You must have had some rain if the rudbeckia look that good. I know they are drought tolerant, but they can show the effects of low moisture. A lot of flowers, I find, can look better on rebloom. Sparse here, especially after dry summer.

Mantis, this is Goldstrum Rudbeckia and it is in a section of the garden that receives only rain, no supplemental watering. It self seeds like crazy and can be invasive but always looks great, regardless of the weather. Here is another area of it in a different part of that garden.

How nice that you are getting this much rebloom despite the lack of rain. We've had a chance of rain every day this week, but it always seems to go south or west of us. I think my favorites are Malachite Prism and Vanilla Gorilla.

Debra

First things first. I had to bring my DH in to look at that crawdad tower. I've seen small ones, but yours is the tallest I've ever seen. Do the Crawdads go in and out of it? Do you have crawdad gumbo on the menu?.............I like your Malachite Prism. The colors look sweet. Lavender and dark purple..........My South Seas surprised me this year with rebloom too. This is the first year it's rebloomed that I remember. It was recommended on this forum to me ages ago when I was a newbie, and I'm glad I listened .............Love your mailbox flowers...........Maryl

Debra-I hear you about the rain-we are above, below, or in the middle of every rain cloud.

Maryl, we have lots of the chimneys but this one was the tallest I have seen. And no, I never see the little critters. There was a whole “town” of these and I wish I had taken photos of that. Here it is on the ditch side.

Just Amazing Kate...................Maryl

I know nothing about crawfish so I found this post interesting. What is the purpose of the tower? Back to daylilies, Vanilla Gorilla is my favorite today. I’m enjoying the rebloom!

Sherry

Nice to have so many still blooming. The rudbeckia here are dying off quickly for lack of rain but the coneflowers keep going. The tower thing is interesting and I've never heard of it. Learn something new everyday.

Julia

Sherry and Julia-thanks for the comments. I am attaching part of an article from Ohio State University that discusses these-could have just posted the link but this is the part that discusses the chimneys. They burrow and carry the mud balls to the surface to make their tunnel to the water table. I checked the date of the picture and it was 7/27 so that may explain why it was so tall- we had not had rain for a while so they had to go down a good way to reach water even though it was by a road ditch. The towers are hard on mowing because they can be like concrete! I am glad you were interested in these-I always find them a fascinating creature.

Oops! Forgot to post it!

Thanks, Kate, for taking the time to educate us!

Sherry

Wow, 3 sets of South Seas! It is a favorite, but mine rarely rebloom. I like Old Friends too.

I've never seen the crayfish chimneys that I know of. In Pa we called them Crayfish. Here in KY they are more often crawdads.

Brad

How nice to have plenty of reblooms. I liked Vanilla Gorilla and Malachite Prism. South Seas was a good bloomer and a regular rebloomer here but it was not an early morning opener so it is growing in Cindy's garden now. I love the mailbox zinnias. they are so bright and cheerful and colorful!

kay

Yay for rebloom. They all look so nice and fresh. Wow three sets of scapes on South Seas. I really like the look of Malachite Prism and the pale yellow of Vanilla Gorilla. Pretty zinnias! And they look so compact. I planted Liliput variety this year, and they are 4 feet tall..

Kate, your crawdad tower fascinates me. My dad used to talk about hunting crawdads, but I don't think I have ever seen them, certainly no towers like that. Love Vanilla Gorilla, mine bloomed quite a while, 1st year, but no rebloom. We have been getting some rain lately finally, it had been going just past us. I do have some rebloom scapes showing up lately. Saw one on Navajo Pony yesterday, 2 rebloom scapes finished not long ago. I don't have South Seas any more, don't remember it ever reblooming here.

Kay, I am surprised South Seas did not open early for you. Interesting how they perform differently for people, isn’t it? Nat, funny about your zinnias being so tall!!! Liliputs are pretty.

Brad and Nancy, it is interesting you have not seen the chimneys. You certainly have the crayfish/crawfish in your state. I went down this morning to see if they were still there. Area was mowed last week and the tall one was mowed down (probably dulled the blades!). Here is what I saw.

Fresh one coming up.

Perfect symmetry. I was standing directly over this one so it is shaded.

Side by side dwellers-one with and one without a chimney-one without was probably mowed down

More interesting facts-usually just one per burrow unless mating. Burrows can go as deep as 15 feet almost many tunnels are built horizontally. And snakes are said to hibernate in the holes. And you can see different colors on the wads or balls based on soil levels. But you can tell by the grass how dry it is on top! So at least there is a water level down there somewhere!!

And I bet no one thought they would learn so much about crawfish on a daylily forum!! I posted the photo because I thought it was an interesting feature in my yard at the time. But again, glad to see the interest.

I showed to my husband, he has never seen anything like this. When he was a kid, he said they were in the drainage ditch in front of his house and they came out when it rained. I feel like I have seen something like it at my grandparent's home in TN decades ago, but that was a long time ago. Glad you posted! I learned something new!

Kate: You need a critter cam so we can see what they look like-lol............Maryl

Maryl, how funny!! Would you believe in all these years of seeing these towers, holes, and chimneys I have never ever seen one!! Well, in my yard, anyway! (Gumbo and etouffee, yes!!)

LOL on the menu Kate................Maryl