look good.

I took advantage of the good weather today, Iris, and your narrow leaf mountain mint has a new home!

This is late afternoon dappled sun -- will get sun from morning til mid-afternoon. Gotta scope out the perfect spot for the beautiful broadleaf mint. :)

So Jay, just wondering. No laundry hampers in your yard to keep the Monarch caterpillars safe this year?

Javi, make sure the broadleaf one has enough space in a year or so. How are your passion vines? There is a big patch of grass in my yard that can’t be mowed. It looks messy (can’t see it from anywhere for neighbors to complain), but moving all these caterpillars to the main plants would be a real pain right now.

Thanks for the reminder, Iris. I'm actually taking out two pink Knockout Roses (blue circle below) that are serving no purpose in this yard, and I'm penciling in that spot for the broadleaf, I think.

There will be nothing planted within 10' to the left/rear of it, and I'll remove that sage to the right, holding up the passiflora incarnata (purple line shows where it's extending). Pink line marks the left edge of the P. foetida.

Here's the P. foetida in its entirety -- really spreading out, as I just removed the two buddleia in front of it:

With passionvines, the mountain mint and Gregg's mistflower in that right-side bed , it'll be my "have at it - no boundaries" pollinator/host area. :) The incarnata is going strong as ever -- I can always smell the fragrance now, and I can't say I like it. Reminds me of too-strong, bad perfume. :/ I think I saw a Gulf frit yesterday, but it only nectared on the tithonia...wasn't at all interested in either passiflora.

And all those little plastic bottles and flags mark Jay's milkweeds.

Ha ha. I am not sure what kind of Passion flower it is since mine are all mingled together, but boy it sure smells. Can't stick my nose close to check, they are all very popular with the carpenter bees.

Yes, the carpenter bees! I understand they're use as pollinators, but it irks me to think they obtain nectar by biting holes into the flowers. Doesn't that ruin them for the bees and butterflies? As annoyed as I am, I leave them alone: I hear they have a painful bite.

Very, very odd occurrence here this past week: we have been inundated by robins. Up until last year, I maybe saw a robin or two once, maybe twice in the spring. That's it. This spring, more started to appear, but only here and there. All day, droves of 10-12 or more can be seen all around the back yard, pecking for earthworms and whatever. Are they a nuisance? I'm having Tippi Hedren flashbacks.

No cages this year. The birds need to feed their babies too., and all these new plants take up all of my time. I was really geared up with collecting seeds starting early last year because I wasn't able to do much gardening for a couple years. I did throw some plants together, but they weren't the natives that I really wanted. I'll probably have to use the bed with the annuals to grow more natives in the future. The bins are a cheap plastic and are already crumbling. I'd like to have something more like Skip's hoop house, but I don't think I have the patience to build one. I'm limiting the seeds I will sow, but just how many species will I not be able to live without this time lol? I'm mulching the front now.

You inspired me last week with your mulching, Jay, so I dug into my Compost Bin #1 -- not nearly finished compost, but broken down, black, smelling good and musty, and perfect for mulch! What a fantastic feeling to just dive into my bin and grab as much free mulch as I want. Paying off...finally!

ETA: "Limiting the seeds I sow.".....mmm-hmmm...right! ;)

The carpenter bees just force their way into flowers they can’t otherwise get to. Penstemon in some cases for example. They seem to be the perfect size for Passion flowers though. What else would be big enough to get the pollen rubbed on them? Replaced the porch railings with vinyl and the boards of the back porch with Trex though.

I have a couple of robins around. The biggest number of them is here in Fall during migration. Haven’t been attacked yet. That movie gave me nightmares. I was still a kid watching it though.

Jay, your annual bed is beautiful. The Zinnia and others will probably reseed, so it will have to stay your annual bed. There must be room for one more flower bed for the future stuff....

So, should I take better pictures of that mystery weed tomorrow for Name that Plant? What would even be the title? It just looks kind of like a mess.

I don't think you need a creative, special title, Iris. Mine are usually pretty boring. :) "Need plant ID - South Carolina - zone blah-blah"

Thanks, Javi. I will try to get some better pictures tomorrow. Hopefully there will be a cloud eventually. This plant is so busy, it’s kind of hard to focus.

I saw a swallowtail and red admiral at the old garden that I just mulched. I think it was a black but it was flying fast, and sometimes it looked like a giant. I mulched all the front and moved one popcorn cassia so it would have more space. The Tithonias are starting to bloom, but they are all under 2' tall? I've heard that Monarchs won't lay eggs on the blue Tweedia, but there's a cat on my pink Tweedia.

Maybe the tithonia will have a growth spurt -- all the growth appears to be at an accelerated rate. Pretty standard, right? I didn't know tweedia came in pink, too. BTW, how much sun does your blue tweedia receive?

Time for update from the North. Temps in the low 80's now(normal) and low humid. Echinacea just about to start blooming which is a little bit late but not much. Been carefully checking my young Dogwoods for Sawflies and only found one other bush all chewed up. Blueberries starting to ripen so put screening around them. Found one cheeky Catbird inside the screen today and sure gave him/her an earful. I ordered a "Wildlife Sanctuary" metal sign off eBay so I can proudly show to everyone that it just isn't a yard full of weeds here. My neighbor's golf course green lawn not withstanding.

Adams/Johns Elderberry in bloom, about 7' tall

Mass of Monarda

Michigan Lily

Michigan Lily more on the red side(for seeds)

Actaea 'white dolls eyes'

With all the garden beauty going on, how could anyone possibly think your yard is nothing but weeds?! Your weather sounds absolutely perfect...I'm longing for the days, maybe in November.

The Monarda look so green and healthy! Love the lilies. Going to look them up. I have the wildlife federations “backyard habitat” sign on my mailbox post. It’s been there for the past 20 years. I have the Monarch waystation sign, too. But it’s laying somewhere inside the house. Back then with the wildlife federation one, I actually had to send in real pictures to show I have everything in place. Food, water, shelter. With the waystation it’s just filling stuff out online and pay. Nobody checks, so it’s not as meaningful to me.

Dandy, nice pictures! The lilies are awesome. Javi, my Tweedias get around 6 or 7 hours of sun I think. There are 123 different Tweedia species. I wonder if there's a red one? It was like nothing was growing for the longest time and now everything is big.

Looks awesome Dandy! (And everyone else who has been posting the last couple days).

Iris, thats funny about the monarch waystation sign. A nursery 5-10 miles down the road has that sign and advertises it on their website. I was expecting to see a good sized garden or a field of milkweed and nectar plants when I got there, but it was one border barely bigger than the patch I have, and with just A. tuberosa and some rudbeckia and echinacea. But hey, I have monarchs now so I guess every small garden counts.

We got electric back middle of yesterday, that ruined my plans to eradicate weeds and install rainbarrels during my 3 days off. Since my daughter's daycare was closed with no power, I was taking care of her all day, cleaning up all the camping stuff, downed branches, and running back and forth to my moms house 20 miles away to shower and eat.

In other news, Rudbeckia laciniata is flowering, so is Pycnanthemum incanum, and Coeropsis is reblooming after deadheading. All the giant Agastache and Veronicastrum got knocked down by the wind. One of my mystery plants is very close to flowering, its about to push out pedals, I'll check after work later.

Skip, is that the mountain mint blooming on the left side of the porch. The laciniata splays out when it blooms and you can see through it. Sometimes I clip back my Baptisia after it blooms and it fills out a little and handles it well.

NO MORE BARE SOIL!

I'm connecting the 2 areas and planting out.

A future focal point!

The rattlesnake hawkweeds are pushing out a second flush of blooms, so more seeds and more plants of these rare, hard to find specimens. The flowers haven't opened, I'll try again later. The plants stand out a lot better with the mulch I think. We are now having the longest stretch of days without rain in 7 months. Everything is still wet and all the flooding hasn't subsided yet. I had to move some plants from dappled into more full sun to make the nursery bed for the variegatas, exaltatas and perennis. I moved a Culver's root, 2 blue Lobelias, A Geliopsis, a few obediant plants, and I also moved my blue flag iris and combined it with a blue flag vollenteer that I found. All these natives need full sun anyway, so they should do much better now. I have my honeyvine milkweed planted nearby on the trellis and it looks good. The nursery beds have deep, loamy soil. I planted a few other things in there with the milkweeds. I added the 2 surviving Gillenias. I lost one during the heat wave. The 2 Amprpha fruticosas which are looking good and growing much faster than the leadplant seedlings do. I also planted 3 Desmodium canadense. I hope I keep getting more caterpillars on all these legumes.

Skip, I am sorry about the long power outage. What a pain. Does this happen often in your area? Your yard is looking great though.

Remember that 'C. procera in an old sock' experiment I started several weeks ago. The plant's looking good from the top:

Check out what's happening with the roots down below, which is a good 7-8" beneath the soil surface:

While this is terrific, I guess I need to carefully cut the sock away so I don't damage these roots.

Someone from CA sent me some A. fascicularis seeds, which water germinated only two weeks ago. Check these babies out, also in a sock:

See the roots?!

And I guess this is the tap root beneath it all:

I guess I'll need to get potting-up soon.

PS Iris: I just took out the two Knockouts...good riddance! :) Do you think a space of ~ 10' wide by 4' deep is enough space for the broadleaf MM to spread out?

Four days (!) since my last zizotes update -- crazy new growth continues.

Yes Jay the mountain mint is on the right in the pic with the porch. I cut the seed pods off the Baptisia this year but leave it alone otherwise. The Rudbeckia laciniata was standing straight up and thick until the 60-70mph winds came through. Your place is looking good!

Iris, we dont get many power outages like that. This was the most widespread disruption since 2012. There were enormous trees that got uprooted in some areas, it looked like a tornado came through.

Javi, your experiment looks successful. Do you use any fertilizer or just what comes in the potting soil?

Looking good javi. I'd like some oenotheroides seeds if you get any and some fascicularis seeds if you get any Iris. I'll have to research whether they will be hardy here. I saw another swallowtail fly past the rue, but it didn't land. I hate knockout roses.

Jay: I've got you down for both zizotes/oenotheroides and fascicularis -- workin' on it. ;)

Skip: For these little cups/socks, I use only the potting mix. I must say, though, the seedlings I've been growing in ProMix are coming along much more quickly than in my Kellogg + sand + perlite. Perhaps my mix is too heavy for young seedling roots -- will go grab some straight peat moss and mix in with my Kellogg: cannot afford to shell out that kind of $$ for ProMix.

Wow, Jay, you are getting somewhere. Your housemate must be pleased by now.

Love your sock adventures, Javi! They mountain mint isn’t that huge... year three from a 4 inch pot. Ok, the 18 inch ruler as scale is a bit weird, but that’s what I had on me to take pictures of the mystery plant.

Not native, but I still love it. So do the hummingbirds.

also had to watch what I was doing. Spent most of the day watering little trees.

I really should get a different color of water hoses.

Thanks, Iris. Wow, after only three years and one tiny starter? I'm gauging your grove to be about 8' wide and about as deep. Well, if it crawls over to the neighbor's side, consider it revenge for the passion vine that will never go away. :)

It’s not that hard to just pull the stuff up on the sides you don’t want it to go. It doesn’t do the crazy spearmint runner stuff. And you can just mail them to unsuspecting garden web people......In case you didn’t get my reply, I did get your message from Friday yesterday. I saw at least 10 Tiger Swallowtails at once today. Yay!

Wow, your world is truly a'flutter! (I did receive your message and replied...at least once. Houzz is having a difficult time with that conversation, I think.)

Since we were talking hornworms and my “weed”. I went out last night to take a picture of the flowers so I could finally look it up. I mean, it’s been there for years. Was a bit too early. The bees could not wait for them to open, either.

Whoa that's gorgeous!

I just found 2 species of Aralia at the woods. I thought there wasn't any.

I started digging to in the front yard to expand the planting area. My back was sore, so I took a field trip.

The other prairie. Things are blooming earlier because of the rain I guess.

Silky wild rye and something purple.

Asclepias verticillata.

Canada wild rye.

Allium stellata.

Andropogon gerardii, big bluestem, turkey feet.

Love your field trips! It’s always so weird to see these plants (like nodding onion) in the wild, since I never do around here. So thanks for taking me along!

Awesome pics! I really like that woodland sunflower. I can picture the deer hopping my fence to eat it.

I am ready to Google Rain dances. Maybe that will work. Watered the little trees on one side of the backyard today, the other side tomorrow. My husband has been in Korea/ China for the past 12 days, so all kinds of aquarium problems have been popping up. Got some nasty anemone rash to prove it. Also had to evict a huge bullfrog from the pond filter. He will be back tomorrow night. (husband, not the frog) Leaving Sunday for Brazil. On top of that, I am house/ cat sitting across the street for a week starting Saturday. 4 cats (2 need medication twice a day, all are kind of dysfunctional ), pool and lots of sprinklers that usually malfunction one way or the other. I am the neighbor to stick my finger in the ground every other plant, Javi would be proud. So put me out of my misery:) Meanwhile the morning glories and cypress vines are thriving.

Wow, he travels a ton! What on earth are you doing sticking your hand near the anemone, Iris? Hope it's not too painful. Wish I had a tip on a good rain dance: obviously nothing's working on this end, either. Have also been poking my finger into the dirt here and there: absolutely cannot believe how dry things are, despite my daily watering -- and I stand at each spot for a long time. I guess the soil just got to dried out when I was gone, and it's slow to recover. The three rose bushes I dug out where bone dry about 6" down. No worry about anything dying here due to over watering! Same time tomorrow....

I like the woodland sunflowers too. Don't the deer eat your H. lacianata? They ate all mine to the ground. It's getting close to 90 again tomorrow, so I need to make sure everything is watered, but the ground is still pretty saturated still, except for the surface. I'm not sure which Aralias those are. The one with the wider leaves looks like racemosa, and the other one looks like spinoza, but I couldn't feel any spines on the stem, so I'll have to go back and look at it when it's sunny.

Lookee the beautiful sight I woke up to -- my red porterweeds decided to wake up, and in fine fashion at that!

These are from cuttings that Rhonda/FL sent me last fall, and I managed to root them all (planted three and gave several others away). I've been waiting all year for this to happen and have been staring at long, green spikes for months.

Jay, the deer dont eat my Rudbeckia laciniata, but they eat the Helianthus maximiliani. The rudbeckia have rough-feeling leaves which they normally dont normally prefer.

It looks like only 2 of the Anaphalis seedlings survived transplanting, and 1 is half dead. I'll try seeds again this winter. Three of the tiny Asclepias verticillata you sent me have flowers. I tried to take a picture but my camera never focuses now (its a conspiracy to make me buy a new phone!). 10 of the wingstem plugs are just about ready to plant, thats pretty much all of them. The elephants foot is getting there too. The pipevine I potted up is growing well.

Javi, those porterweeds and the cassia look really nice!

Pipevines are looking robust, Jay -- what type?

Javi its Aristolochia macrophylla

That name is under dispute lol! Skip that's fricking awesome some of those worled milkweeds bloomed. What's the new genus for Aristolochia serpentaria? Hedotheca?

You guys are the only ones keeping up with disputed names. :) I do well to remember the undisputed ones.

I don't know if it's just coincidence, but butterflies are all around this morning: Gulf frit, Giant swallowtail in its strobe-like glory, sulphur and Monarch. None is actually feeding on the red porterweed, oddly enough, but I wonder if the huge red plumes are visually attractive -- I do realize eventually I'll have butterflies nectaring on the PW. The carpenter bees have already been at it -- they don't count. :)

Isotrema macrophyllum and Endodeca serpentaria

I don’t even remember many of the undisputed names. There is currently a Monarch laying eggs on really worn out nasty looking common milkweed. Probably going to ask if I should do something about that on the butterfly forum. It’s not like there isn’t tastier looking around. Timing is unusual. I just looked, last year I did see the first Summer one on August 23.

How far away is the closest healthy milkweed, Iris? If it's within several feet, IME, the little hatchlings will go exploring if they're not happy with where they are.

This Gulf frit held still long enough for a nice shot:

A zinnia seed sprouted from last year's batch, and I think this is the first one I've had that didn't end up with powdery mildew and/or eaten away by spider mites.

Beautiful picture! Got caterpillars? The next milkweed is about 10 feet. That would be swamp, same distance in a different direction are Poke, Sullivan and aquatic. The “good” common milkweed is about 20 feet away. I cut a patch of nasty looking ones a while ago to be ready with that when the Monarchs are supposed to be back. So there are healthy looking common ones. She did have damaged wings. Flew well, but not as gracefully. So maybe she just wanted to get the business over with.

And the new growth on the patch I cut back.

Nice butterflies. I saw a tiger swallowtail and a monarch in my yard yesterday. My Apios is trying to make a comeback

I noticed a wild grape, maybe fox grape, in the weed hedge thing between my neighbors place and mine. Its a good wildlife plant at least. Maybe if I keep messing with the japanese honeysuckle the grape will win out.

I'm thinking the hatchling will be okay. If you're worried, check on it in about 3-4 days; when it hatches, just transfer it over to the common. Or, go ahead and pluck the leaf/stem holding the egg and bring it indoors until it hatches. Then transfer it.

I saw the/a frit laying eggs, so hopefully this is the beginning of a wave. The nibble holes I see are weeks old, so it's unlikely any new cats are under the leaves.

I have lots of Monarch eggs, will keep an eye on them and transfer. This milkweed really doesn’t look good. I am so far behind, otherwise I would have cut this patch, too.

Skip, by now even some of the honeysuckle is looking very wilted in my yard. Too bad it seems to always bounce back after a rain.

Skip, did you break down and get a new phone? Wondering why your pics are suddenly better. Nice pictures everybody. I spent the whole day watering and looking after the plants. I have to keep making the rounds with so many transplants, or else I can lose a plant really quick. Also a few plants weren't happy where they were, so I moved them. Javi, the picture of the frit is beautiful! I'm thinking that I had a couple Asclepias arenarias and I think there's only 1 now, but the milkweed seedlings are handling the transplant well. I just realised today that I don't really have any plants with blue flowers in the 2 annual beds. I sowed seeds for Salvia farinacea, Linum lewisii, and Tahokia daisies, but none of those seeds germinated for me. I have a couple Amsonia illustris seedlings. I was watching the digger wasp today. She was backing into a hole she dug, so I'm thinking she was laying an egg. I'm seeing more crickets lately. I don't know if the mulch is attracting them, but I like crickets a lot. There used to be a lot more grasshoppers around. I wish I had more.

Skip, I read that Desmodium canadense likes sandy soil. Do you grow your plants in regular soil? Your Apios is looking good. The Apios seedlings are growing a lot slower than the plants from tubers.

I didnt get a new phone just took a little more time and more pictures until one came out in focus.

the desmodium is in regular soil

That's awesome!

The oak shade garden. A vollenteer tall bellflower grew in this spot.

The Collinsonias have branched out, and are forming buds.

This is all that's left of my 3 Rudbeckia laciniatas. They are e everywhere at the park, and the deer don't touch those.

There is still a lot of space to fill in this garden. I need plants for deep shade. At some point I need to take a couple lower branches off the oak, which will let in a little more sun.

The weeds are out of control by the shed. I want to clear them all out and put more plants here. The grapevine is all eaten up. It might be a sphinx cat? I'll have to be careful.

The Aralia spinosa is putting on some fresh growth.

I found these 2 swamp milkweeds growing by the shed. They look happy there, so I've decided to make this spot one massive swamp milkweed clump and put all the incarnatas I have in 1 place. Unfortunately none of the white 'Ice Ballet' germinated.

I planted a few Cunila in the oak garden.

The east side of the house. Another slow moving project that a lot of time. A lot of space to fill here too.

I'm wondering if houzz changed something. Usually by now there would be trouble seeing pictures? I'm not complaining. O heard banana peels repel aphids. I'm going to try it. I need to make a dishsoap solution to spray on my milkweed seedlings.

Skip and Jay, everything is looking great! And so green! By now, even some day lilies look pretty much dead (didn’t water them though). Doesn’t look like there will be rain anytime soon. As for the house sitting, I don’t think she left enough “cat” food. Yay for still seeing pictures. Hope you didn’t jinx it again, Jay!

Jay your plants are looking good, nice growth. I was walking around the park again this afternoon. This time I gathered a lot more blueberries, something I think was Lyonia ligustrina (looked like a giant arching blueberry bush with dried berries on it), more dry Clethra flowers from last year, wild grape, and viburnum? I made a note of where some fruiting Sassafras is growing so I can go back and pick the berries when they ripen more, and saw a nice swamp white oak to go back to for acorns.

Is this Viburnum dentatum?

Ignore the smilax eating it.

My neck was hurting from looking up at the trees haha. Think I found some blackgums too.

What is this tree?

Skip-I discovered my Viburnum is no longer named dentum. It's V. refinasquinum! Who asked for that? Not sure what yours is, those leaves are a lot larger than mine but do have serrated edges. Save those seeds.

Skip, Betula populifolia? Yes that's dentatum or refinancifolia? I can't find any proof that the name was changed. Looks like your Viburnum got eaten up. Good job with the seed collecting! I like Smilax a lot. It's really cool!

O...M...G....pouring rain -- yippeee!!!!!!!!!

Lucky you!

Never mind that I just ran all the sprinkler zones yesterday and soaked the beds about an hour ago, in anticipation of zero rain. Watch: now I'm gonna lose plants due to soggy roots! :P

Oopsy!

Javi, I will take some flopped over plants for some rain. It’s starting to look like Fall here.

Got a bunch of new Fritillary today!

Thats a shame about those trees Iris, hope you get some rain soon. Otherwise you'll have to start growing cactus instead.

Nice butterflies, to add to the bug pics...

Great black wasp?

Iris, beautiful frits! I don't get them up here. A female Monarch was laying eggs on all the milkweeds. Most of them already have cats. The digger wasp has gone crazy and dug several holes. I need to take a picture. It's very respectful and doesn't harm any of the little plants in the sand garden. I hope you get some rain. I don't think we are getting any more rain for another week. I got used to not having to water when there was all the rain.

Skip what kind of mountain mint is that? I like that species! I don't know if you have checked this out already, but there are a few different species of Viburnums, that have leaves like the shrub you found. It may not be dentatum, but some close species. The dentatum name was never changed. The species Dandy mentioned Viburnum refinesqueanum is a different species called downy arrowwood. Actually the true dentatum isn't native to Minnesota, but V. refinesqueanum is. Viburnum refinesqueanum only gets 6 feet. Viburnum dentatum can reach 15 feet. There are also 2 subspecies of V. dentatum, Viburnum dentatum var dentatum, and Viburnum dentatum var. lucidum. You will have to closely examin your shrub to figure out which species or subspecies. This link has some clues.

These are growing along the deer path.

This is a natural spring coming out of the side of the hill. It's not my property tho, but if it was, I'd plant some natives in there.

https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/south_arrow.html

https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/raf_arrowwood.html

It's P. incanum, hoary mountain mint. I'll have to see if I can find that Viburnum again, I only noticed it by the blue berries sticking out of the Smilax. You literally couldn't see the rest of the shrub. Whats the plant with the flowers in your picture?

I like the wide, felty leaves of that miuntain mint. I'd love some seeds! The plant in the picture is Stachys tenuifolia I think. It's a native called hedge nettle. I'm pretty sure that's what it is, but I put it on name that plant to make sure. Some of my Solomon's seals have big berries if anyone wants some. They require double dormancy. I have the P. commutatum, the 4' subspecies of P. biflorum. I have 2 Nabalus plants getting ready to flower. One of them is almost 6 feet tall. It just rained real good and the temps are going to be lower for a few days, so it's a short window to plant more stuff. I'm making a list of all the plants I want to collect seeds from, and where to find them. I should try to keep records of the dates these seeds become ripe too. I just noticed my Agrimony isn't native here, but it is in Minnesota and Oklahoma so go figure?

https://www.google.com/search?q=james+woodworth+prairie&oq=james+woodw&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j0l2.6596j0j7&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#trex=m_t:lcl_akp,rc_f:nav,rc_ludocids:6979785279514859736,rc_q:James%2520Woodworth%2520Prairie%2520Preserve,ru_q:James%2520Woodworth%2520Prairie%2520Preserve

If you look at the website, you can see their native species list. It's a good one.

Love you mint, Skip! Don’t think I have that one. Have to look it up. They are really attracting interesting critters.

Jay, you got more rain?! I am jealous. Sharing my misery. Ok, the Sumac has a pretty color. But nor for July.

No mowing....

the places I am watering the heck out of have some bright spots

Wow its looking extra crispy there. Is the whole region experiencing a drought or are you in some kind of rain shadow?

Here's the same sumac species from my trip to the park the other day, for comparison.

In 2016 or 2017 it did not rain all summer and it was hot. 20 miles north was getting regular rain showers and thunderstorms, and further south in Maryland and Delaware, they were getting excess rain and flooding. I read something recently about dry summers being a regular, although unpredictable occurrence in the Pinelands here. Hope your weather doesnt turn into a trend.

It has gotten worse year by year it seems. The weatherman said last week that we are about 4 inches short for July. But he also said the areas that didn’t see the pop up thunderstorms are worse. I didn’t get any. Seems the mountains to the west of me make everything brake up. Sorry I am whining, but it is kind of depressing. Seems the wild black cherries are having the hardest time of all the big trees.

Jay-what's the meaning for the specific epithet rafinesquianum? (mn wildflower spelling)

Got 1 and 1/4 inch rain yesterday. Sorry I can't share it with everyone. About 4 inches total for the month of July. Echinaceas are starting to bloom and the Button Bush is having buttons too. I was so worried that the tips all froze off in January.

Dandy, I don't know the exact meaning of that epithet, but it might mean downy, because that species is called downy arrowwood. That's probably the species growing around your place. I know lanuginosa means downy too. I don't know latin. I just google some names and get info. It rained here pretty good this morning. I saw a lot of the system heading your way. This was the first year that I ever had blooming vollunteer Echinaceas. Do you grow your buttonbush in regular soil or moist soil?

Dandy, I think the Viburnum species was just named after some guy named Rafinesque. That's why they call it Rafinesque's arrowwood. It just sounds like it should have a Latin meaning lol. I know nothing about that guy! Only that he was an eccentric genious and part time botanist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_Samuel_Rafinesque 

https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/raf_arrowwood.html

I hope you get rain Iris.

http://www.scdrought.com/current.html

Whats going on? I found a new (to me) caterpillar. I think its a leopard moth caterpillar, on Vernonia noveboracensis

The iron weed is in normal mesic soil within the root range of a silver maple, in a little shade, which is probably why its so small.

I have not seen this caterpillar before, so I don’t really know. But I can tell you what is going on. You are creating a great habitat for all these different kind of critters. So of course they show up. Congratulations! I had this one hanging out on my porch the whole day.

That is a cool one! What kind is it?

We were at the county fair the other day watching a pig racing show, but there was a conspicuously large butterfly or moth on the fence around the pig track. It was a solid cream/yellow color on the upper wings with more of a solid orange color on the lower wing, does that ring any bells as to what it might have been? Even my daughter and other people noticed it.

Mine is a white lined Sphinx. No idea about yours. Next rainy day, I am going to dig around in the boxes for my guide books. Obviously I thought renovations would be done by the time I need them. A pig race?! Weird observation house sitting. The ashy sunflowers across the street are already in full bloom. Mine are going to take at least another week. How come? I guess their yard is a bit more protected by having a wooden fence and more trees surrounding it. They came from my yard originally. Getting about the same amount of sun.

When I created this sandy bed , I had no idea that I was making the perfect nesting ground for digger wasps.

There were 2 wasps today. I don't know if they were both females. They want me to keep my distance, and they won't let me water. I hope my 3 little Ipomopsis seedlings can put up with them. I like them. I've had mud wasps before too.

I have a new Opuntia pad. Just one pad. The trick is to wear thick rubber gloves when touching it. I just noticed a new sucker starting from the wooly pipevine. It's what I was hoping for, so maybe no reason to start cuttings yay!

These milkweed seedlings are in dappled shade. Here is where I have the perennis, variegata, exaltata, and ovalifolia.

This is the Manfreda hardy Agave blooming. Not very showy, but I have an Agave in Illinois, that's the point lol. I need a lot more Liatris of all species. A swallowtail was on these a couple days ago. The bed in the backround is where the other milkweed seedlings are. Tuberosa, arenaria, stenophylla, speciosa, viridis, latifolia, viridifolia, incarnata, ect, ect.

The 2 latifolia seedlings with some aphids.

Some kind of lily maybe?

I wonder what eats Smilax. You know they cut all the vegetation along the sides of the canal path and they completely wiped out the rare and beautiful Clematis viorna vines. I couldn't even find enough left to collect seeds. All I have is some cuttings I took, and they aren't a sure thing.

More unknown plants.

Woodland sunflowers blooming on the other side of the canal. I've only seen 1 Aralia racemosa, and 1 Aralia spinosa here so far. I busted diwn some invasive honeysuckles and other plants so they can get more light and hopefully bloom and make seeds. My Vernonia noveboracensis seeds didn't germinate, but I have 1 Vernonia lettermannii seedling. The bladderpod seeds still aren't ready. My Apios has a bunch of flower buds forming.

Woodland sunflowers blooming on the other side of the canal. I've only seen 1 Aralia racemosa, and 1 Aralia spinosa here so far. I busted diwn some invasive honeysuckles and other plants so they can get more light and hopefully bloom and make seeds. My Vernonia noveboracensis seeds didn't germinate, but I have 1 Vernonia lettermannii seedling. The bladderpod seeds still aren't ready. My Apios has a bunch of flower buds forming.

https://www.butterflyidentification.org/moths-by-state-listing.php?reach=New%20Jersey

Dappled shade: for a while, anyway -- danged sun keeps moving on me, and then my stuff fries.

Jay, that’s great you are having a bare patch of soil for the wasps. And probably the bees. I saw some tiny bees going into holes in dead stems from the wild bergamot and pokeweed. Something else to think about when cutting that stuff off. Going to look closer look at the other pictures later.

Jay, all your milkweeds are looking great. I am still trying to find the cactus in your picture. What is the light green stuff in the water? Algae dying off? Just one of my iron weeds has not been eaten by the deer. It’s really tall, and also very droopy. At this point I really can’t keep up with watering everything. Survival of the fittest. Or follow Skip’s suggestion to just plant cacti.

about Liatris. I thought this was one. Or I thought I planted one there. Is it? Looks so different.

That doesn't look like any Liatris I've seen.

I think this is a native bee

Skip, I think this is a fly. Bee mimic though.

Oh duhh, Syrphus fly maybe?

I would say Syrphidae, yep. I had this weird slug like thing identified on “Insects” not long ago as larvae of one of them. Found something similar today. Really useful since they do eat aphids.

as for my maybe not liatris, I hope I can still dig around for the tag tomorrow. I am sure it was from my Almost Eden “Summer Sale” liatris spree. Kind of Jay’s mission to ad different kinds. Doesn’t really look like a weed. Doesn’t match anything they have currently available either though.

I saw those larvae on my common milkweed! I like the thought of them eating aphids.

There you go!

Well. The tag says Liatris aspera. Huh.

The flowers remind me of gnaphalium or cudweed. Doesnt look right compared to pics of Liatris aspera online. Ughh, now you have reminded me of Liatris, I might have to make a trip to the nursery for Liatris scariosa

Guess I should take some more pictures for Name that plant. I don’t have scariosa, should look it up.

The leaves kind of look like Liatris, with their white middle leaf vein, but that species isn't supposed to branch, and yours has branches everywhere. If you take more pictures, I would water the plant first, so it looks natural and not wilted. The second plant I have no idea. I'm starting to find ladybug alligators. There are 12 species of Liatris native to Illinois. I'm getting all them, just not all at once lol.

Iris, I was going to ask if the deer ever ate those 'Liatris aspera' ? Maybe that could make them branch? It does have big leaves for a Liatris species.

I can’t say if the deer eat it. Since my plant is probably not aspera and I ordered just the one. They do eat the other ones though. I am still not seeing the orange aphids. Tons of other kinds on other plants though. Weird, the orange ones are usually the biggest pain.

If you guys have time to put eyes and minds on these pics, I'd appreciate it. Remember that issue I had with my Turk's Cap (started from cuttings, have been planted in the yard for months and have come along beautifully -- lush, large, normal leaves). Then just a couple of weeks ago, I noticed all the new growth was growing in very crinkled and weird. Didn't think to take a photo, and just pruned them back -- figured something nasty happened while I was away, and cutting back was a way to start fresh.

Well, the new growth is looking danged ugly once again -- doesn't appear anything is spreading to or affecting the original growth as those leaves are perfectly normal. Any ideas? TIA

Here's the underside of the leaves -- no discernible pests, scale, etc. Not the best pic, but I noticed up and down the stems what almost seems like something has abraded the surface, leaving it kind of scraped/rough and light colored. I've run my fingers along these areas, and nothing 'powders off' -- unless it's some sort of disease just barely beneath the stem surface tissue. It doesn't appear as bright white as in the pic, but the lightening is definitely noticeable.

I don't know what it could be, but all of my common milkweeds are doing the same thing.

Ugh, Jay. Sorry to see this. I don't know if you remember my post in early spring, regarding (cucumber) mosaic virus quite likely hit my passiflora incarnata Incense, but I've been holding my breath as I monitored for spread. I think indicative of CMV is that new growth is malformed/crinkly and yellow -- not sure that end-crinkling of mature leaves is due to CMV. Not sure.

Javi, I have no idea. Going to try to do some googling later. As for Jay’s milkweed, I am also clueless. Milkweed yellows affects the whole plant and makes for weird flowers, right?

Just got a rain shower. A whopping 0.10 inches. Didn’t help anything really, but it settled some dust. Hoping for some more.

You can go to the Garden Clinic Forum. They might be able to give you more info.

I'll do that later...you guys are always so knowledgeable! :p I realize it's almost impossible to diagnose something like this on the internet. Even if it is CMV, would need to send samples out to the lab (or pay prohibitive $$$ for a lab test kit).

Ha, I wish I had knowledge of these things. The radar shows all kinds of green dots, but they are going in the wrong direction. My trees and other plants look worse by the day.

Jay, how are the sicklepots? Javi, didn’t you have eggs on your popcorn cassia? Sicklepots are the busiest of the Sennas.

They are blending in so well! This one not so much.

Going to check if my pictures are useable for Name that Plant. There is swamp sunflower taking over in this corner, so it’s hard to move around.

Such coooool cats you're taunting me with, Iris. They are gorgeous and have obviously found some living green to feast on. I did have several tiny sulphur cats sequestered on a branch, protected by a tulle bag a while back. I'll periodically flip a leaf over to check, and found one last week. It's been so hot, I can't spend too much time looking...but the bags are still on there. Judging by the number of unmunched leaves still on the branch, I don't have high hopes at all. By now, the cats would be huge and I'd easily spot them.

Well, that’s where I spend a lot of time with the water hose. There even is a patch of sicklepot all the way down by the brush pile I keep watered. Saw some tiny caterpillars on it. It would probably be easier to just move them. Yay, my plant turned out to be what it is supposed to be for once! Interesting. I looked at so many google images.

So far the only problems with turk’s cap in Texas I am finding are powdery mildew and Mealybugs.

Doing a happy dance right now. Thunderstorm with rain!

I think this guy is toast, those are parasitic wasp eggs on it right?

I think they are actually already the cocoons. But yeah, he is a goner.

My sicklepots look good, but nothing has eaten them yet.

I've dealt with mealybugs on indoor orchids, so it's definitely not that. I just did a lot of reading about powdery milsew. I'm familiar with how this appears on rose and crape myrtle leaves (though, not up close), but I didn't notice signs of anything remotely powdery (one site said powdered sugar coating) except for those whitish areas along many of the stems. Nothing on the leaves. I'll have to snip some of the leaves and affected stem and bring them indoors. Thanks, Iris. No response on the Garden Clinic yet.

Woohoooo, Iris! Rain!!!!

Jay, great looking rattlesnake master! Now I see the cactus! Looks like you are running out of room in the flower bed by the walkway/ driveway.

Javi, I didn’t see anything powdery in your pictures. One search with crinkly leaves in new growth turned up a person from Texas asking the yard doctor. There were no pictures, but that was the answer.

Skip, I added your Liatris to my list of plants to look for. Good looking!

Sorry to drag this on, but I brought a few stems in. First, Wiki says: "Infected plants display white powdery spots on the leaves and stems. The lower leaves are the most affected, but the mildew can appear on any above-ground part of the plant. As the disease progresses, the spots get larger and denser"

I'm just not seeing the white dots/spots on the leaves. Dumb question, but wouldn't I be able to see white PM spores if I rubbed the stems with my fingers?

Obviously the camera picks up more than my eyes do: I'm noticing white dots working their way up onto the leaves now.

I suppose that's what it is. This is a new one for me. Fits, though, as these four plants are in pretty much total shade. Could change as the sun travels more southerly as the year progresses. That's a lot of cutting back I'll need to do. Oh, well...they were free. :)

Powdery mildew likes warm and humid. Didn’t I read somewhere that people are using milk to combat it in Phlox? Mine do get it sometimes, but I usually just cut stuff off. Not even sure it is powdery mildew. Might be worth looking into though.

Jay, your gardens are looking good. Those little plants are going to fill it up quickly cant wait to see those pictures.

Iris, I noticed that Liatris a while ago as one that could tolerate drier soil, probably would do well for you.

My squash has powdery mildew, Im trying the 60/40 water/milk solution (some sites say 50/50) but it didnt kill it. Will keep spraying every 3-4 days.

Hmm...thanks for the picture, Skip. Very helpful. So, is the white stuff on the leaf surface the powdery mildew or the milk? :) None of my leaves looks like that, which is steering me away from it being PM again. Even the Wiki article shows a pic of PM, and there are white spots on top of the leaf:

Javi, that white stuff is the mildew not the milk. It does look like your plant has some fungal infection.

Thanks, Skip. I was just doing some reading on local extension and ag sites. It seems water and/or oil are key factors to PM eradication/control. The PM spores don't like water, and oil suffocates them. I saw a baking soda/water/veg oil/soap recipe online, but wonder if it isn't the water & oil that are doing the trick -- have you gone that route? I also read PM spores need new growth to feed on, which explains why the spores/discoloration seems to stop right at the mature leaves but continues right along the tender shoots.

I havent tried that mixture but the soap allows the water and oil to mix. The baking soda probably doesn't do anything.

People these days like to throw baking soda at everything. Either that, or they think potassium bicarb (which I found as a potential remedy on an ag site) is the same as sodium bicarb. :)

So Javi, have you started experimenting yet? Would be interesting to see what works best.

No, not yet. Different from other fungi, PM doesn't like wet conditions. So, as a start, I hosed down each plant during my morning watering. I'm sure this disease took hold so easily because these plants are at the furthest end of the yard. I glance and see the leaves are doing fine (from a distance), and plans are growing. So, it didn't occur to me to take a closer look.

I've been busy with seedlings and transplants -- and making sure my new plumeria continues with its great start! :) Debating whether it's ready to be placed info filtered lighting.

I hope something works! The new growth on my Turks Caps is mostly eaten by the deer, so I probably will not run into this problem. It was nice not having to water after some good rain. The mosquitos were out in full force, the ants were really aggressive. Got about a dozen very itchy ant bites. Found some little milkweed seedlings in full shade under a maple. Not sure what kind.

Looked at one of my fennel’s in the back yard to check on the eggs, how did I miss these?

Also out in full force after the rain are the green June beetles. Yikes. I really don’t like them. Especially if you get one tangled in your hair.

I hope my swallowtail cats are hiding somewhere and will likewise surprise me in the coming weeks. Butterflies are starting to appear, so that's terrific. A couple of days ago, I watched a single Gulf frit have her way in the yard, nectaring on everything...and I mean everything: both passiflora, vitex, Las Vegas & Fireworks gomphrena, mistflower, pentas, duranta, tithonia. Felt quite fulfilled for a while there. We've lived here almost 28 years, and this is the first time I've seen a cicada...kinda hard to miss smack dab in the middle of the trellis.

Look at the forecast for next week...cannot even stand this.

My water and electric bills this summer are off the charts.

Hot and humid today. Actually turned on the ac. Am watering again and now we are entering the dry season, until the middle of September comes around.

Found something new in my main garden. Has leaves that encircle the stem and the leaf tips have a sharp needle like point. Yellow flower on top.

DD in SF has this tall shade shrub in her back yard -- stands about 7' tall and has fuzzy leaves. Any idea what this might be or what it may remind you of?

Is it supposed to be native?

dandy: This is a newly built home, but based on other plants we ID'ed in the yard, the builder/architect has stuck with native No Cal (even Bay area) plants. I'll venture a guess, yes, it's a native. Also appears it may not have been newly planted, so, came with the house.

Javi, this looks like something I had for a few years. Are the flowers purple? Dang, I am bad with names. Something tibouchina?

I have no idea what either plant is. I have even less of a clue with plants from horticulture and plants that aren't native or common to the eastern US.

Dandy do you know what your plant is or are you quizzing us?

Its been hot and humid here too, and somehow the soil is drying out and some plants are wilting. I sowed all the seeds I collected last week in 4" pots: clethra, blueberry, maleberry, viburnum, and beech; and I direct sowed the acorns and hickory nuts. I put short logs around the direct sowed seeds so I dont run them over with the mower, and they get that microclimate and fungi thing going on.

Shrimp plant on coral, picture not good. I can get the yellow in a few.

The yellow reminds me of safflower, birdseed???

I doubt those buds will turn into purple flowers, Iris. I'll see if I can get a shot when the flowers are in full bloom. Reminds me of white roses with pink edges.

Aphelandra for the srimp plant. The flower bracts get a lot bigger. I had a yellow one. The native water willow, Justicia is the most beautiful one of all.

What’s the shrimp plant? Did I miss something? Javi, your flower buds are a bit lighter, but it does look similar.

Oh, that does look similar, Iris! I glanced at the purple flowers and didn't even look at the buds: crazy a purple flower can start of white and pink!

Well, just think of my Liatris I took to Name that Plant because it doesn’t look anything like the pictures on google. It’s a rough world out there in my yard today.

I don’t think all these eggs on my Amorpha are good news.

Survival of the fittest, indeed!

Shrimp plants.

https://www.google.com/search?q=coral+shrimp+plant&client=ms-android-verizon&prmd=simvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiS8Me1-OfjAhWkds0KHUtfAagQ_AUoAnoECBEQAg&cshid=1564877915940&biw=320&bih=530

I did google Aphelandra. I just didn’t find a shrimp plant mentioned anywhere.

Um, yeah...Jay: why are we talking about shrimp plants? I'm interested. :) I have a red one and a yellow one -- very interesting looking (esp the yellow) but so far are attracting no pollinators at all. BTW, Iris: winner, winner! A couple of folks on Name that Plant agree DD's shrub is tibouchina. I sent DD the link, and she says the ID is spot on! You know more than you think, Iris -- pat on the back! :)

Yay! Doesn’t happen often that I know a plant!

That Tibouchina looked like a shrimp plant to me. I tried growing Tibouchina once a long time ago and didn't like it. I haven't given it much thought since. It probably does a lot better in Texas. Texas has a lot of really cool natives that only grow in that state. I found Boehmeria cylindrica, false nettle, and Impatiens pallida, pale jewelweed growing down the street. The nursery that supplies Izel with their Aralia racemosa plugs is 30 miles from my house. They probably have sarsaparilla too. I collected some hoptree seeds. My 2 Lonicer reticulata/flava cuttings have rooted and are in the ground. I'm putting in a shortgrass prairie now. I have buffalo grass, purple love grass, sideoats grama, Mexican hats, Gaillardia pulchella Gaillardia aestivalis, Gaillardia arsistata, Liatria ligulistylis, Vernonia lettermannii, milkvetch, A. tuberosa, Verbena stricta, Mexican hat, Allium stellata, Vernonia fascicularis, Amsonia illustris, Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Desmanthus illinoiensis, probably a few others I forgot. I'm trying to pay attention to placement and lighting needs. In the future the prairie will take up most of the bed where the annuals are. They mowed both sides of the path by the canal. All the common milkweeds that were chopped are sending up new growth. Something is eating my Diervilla lonicera. It's another leaf pasting cat that I can't see. Those silver spotted skipper cats have a great survival strategy because they've eaten half my Apios vine, and I still haven't seen one. The Nabalus albus flower spike is almost 6 feet tall. There are about 3 suckers growing from the wooly pipevine. I don't have much to offer as hostplants to the painted ladies. My hostplants didn't germinate and the Antennarias are small. There have been a few coming around. I was wondering what this plant is. It looks like it could be some kind of cudweed?

Skip, if you have an Aralia racemosa seedling, I'd be interested in seeing a picture.

Dandy, I said safflower way before Carol and it's from birdseed. Ask me how I know?

The 3 Verbena hastata plants that germinated have flower buds and all 4 of my Asclepias perennis plants are going to bloom. I tied a couple Dregea stems to the trellis and right afterward they really took off with growth. I have to keep the aphids off daily, but it's looking hopeful for those fragrant, hoya-like flower umbrels. Truly, these Tweedias make a lot of seedpods. The people selling them are making a killing. I need to get some sassafras seeds too. Everything seems to be drying out faster around here too. The plants are getting bigger, with bigger root systems, that's part of it. Watching the bumblebees buzzing away on the partridge peas is a beautiful thing.

Thanks, Jay. I told DD she's in store for quite a surprise when those light-colored little buds turn into glorious purple flowers. Army worm larvae are back, nibbling my procera and fennel seedlings. :/

I woke up yesterday morning to find one of my new A. fascicularis seedling's leaves were gone; and 5 of 6 fennel had been topped.

Late yesterday afternoon, I noticed the true leaves and cotyledon of my procera were partially nibbled. Knowing these larvae don't stop until they've finished the job, I turned over one leaf and found it. Ugh.

I'd read these may feed in early evening, so I brought all my fennel and MW indoors and inspected each pot. I didn't find any more larvae. Does that mean they're still in the yard nearby?

How far can a worm really travel in a day? Im sure its still lurking out there somewhere.

Jay the Aralia seedlings are still tiny. Maybe I should repot them. I've tried two different fertilizers but they refuse to grow. Maybe my well water is too salty???

My wicking sand bed experiment wasn't working right this whole time, the water level was too low for some reason. This time I put an extra long overflow pipe in, filled the whole thing with water until the water was level with the top of the sand, then I let it sit overnight to settle any air bubbles. Then I trimmed the overflow pipe down to the water level, then cut off another inch. Now I am certain the water level is an inch below the top of the sand.

That's what I wondered, Skip, which is why I brought in all my 'important' seedlings and went through each container, scruffing up every surface with a toothpick. We don't have a kitchen table to eat at, as of this moment. :) Good thing DH is a sport about my adventures, but I'm sure there's a breaking point.

Some good (great!) news on that A. purpurascens that got nibbled to a stem earlier this spring/summer: it's come back beautifully. Still so odd, the coloring that so many of my MW leaves start off with. I may start regular waterings with weak fish emulsion solution...harmless enough a remedy.

Jay, wow. That’s a lot of plants I need to look up. What color are the Hop tree seeds supposed to be when you collect them? Keeping an eye on mine, so Javi can have another seed starting adventure, but they are still the whitish/ greenish color. Skip, glad you were able to work the kinks out with your selfwatering planter. Javi, happy to hear the purple milkweed recovered. Here is hoping your fennels will do so quickly.

Are you talking about the mottling on the leaves. I see that on some of my seedlings too. Such a relief to know I'm not the only one freaking out about pests and diseases on my milkweed seedlings. That milkweed looks really nice now. I got a big gallon jug of concentrated glyphosate or whatever and I'm going to destroy the trumpet vine, morning glories :) and mulberries for good! I don't have bindweed, I never let it gain a foothold. Oh, you can add red clover to the list. It outcompetes the native partridge peas. The water level in my brain is an inch above the sand man! But then there's that bipass valve???

I think I've already lost about 6 hand trowels this year. Skip, how tiny are the Aralias and how many?

Procera up there, Jay? Gorgeous.

Maybe I'll get seeds if the cats don't eat all the flowers. There are 3 flower clusters.

Good looking plant! At least for now. I lost 2 of my hand trowels. And a pruner. Maybe I will find them in Winter.

I hate Plants Delights. I can't even put an order in there. I bought bright yellow tape to wrap around my handtools so I can see them better lol. I need GPS on everything. It's too hot to do anything. I'm going to explore new parts at the woods. We might actually have clouds tomorrow. Something's nibbling my sennas now. I found an annual sunflower mixed in with the cowpen daisies and it looks like cats have been eating that too.

What is the problem with Plant Delights? I really liked them maybe 15 years ago, but the shipping has gotten ridiculous. Especially if you think they are in the next State over.

I was thinking about getting the Patrinia scabiosifolia from them and I thought maybe they might have dropped the prices on their shipping(yeah, right haha) . I couldn't even finish my order. They first asked for my zip code, but when I put it in, the screen gets blocked and I can't go through with the order. I have to go through the process to find out how much the shipping will be. They want $17 for the plant and last time they wanted to charge me $34 for shipping, that's twice the price of the plant! Ridiculous! The only other nursery that has the plant is Digging Dog and you have to put in $40 minimum order there. Actually 40 doesn't sound so bad now. I ordered seed and tried germinating them but no luck. It's another one of the few non native medicinal plants I want to grow. A funny thing, I still have that immortality vine, Gynostemma pentaphyllum, but it stopped growing like a vine and just stays in a little clump. I knocked it over once when it was in a pot and then I put it in a solo cup that I forgot to poke drainage holes in, so it went through some abuse from me and now it refuses to grow, and on the Mountain Gardens video about it, they just go on an on about how it grows and climbs and roots everywhere. Not my plant:( It's kind of late to be ordering anyway, unless they will be shipped in the fall. I already have something coming in the fall, but I forget what it is. Do you have anything coming in the fall Iris lol?

My immortality vines are not growing that much either this year. Weird, last year they were all over the place. I am still getting the order from wood thrush, since they said it was too hot to ship back in June. That would be Featherbells and a couple of others. I might have to refresh my memory what the others are. If I can find some plants from my wishlist, I might order. Otherwise I will wait for Spring.

Finally got the broken tree top unstuck. I tied a wrench to one end of the rope and threw it up into the tree until I got it looped around the right branch. This branch was stuck a lot higher up than pictured

The Aralia seedlings:

Skip, this sounds like something my husband would do even though I tell him not to. Always feel I need to stand there with a First Aid Kit. Looks scary. Your seedlings might be small, but they look healthy.

Skip, did you have to run out of the way of the branch when it fell? That was pretty big. Iris, what color are black swallowtail eggs? One has been flying around near the rue and I looked at them and saw an orange egg. There's another leaf roller on one of my coffee sennas.

They are white. Maybe with a bit of a yellow tint. Do you have Giant Swallowtails up there? They look orange.

My zig zag goldenrod is already flowering! Notice the mosquito there just waiting for me to come closer?

It could have been a giant. It didn't look like a regular BS. The zig zag goldenrod was another germination fail. Is Niche Gardens still selling plants?

Niche Gardens is not doing the mail order anymore. They still do have the nursery open. I wish they would have said something a week before stopping the mail order. I would have gone on a shopping spree. There were plants I wanted to order next Spring, so I would have gotten them now.

I stood far away from the branch when pulling on it. The rope is 150ft long. Next bonehead move, I'll be climbing the tree with the chainsaw. I was up on the roof with the leaf blower yesterday cleaning out the gutters, that sucker is steep I was scared lol. Finally got those maple seedlings out of there though.

Im a little peeved about the zigzag goldrod failing to germinate too. I do have some of those seeds (and Penstemon tubaeflorus) left for round 2 this year. Maybe I'll do a backup milkjug. All this work building cold frames and I still cant top the old milk jug.

Yikes about your dangerous adventures. Given my track record with seeds, I am glad I got the 3 pack of the goldenrod. Kept 2 and gave one away. If seeds didn’t work for either of you, there would be no way I would have some.

Jay-I didn't really notice your comment about the flax, that's why I went to NTP.

I sent you and Skip Aralia seed didn't I? I think I mentioned somewhere along the way that I sowed mine outdoors in October in a small seed bed. I got about a jillion seedlings the next spring. Unfortunately the plants are all mature now and don't transplant well. They have long fleshy roots. But, I am mightily impressed with the Aralia. Coming out of the ground in April and two months later it's 6' tall, with blooms turning to berries for the wildlife. It actually makes for a good hedge too. Give those seedlings a little more time Skip. They are extremely durable so you shouldn't have to pamper them.

Skip, don't ever go up on that roof again with a tool. Very hazardous. One mistake and your life becomes totally different from that point on.

I've cleaned my gutters with garden hose snaking in from one end. It takes awhile but gets 100% of the junk out.

I bought a sign for my roadside garden so passerby's can see that my place is not a weed factory and is not supposed to look like the neighbor lady's golf-course-green lawn. There's supposed to be nine animals represented on the sign that I protect here! Net year I'm going to put in some Elderberry Adams/Johns, Black Cohosh, and Culvers Root here with their tall vertical spires/plumes that should be a dazzling sight.

Great looking sign! What kind of aralia is this so I can look it up? There seem to be a lot.

I have a couple prepared beds that I can sow Aralia seeds in. I want to sow nudicaulis and spinosa too and I should probably use fresh racemosa seed too. The species we were talking about is racemosa Iris.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2017/7/17/18369276/flowering-change-the-comeback-of-kankakee-mallow-on-langham-island

Prairie Moon sells seeds for the Kankakee mallow. Not far from where I live.

Dandy, the wildlife sign with your plants in the background is brautiful. Looks like Yellowstone lol.

So nobody wants to take a stab at what this is? It's probably something very common?

Is it Boneset, Eupatorium perfoliatum? The flower doesn't look quite right. I was looking at Hasteola suaveolens as a possibility but the leaves don't look right. The picture isn't too detailed.

Your link is behind a paywall, can't read it without subscribing to that newspaper.

I think I have a bunch more Aralia seeds I could sow next year. A few weeks ago I dumped my trays and soaked the soil overnight in clean water, then drained them. Last night I added dolomite lime and controlled release ferts that contain micronutrients. I'll let that set up for a couple weeks then try it out in a tray with some seeds I have sitting around that dont need cold stratification.

Why did you soak the soil? To flush it? What's the product that has the time released fertilizer with micronutrients? Boneset is Eupatirium perfoliatum. Perfoliatum means the leaves are being pierced by the stem and there are no petioles. This plant has leaves with short petioles. Amplexicaulis means clasping the stem, but not puncturiing it. Look at a Boneset leaf. Sorry about the link. It was about this mallow species, Lliamna remota, that only grows on one small island in the Kankakee river near me. It was almost wiped out by invasives, but a group of people got together to save the species and restore the island called Langham island. The group is The Friends of Langham Island. Prairie moon sells the seeds for this mallow. I tried direct sowing some once, but never saw any. The Great Kankakee Marsh which was the everglades of the north and raped and pillaged before being turned into farmland and which was vital for 25% of all native bird species. I'm going to visit the remnants that are now protected, once I get a few things done. I ordered my medicinal plants from Digging Dog, and to make up the minimum, I had to order a couple more things, so I got an Aruncus dioucus, and Amsonia hubrictii.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliamna_remota

https://www.google.com/search?q=iliamna+remota&client=ms-android-verizon&prmd=imnv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMipGpp-zjAhUBLs0KHWaVAJgQ_AUIFygB&biw=320&bih=530

I'm getting seeds, and I'm going to try growing again. Could be a local painted lady host plant.

I soaked the soil to flush it, yes. Al wrote about fresh Pine Bark building up some kind of harmful acids when its anaerobically composted (ie not turned while sitting). I didnt compost my pine bark at all before mixing it, and then it sat in the trays over the winter and got all compacted, so yeah I thought flushing it would be a good idea. The Dynamite brand CRF has micros in it. I built a new screen out of 1×4 and 1/2" hardware cloth, it should be easier to screen the pine bark now. Lighter weight and more pieces pass through than my old screen. I've had a couple bags of bark sitting outside since march so it should be good to use in a mix after I screen it and flush it.

It hard to see where the leaf connects to the stem in your picture.

Sounds like a nice field trip to take, to the wetland remnant. Bring some Off haha. Reminds me to set up a trip to Bear swamp before it sinks into the ocean and disappears. I guess your Amsomias didnt germinate either?

Skip, ok, so you are soaking the bark, but you never really composted it right? Now, could you have been composting those 2 bags of pine bark since March? How do you plan on composting the wood chips, don't you need a nitrogen source? What's a CRF duhh ? I'll go back and take better pictures of that plant. I'm sure it's a prairie plant because I see it everywhere. I've been looking around for real boneset, but haven't seen any. Oh speaking of Aralias, if you look at them on bonap you see there is another native species of it that is only native to New Jersey. I winter sowed Amsonia illustris and hubrictii. I have 3 illustris plants that germinated, but no germination on the hubrictii, so I ordered one. Do you just use regular pine bark mulch?

Boy. Did you ever think how complicated it sounds here to get seeds started that are native and should grow by just throwing them on the ground? Happy to learn along, but it sounds like I will never be any good at the seed starting thing.

jay-looks like Cacallia to me. Not sure what species. I have one type that are totally invasive. Another that I think is atriplicifolia, that has the most dynamite aroma and is not invasive. I moved a plant up under my deck so it will perfume the area. It is just now starting to bloom.

Iris-the pic with the sign does not have any Aralia in it. Just some Rudbeckia, Diervilla, Viburnum, and Anaphalis. I'll post some pics in a few days as they are just stating to bloom.

Jay and Skip-I sent you both Amsonia hubrectii and fortunately yours didn't germinate. Why is that? Because I discovered that my hubrectii blooms got contaminated with illustrous and the stems are a cross of the two. I removed the offending illustrous before blooming this year so the seeds will be true. I will send you new seed this fall. So sorry about this. I learned a lesson.

Jay its regular pine bark mulch. If it sits in the bag a long time it starts to decompose anaerobically, then it needs to be flushed before its ready to screen and mix. If you get a bag and it looks very fresh, it needs to either age for several months, or you can speed up the process by composting aerobically with added nitrogen and regular stirring. You don't want to overdo it and end up with finished compost though. Then flush, screen, and mix. CRF = controlled release fertilizer.

I don't see an Aralia that's exclusive to NJ on BONAP but there is a boneset (Eupatorium subvenosum) which is uncommon. It grows in sandy areas that dont have too mucb competition from other plants.

Iris, it doesn't have to be this complicated, I'm talking about making my own potting mix and fixing/reusing the one I made last year. You can buy a bag of potting mix and be careful not to let it get compacted or overwatered, and get fine results too.

Dandy, no worries. I didn't know the 2 could cross like that. I wasnt really sure where to put an Amsonia plant, it was kind of whimsical seed starting.

I meant the Aralia hispida which is not exclusive to New Jersey, and is also native in Illinois and Minnesota, sorry my bad. It's hard to find seeds or plants for it. It's just a small plant like nudicaulis. They call it bristly sarsaparilla. Ok, so you are flushing the soil to get the bad acid out of the pine bark. Actually Amsonia hubrichrii isn't native to any of our states. Only A. illustris and A. tabernaemontana are. Maybe I should get a couple bags of pine bark and start composting them now, just in case?

Yeah if you want to make 511 and go down that rabbit hole, might as well get it now. Look for pine bark mulch. Some of the Lowes around here carry pine bark mulch. The pine bark *nuggets* aren't really appropriate to use, they are compressed into big chunks. You might be able to find "soil conditioner" sold in bags, where the ingredients are pine bark. That should be ready to use without composting. You have to build or buy a screen for all this too. Once I use all this stuff up I will probably just buy bags of potting soil though. The bark mixes are better for long-term plantings, like the american holly cuttings Im trying to grow in pots for a few years.

I progressively go further and further down the 511 rabbit hole, but the sheer lack of product (pine bark mulch that isn't nuggets, soil conditioner containing pine bark fines, etc.) pulls me back out. I did cave last year for the sake of a Moro Blood orange tree I purchased (half off!) to host Giant swallowtails: hit a fairly good price for Reptibark at the local Petco/Petsmart. My potted orange currently has ~ 15 oranges dangling, and I raised/released 3-4 Giants last year. I still have half a bag of bark left, having used up some for my recently purchased key lime (also for the butterflies -- fruit for pies would be a bonus!).

Iris: Regarding natives, I actually had the conversation with a local nursery that specializes in carrying natives, and they don't have a particularly easy timer either. But don't give up! It's such a small investment in time, really. For me, it's economy: I just can't afford (or don't want to) pay that kind of $$ for live plants + shipping.

Skip, I thought you were making something like 511 for seed starting? I don't want to go through a bunch of work, but I don't like the bagged seed starting mixes that are mainly peat. There are so many variables and I still ain't sure why so many seeds didn't germinate or why they grew so slow? I'll winter sow, but I'll direct sow backups of everything, and hope for the best. Anything like Aralias or snakeroots, things I can't live without, I'll order those! I have most of the prairie plants in the ground. There are 3 grasses still to plant. Purple top, big and little bluestem and then I'll add some rosinweed and yellow coneflowers. Today I'm planting Penstemon smallii, Callirhoe bushii, Cunila oreganoides. That garden still needs a lot of weeding, tree lopping, tree girgling, cleanup and I need to kill that trumpet vine.

Javi, have you made a key lime pie from your limes yet? What about a magarita? lol

OMG! It is a giant swallowtail egg on my rue!!!

A sicklepod and popcorn. The other popcorn just died. They were both planted in the same area, but one declined while the other thrived. No munching on the popcorn yet.

Coffee Senna occidentalis with a leaf pasting critter UMI unknown munching insect.

New growth on the Hypericum. I can't wait to see it covered in bumblebees!

I know we often turn our snobby garden noses up at it, but you have to admit it's one beautiful, important native.

The very tiny Acmispon americanum in front of some small sicklepods.

I wonder what minute bugs visit these flowers. They're supposed to be great host plants. You would need a lot of them or have to be a very small cat. Maybe this plant does grow bigger under the right conditions. The few I have that get full sun all day are starting to branch out.

Amorpha fruticosa. It would be nice if they bloomed.

The rue was deadheaded, and is starting to get lush new growth. I wanted to take a picture of the orange egg, but now I can't find it. Where are all the black swallowtails? They love thistles, but the 2 native thistle species that I winter sowed never germinated. Did anyone get thistles? Interesting isn't it? This thistle, lady, black swallowtail connection.

It will be like cathedral bells ringing when all these Apios flowerbuds start blooming. Bumblebees and hummingbirds for days on end. The Apios winding accross the moon trellis is supposed to simulate the forest canopy where the Dregua vine is native to. It stimulates the vine into climbing, which it is now doing big time. I hope it has time to flower so I can smell them wafting. BTW my common milkweed's flowers were very fragrant.

The Aralia spinosa is putting on growth, but it's still only about a foot high. I want this to thrive and sucker and I'm using it as a privacy fence. The neighbors are always running through my yard looking for their 4 pitbulls and they've already smashed and knocked over a couple of my bins with plants, but I never catch them in the act, well, I suppose the deer could smash bins too, they have been around 'browsing' again. I don't need a new browser lol!

Can someone tell me what happened to my swamp milkweed seedlings? They looked fine last night when I watered them???

This Angellica in the pot needs to go in the ground somewhere, but they are fussy about lighting. It has to be the right amount of dappled shade.

Battle scars, but still kickin.

The procera cutting.

Say hello to my little friend! There was a snake on the trail the other day. I'd like to see a lot more of those. It makes me feel alive, electrifying!

I rarely see Coleus self seed up here. A couple did come up in the spaces of the patio, so I left one with a cypress vine. It rained a little, but not enough to do anything. It's finally overcast, so I can plant. Iris, have you gotten any significant rain. It looked like you had some rain coming on the radar. Iris, how is your prairie smoke plant holding up. Your Apios is probably blooming already right?

Why do they ask me to rate and review seeds that I haven't grown yet? Maybe after this monumental fail, I should start keeping better notes in these seed sources. It's looking like in the future everything will have to be grown by seed?

Jay: My key lime tree is a new purchase, and the fruits are the size of peas; so, no pies or margaritas....yet! ;) Oh, no...your swampy: looks like my army worm found it's way north to you!

What a coincidence, A. incarnata. I tried rooting some cuttings (actually, stems that were headed for the garbage -- rust infestation -- but I stripped the infected leaves), and I've got roots! This was a failure last year, so this is a happy, surprising result! I'll have four swamp MWs transferred to cups/pots before day's end.

Oh! So much information AND a complete garden tour! Going to have to look/ read thoroughly after I come inside. The weeds are winning. One of the two Prairie Smoke is still hanging on, the other one is dead. It’s probably really too far South. My Apios did flower. Cute flowers, I thought they would be bigger. We had good rain Thursday night. There was a big blob on the radar Sunday morning, moving my way. It fizzled away to nothing shortly before it got here in what our weatherman called a bizarre way. He explained it away by our air being very stable. No rain in the forecast this week.

Before I forget to ask later. Does anybody grow Jerusalem Artichoke? I planted them last year in the middle of nowhere, since everybody said they would be taking over the world. They are really slow to get going for me. Partly because of the deer, but even the caged one. Is it one of these plants that leaps the third year?

Javi, the cutting looks nice. My 3 large swamp milkweeds all look beat up. That's when the aphids really come in droves. Besides the Monarchs, I saw a bs, a red spotted purple, a tiger, and a skipper so far today.

Dandy, are you saying that Amsonia hubrichtii and illustris can't hybridise and a cross between them will yield sterile seed? Or are you saying the seeds were crosses and you don't like the offspring? You know, the offending illustrous lol.

When I was overwhelmed by aphids last year, Jay, it was far beyond me to run around the yard and get to 20+ tropical MW I'd planted. So, in September, I just let it all go. Starting this spring, just as the aphid population started up, I also noticed a lot of ladybugs in the yard. Mother Nature finally found her balance: ladybugs have stuck around all these months, laying eggs and creating another generation or two. The aphids have 100% been kept at bay.

On a very unhappy note, I spied one Monarch cat on the HB a few days ago, so I tightly tied a tulle bag around the branch: no one gets in, no one gets out. Every day, as I passed the branch, I could see the cart happily munching leaves and growing larger -- to the point where I could see him from a few feet away without inspecting every leaf. This morning, I couldn't find him upon quick glance -- all I saw was what appeared to be a wet (like body fluid) splotch on the side of the tulle bag. No holes torn, etc. Just a wet greenish/brown splotch. I couldn't see the cat, but it was too hot to examine the bag; I saw cat poops, so I thought all was good. More like I was in complete denial. Just now, I carefully untied the bag -- the cat's gone. Even if a lizard took a poke at the cat through the bag, I'd still find a dead or injured cat inside the bag. Nada. All I can guess is a wasp got a hold of it while it was lying on the netting (which is where I saw that cat last night), stunned/killed it, and proceeded to devour every bit of that cat. Does that sound about right? Could not be anything else. Ugh. My first Monarch cat of the entire season.

I've grown Jerusalem artichokes twice and they will leap the first year you plant them, and they will be growing in the neighbors yard by the third year. The second time I told myself I wouldn't let them get out of control again....WRONG! I grew it for the pollinators and the seeds for the birds. I wasn't interested in eating the tubers. If yours aren't growing then the deer must be browsing them a lot. You don't have them in a cage? I saw a black swallowtail on the Monarda citriodora. Maybe anything purple and spiky?

the swallowtail came back.

Beautiful -- yay! Is that pinky-purply plant bee balm?

Jay, I have never noticed the Black Swallowtail preferring purple and spiky. As for the Jerusalem Artichoke, the one that is caged is about 2.5 feet tall with a bit of branching. The one that is not caged is maybe 4 inches and a single stem. Even though it has not been chewed on in at least a month. What am I doing wrong?

I totally forgot to mention that I used Javi’s water bowl on the porch method for 5 of the ipomoea seeds. Left them in there for a week, didn’t see anything happen. Put them in a pot with soil. Might this be one? (I know the one on the bottom is a weed) It’s really tiny, so I am unsure if this could turn into something called “Man of the Earth. The Four o’clock seed looked so much sturdier and more like it when it came up.

Also watched a bagworm crawl around today. Really weird. Yes, I am that easily entertained.

Scrolling up to catch up now.

Jay, everything is looking great. Well, except for your little milkweed seedlings. No idea what happened to them, but Javi might be right. Is that cypress vine with your Senna there on purpose or are you heading down the same trail I am? Do you think the Fruticosa will still bloom this year? Mine are about the same size as yours, maybe a bit bushier. I would love to see some flowers.

Javi, so sorry about your Monarch cat! This caterpillar would be too big for this spider, right?

Jay, I made the 511 for seed starting last winter, we saw how that turned out. Maybe I can try it again. I was thinking about making a soil for a bottom watered set up but it would just be easier to use bagged soil for that.

Your plants are looking awesome, legumes for days haha.

Hope your seed is what you expect, Iris.

Sorry to hear about the caterpillar, Javi.

My Clethra is not doing great, its turning yellow and the bloom was reduced compared to when it was still in the pot last year. I think the silver maple nearby is not playing nice. Hopefully next year it will be settled in more.

Scouted a nearby park for interesting plants to look at but not much caught my eye, just some boneset.

Rudbeckia fulgida is blooming now and the little bluestem grass is filling in a little.

Looks like that spider is busy feasting on something else, Iris.

But for how long? I checked the fennel in the back yard to see if it’s enough for the caterpillars on there. It probably is, but there are tiny ones on there, too. I can’t believe I am constantly missing them.

Your cat looks like it's about to spin its harness any minute. Sure is a pretty one. I'd flick that spider off, if you're very worried.

I threw a wasp into a spider nest and the spider ran away and hid.

I have no cats at all. I'm seeing Monarchs flitting around but it's already too late for mating I think. They will be migrating in another three weeks maybe.

Jay, that Diervilla looks good and healthy, and spreading too.

I started some Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit' the past few years and they are just anemic looking plants at this age already. I think they tried to keep them small in size which means they have no growth hormones or something. i don't think the seed can be used for new plants as mine came out pink. I do have some nice burnt orange parents tho, but too small for my gardens.

Jay-I noticed this year that the offspring Amsonia hubrectii leaves are not delicate kind of filigree like the parents. I surmise that my A illustrous nearby must have crossed with them. I ripped it out this year so they wouldn't cross. I will throw out last years seed and collect fresh this fall and get new ones to you. Please empty out your old pots. Amazingly, the A hubrectii is perfectly hardy here in Z3. More so than some species that are supposed to be but aren't. I've had no trouble getting them to germinate either.

Iris-your Prairie Smoke may be going dormant. Mine appear to be ephemeral too. So maybe there's hope yet.

Skip, I think your boneset is the same plant I was asking about. It's not common boneset because the the leaves aren't joined together with the stem. It's hard to make out whether the leaves are opposite or alternate because there are so many leaves that they appear almost whorled. It could be another Eupatorium species, it's definately not any Arnoglossum species.

I keep forgetting my new plan which is to use good quality compost for winter sowing, so, I don't have to get all technical. 1 batch is ready now. Dandy, I can see why you would choose the hunrichtii over the illustris. I like the foliage a lot too. What's funny is that I wanted to grow Vernonia lettermannii.

It has wispy leaves like Amsonia hubrichtii and it's native only to Arkansas and Oklahoma, just like A. hubrichtii. I just planted 3 illustris seedlings and I have 1 hubrichtii plant ordered. I don't know how much more room I'll have for Amsonias. I have 3 dogbanes that I just planted too. The Diervilla are doing great. They are flowering again. The hummingbirds spend a lot of time in that area. I saw you talking about growing that Cheyenne Spirit, and was kind of scratching my head wondering why. Dandy, did you get any germination with the Gentiana puberlenta and Helianthus salicifolius?

Talinum, fameflower and rattlesnake masters.

Jay I'm pretty sure my plant is Eupatorium serotinum Late Boneset, here's a close up of the lower leaves. I see this plant in my yard sometimes.

there was some dogbane growing right next to it but I didnt see any flowers or seeds on it. This little park is a butterfly meadow somebody planted a few years ago. Its been invaded by Equisetum arvense and its mostly tall grass now.

Dandy, did you get any germination with the Gentiana puberlenta and Helianthus salicifolius?

Nope.

I have seeds for Apocynum cannibinum. I think sibericum is growing a block away, I should check those for seeds. The gentian seeds were from Prairie Moon. I've never grown a gentian and I don't think I've ever seen one. Maybe they have tricky germination. I read that it's not good to start seeds in pure compost. I'm going to try using a mix of 1/3 sifted compost, 1/3 perlite or sand and 1/3 peat moss. I don't think the results could be as bad as this last time lol. I like that late boneset. I'll have to collect seeds. I really want some Arnoglossum too. The one prairie where the whorled milkweeds grow is mostly grass now. In the past I remember seeing Liatris blooming in the distance and now I don't see them anymore. I'd like to complain about it to whoever is in charge there. There are some flags around meaning they might be making changes. Them cutting down those Ribes colonies isn't a good sign tho. The tall grass prairie has a good diversity of species and the grasses aren't taking over out there.

I'm thinking both plants are Eupatorium serotinum but different ecotypes.

Iris, I looked, but couldn't find any pictures of newly germinated Ipomoea pandurata, but it looks like your seedling probably is that vine, even though the cotyledons don't look like those of a typical morning glory.

I rooted 2 cuttings of this native honeysuckle.

https://youtu.be/PLDq7ghHuDI

The variation in advice on soil mixes is mind boggling. You have all the physical explanations here with 511 and gritty, and then you have go by feel in your video, and both of them work pretty well depending on how you grow. A little pot like he uses in the video will dry out faster which can be a good thing with a compost based mix like that. A bin full of compost might stay wet for too long.

I watched this video last week https://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_simard_how_trees_talk_to_each_other/transcript?language=en#t-14188 , this researcher did an experiment by planting spruce, birch and cedar in the same area of a forest, and finds the spruce and birch share nutrients underground, but not the cedar. She didnt expect the cedar to share, I wonder what other species are known not to share and what is going on there, but I haven't found anything. The transfer of nutrients between the trees was controlled by mycorrhizae. I'm wondering if I could use that information to plant the right things in my yard.

What's the benefit of the pine bark fines besides making the mix more porous? Couldn't I just use more perlite to get the same effect, or do the pine pieces hold nutrients? I remember Al saying recently that just using perlite was a big mistake? They're having a field trip on Saturday to a dolomite prairie on the floodplain of the Desplaines river. It's near me, and I've never heard of this place before. I think I'm going to use small pots for winter sowing this time anyway. The Monarchs are laying eggs on all the milkweed seedlings.

I could be way off base (i.e., I can't remember or point to where/why/how I might have come across this), but I believe the pine bark fines hold some moisture without being a soggy mess. It'll degrade into said soggy mess in subsequent years, which is why replenishing with new bark fines is recommended. I think.

Having a more uniform particle size throughout the mix is what makes the mix more porous, the spaces are between the particles. If you add perlite to compost, the perlite just takes up space and reduces the amount of water the mix can hold. For example if you have 50% perlite 50% compost, the compost will fill in all the space between the perlite which actually reduces the pore space in the mix. You would have more pore space with 100% compost because at least the water and air can penetrate between the compost particles, whereas a piece of perlite is a solid rock. When you get to a point where the mix is mostly perlite and the average particle size is larger, then you will finally increase pore space, but then with drastically different particle sizes, the fine textured peat or compost will just sink to the bottom in a perlite mix. Something like 3:1 perlite:coarse vermiculite, or perlite:turface is a better mix. Perlite also releases flouride which some plants are sensitive.

Pine bark is somewhat special because it doesn't break down as fast as wood chips, buffers the pH a little, its flat and I guess that helps with floating and sinking issues, and you can screen it into different particle sizes easily.

Jay, you surely have enough milkweed this time around, right? Very interesting read about the seed starting mixes. Hopefully one of you finds the perfect mix, bags it and gets rich. Can any of you tell evening primroses apart? I have two different kinds, didn’t plant either of them. The one kind is really growing everywhere. It’s pretty, but at 5 feet tall, it would be good to know if it even kind of belongs to my area. If it does, I would transplant some to more suitable areas. Otherwise most will have to go. They are even winning against Zinnia. And that says something.

I'm good with Oenothera species. If I was to use pine bark fines in a seed starting mix with compost and perlite how much of each should I use? The Monarchs are avoiding the huge common milkweeds because they are covered in aphids but there are cats eating my variegata seedlings. I was just thinking that those aphids weren't too bad here last year. This year they are terrible. Maybe all the rain caused a population explosion. I planted Callirhoe bushii, Cunila oreganoides,Penstemon smallii, Calycanthus floridus, purple top grass, little bluestem, big bluestem.

Here we go:

still very few aphids on any of my milkweeds. The common ones I didn’t cut back look terrible though with all these rust spots. Moved more caterpillars from these nasty ones to fresh. Seems to make a big difference. The ones I moved just last weekend seem to be about 1.5 times bigger. No wonder. I would not want something like this.

In my defense, when the primroses first started showing up a few years ago, I read that they are host plant for a really pretty moth. So I left them alone. The other one starts with a big rosette in a more blueish, grayish green. But that one is not taking over everywhere.

Jay, obviously I can't speak with authority, but for a more traditional mix try 3:3:1 peat:compost:perlite. Dont forget micronutrients and dolomitic lime (~1tbsp/gal). I dont know about mixes with bark fines as a fraction, for a bark based mix it would be 5:1:1 to 31:1 bark fines:perlite:compost depending on how much water retention you want. I sowed my blueberries in a mix of 5:2 bark:turface with CRF and dolomitic lime, then I mulched over the seeds with granite grit, which I got a big bag at tractor supply for $5.

There are books on the subject of container media and a lot of variable, so theres really no simple answer. I downloaded a bunch of pdfs from the forest service on nursery production and then there are other links you can find online. I googled "Media and Mixes for Container-grown Plants" which is the name of a book, but a lot of other decent results came up too.

Iris, I think the top pic is Oenothera biennis. I don't know what the other species is. You only have a pic of the flowering top for the 1st one. If that's the case then I can't compare what the plants both look like next to each other. I went through some, but not all the species listed on bonap, but couldn't find anything. I would try name that plant, there's a couple people over there who know more about the individual species. My compost already has composted wood in it from twigs and stuff so problem solved duh! I'm going to start throwing the biochar in the compost too. The field trip to the dolomite prairie is being conducted by the Illinois Native Plant Society with a knowledgable, informational guide lol. Maybe I should grow a bunch of milkweeds inside a mosquito net so they stay fresh and clean. Is anyone growing Penstemon hirsutus? I lost my plant and want to grow it again. Can turface be used just like perlite? Uh, I'll probably be in awkward positions with a paintbrush doing triage on my milkweed babies! Can't use soapy water or a hose because there's baby cats now. I have this Arnoglossum craze going on. I want to every species of it native to my area, there's only 3 I think. Some kind of cat is doing a number on my Senna hebacarpa, it's all chewed up lol. I'm trying to not get too emotionally involved with the cats, or I'll be a fricking basket case! and these Monarch cat's wandering off all the time, oh well, what can you do?

Jay, the pictures are all of the same plant. The other one isn’t that aggressive. Biennis was what I thought it may be looking at lots of pictures. Thank you for checking!

I thought they all looked like biennis to me. I thought you were showing me 2 different species so I was confused. Now it makes sense.

There isn’t much to see with the other kind.

I don’t have the Penstemon hirsutus. Very pretty!

Yeah, Iris, that one looks familiar too. I'm pretty sure that I grew it once, maybe 20 years ago. I remember it having a bluish tint and a rosette that looked like that. I just remember that mine was spreading by the rhyzomes in a 360 degree circle, and I pannicked and dug it out. It was very pretty tho. Is that the one you said behaves for you? I know the O. biennis can be very weedy. I hear the gildfinches love the seeds. Don't you grow the Missouri primrose? It has huge flowers and it's very drought tolerant.

I think I had the Missouri one once a long time ago. The finches do love the seeds, but they are currently busy ripping the petals of the Zinnias.

Turface holds a lot more water than perlite they're not really interchangeable, but turface is similar in water retention to a 50:50 mix of peat:perlite. I guess my thinking at that moment was I could substitute turface instead of a peat and perlite mix.

I dont grow Penstemon hirsutus but I think Dandy does. I think I'm going to have to focus on growing part shade stuff for most of my yard. Running out of sunny spots.

If you sustituted turface for peat and perlite than your 511 mix would just be turface and pine bark fines? Would that work? I'm doing compost, peat, and perlite in equal parts.

Yeah theres a thread where Al says "Since the only reason to use peat in the 5:1:1 mix is to increase the
water retention of the bark/perlite, you might consider replacing
the peat fraction with unscreened Turface or Calcined DE. You could even replace the perlite with same."

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4172241/substitute-for-peat-moss-in-511-mix

I'm just sticking to my simple formula. We can compare results. I found some buttonweed.

Ashy sunflowers. The leaves look soft, but they're rough.

☆Asclepias hirtella, tall green milkweed.

Asclepias hirtella. My first time seeing a mature plant in the wild, or anywhere.

A Lespedeza. Maybe violacea?

The real common boneset with perfoliated leaves

A cool moss and cool looking grass

Euphorbia corollata

Very nice pictures, Jay! How is your weather?

Very nice!

Jay-I grow bottle Gentian and will be able to collect a couple billion seeds this fall. It's pretty amazing how only Bumblebees can get into the flower.

The weather is low 80s, dry, sunny. The ground is very dry. The Collinsonia canadensis is starting to bloom. The pictures are from Braidwood dunes and savanna.

Dandy, I would love some bottle gentian seeds!

I labeled earlier photos.

White prairie clover.

Prairie grass, grama grass I think at Midewin tallgrass prairie welcome center. There were some nice 4' Silene regias, but the sun was too bright for a picture. Buffalo pictures coming soon.

Tephrosia! I only found 2 seedpods in this group. They were green, I still have seeds.

Are these ashy sunflowers? They are beautiful! I'm going to get some.

Grass? Horsetail,

Vernonia!

Some sensative ferns, Onoclea, in full sun ?

I like this grass growing in front of the tree. Anybody know what species it is.

Ooh, I found some Agrimony.

A new cool looking legume.

Young sassafrasses. Those suckers come from deep roots.

I saw some beautiful butterflies out there. A buckeye, 2 viceroys mating, and all kinds of sulfurs and nymphs, a tiger. There were Apios growing there too.

I'm a lobotomised, Stepford, gardening clone. Just give me hostas, astilbes and daylilies and I'm a happy camper! OMG, what will I do when the daylily bloom is over?

For the winter sowing I'm using a mix of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat, and 1/3 perlite mixed with dolomite lime and azomite. I'll use mostly 4" pots, some smaller and bigger pots too. I'm covering all the pots with towels. I'll use chicken grit when needed. I put what was left of the kellog mix into the compost bin.

I have an Agastache scrophularifolia plant that came up from old seeds. I thought there was another one coming up nearby, but it's not an Agastache, it's Verbena urticifolia. I wanted that plant and was going to try rooting cuttings of it, but now it just miraculously showed up, blooming in my garden.

The cool grass at Midewin is sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula, the one with the moss is Dichanthelium clandestinum Deertongue grass. I can't put my finger on the one by the tree. The agrimony looks cooler than I expected! Whats the one with white flowers in the last picture?

Eupatorium altissimum, tall boneset. There was a huge drift of that. Some of the trails weren't mowed. I haven't covered that whole place yet. At first I thought the deers tongue grass might be a spiderwort. The milkweed was an awesome surprise. I've been lopping some branches to bring in a little more sun. Skip, are your Lespedeza violaceas in full sun? The couple Lespedezas I saw yesterday were in part shade. Deer's tongue grass is a panic grass?

It's kind of what I was shooting for.

The nectar was dripping.

This is really great looking! Already 89 degrees here.

Nice, my Lespedeza violaceas are in full sun but they are looking pretty sunburned this year.

The 2 Lespedezas you sent me are in mostly full sun too and they look a little burnt and haven't hardly griqn at all. The L. capitatas nearby get more shade from the Viburnums and they are doing great. I think there's a skipper cat on those now too. I might move the 2 plants to more part shade. Maybe there's a happy medium for light, the ones I saw had nice green foliage, but the flower spikes could have been bigger. Iris, so you have to go out early before it gets too hot? It was really hot out there yesterday. There were lots of butterflies, but they were too fast. There were some type of Viburnums out there with blue berries that tasted bitter. This is where tomorrow's trip is.

https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/INPC/Pages/Area3WillRomeovillePrairie.aspx

Sounds like an interesting trip! I am still out most of the day. Just making sure to take the dogs on their walk before it’s too hot. And plenty of water breaks. No way I could get things done in the mornings. The frog fruit have tons of little bumble bees on them today. Also have 3 not so friendly geese in my front yard.

Your trip inspired me to look for more parks to explore. There is a 450 acre park not too far from me with an intact forest with spring ephemerals and spice bush and everything. I'll have to look around there when I get a chance.

Are you talking about the trip tomorrow, or yesterday's? I want to go on one today too, but I have to water the old garden first. I ordered 10 spicebush seedlings, they ship in November. I'm seeing lots more butterflies.

Both of them, I thought I should look to see if there's any old growth fragments closer to me. The bigger parks are over an hour drive but the 450acre one is only 11 miles away. I'd like to start a few spicebush seeds from a local plant, the seedlings are supposed to have a relatively fast growth rate.