Wow, Skip. That’s a lot of people. I would have been intimidated. I am glad it went over so well.

My daughter just went on a walk and saw a box turtle eat a hummingbird fledgling. Brutal. Here I thought box turtles are these gentle creatures. Just wandering around nibbling on mushrooms.

Jay, great pictures again! I am going to leave the big one of my bog intruders to see what happens, put some of the runners in pots in case it’s something useful. Kind of doubt it since it’s so aggressive. Trying to keep these sprigs away from my little plants like the milkwort and fringed orchids.

Yesterdays storms were something. Pretty scary. Tied some stuff back up today and dragged some branches. Gorgeous sunset today so with a bit of a rainbow. Ha, I thought the Name that Plant is still very active. I guess I really have to wait if it will bloom.

The thistle is Cirsium discolor Skip. Iris, I put your bog weed on my fb ID group and someone guessed purple loosestrife, which is wrong, but someone else wants to know if it has milky sap.

Sambucus canadensis and Rudbeckia fulgida. The Rudbeckia fulgida complex has recently had some of it's varieties elevated to species level. There are even more Rudbeckia entities that aren't listed varieties, and they are being studied so they can be given names. I really have no idea what variety this is, but the cultivar Goldsturm was Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii that was tweaked in Europe before being offered. That variety is now Rudbeckia sullivantii.

Rudbeckia triloba, Brown Eyed Susan.

Verbena tenuisecta. A southern native that makes a nice frilly groundcover with it's prostrate habit and bright, purple/pink flowers.

Croton capitatus. Wooly Croton

Physostegia virginica, Disobediant Plant

Collinsonia canadensis

Phytolacca americanum, Symphoricarpos, Laportea canadensis.

Solidago caesia, Chelone obliqua, Prunella vulgaris subsp. lanceolata, Penstemon calycosus, Aquilegia canadensis.

Grindelia lanceolata, Solidago canadensis, Chelone obliqua, Mentha canadensis, Ipomoea purpurea, Acalypha rhomboidea, Campanulastrum americanum, Physostegia virginica.

Great pictures, Jay! I will need to look some of these plants up. So pretty!

Thank you so much for trying to help me figuring out this mystery plant. There isn’t any milky sap. The stem looks almost hollow? There seem to be new sprigs every day, so no problem to plug them to check for this kind of stuff.

Im anxious to know what that plant is too Iris. In my native plant group, someone had a hornworm, and somebody said "too bad it's not covered with wasp eggs", so I got angry and said that if you are a native plant person and you care about the enviroment, your 1st reaction should be to find another nightshade plant to put the caterpillar on. On Building a Better Butterfly Garden, someone asked how to keep wasps away from their milkweeds, and 2 people posted recipes for killing lots of wasps. I don't understand why people like that join nature groups?

Jay, I am not sure what people are thinking. It’s like the ones planting a ton of milkweed, and not wanting any milkweed Tussock moth caterpillars on them. Even if there is plenty left for Monarchs. I do complain about the deer, but it’s not like I am doing anything about them. My thistles are busy :)

Poor little skipper. It’s rough out there.

Saw a monarch today! Was bringing groceries inside the house so didn't get a picture of it.

Elderberries ripening

Surprise Agastache nepetoides, don't think I planted this here and the ones I did planted died in the drought last year.

Cemetery Prairie

Ha, Skip. Who doesn’t love to have a plant showing up you actually like? Too few of them around here. I still have no idea what the plant in my bog is, so I am just plucking out the runners. I hardly had to water any of my new shrubs yet this year, but these pop up thunderstorms have been more scary than usual. Just had 1/10 of an inch with the one yesterday, but a huge branch of the maple came down.

Finally have some little Pipevine caterpillars showing up :)

Jay, that is a really beautiful prairie, bet you had a great time seeing that.

Iris, yes the thunderstorms are crazy. 2-3 tornados in NJ this weekend. I love to see those caterpillars, I wonder if I will see any on my pipevine.

The prairie cemetary was nice, but there are some others in Illinois that have some rarer natives. The Ironweed there was the narrow leaved Vernonia fascicularis. I don't grow that species. I want to move my Agrimonia to the garden under the oak, and maybe get another plant in Rosaceae. There are Filipendula rubra, Spirae alba, and Spiraea tomentosum. I like the pink cotton candy flowers of Filipendula. There were a couple heavy downpours today. All the plants should be fine for a few days. I have been keeping the morning glories under control. I pulled up some common milkweed. There were too many and they were shading some nice plants like Erigeron pulchellus. Skip, do you have any Hieracium venosum that has overwintered? I have Hieracium umbellatum, but it doesn't look like a regular hawkweed, it has multple stems.

Jay, no Monarch cats currently on your common milkweed? I would like to cut some of mine again, way too many aphids, but I had a Monarch laying eggs again. These are really nice pictures. Time for you to give some garden tours :)

Some plants are getting really tall. I am also still confused if the Bidens Alba is native anywhere close to me. Maybe a lot of people are. The moderators do not turn off the comments when somebody posts a picture in the Native plant Facebook group. I had no volunteers from the 3 plants I had last year. I did plant two new ones this Spring. The little bees especially are really enjoying them.

I guess the picture of the non milky sap stem from my mystery plant wasn’t helpful with your Facebook friend that asked if there is sap?

My Hieracium venosum didn't come back this year. Too much competition from the asters and grasses around it I'd guess. I might try it again, but I really don't know if I should. I think the trees and asters in my yard are really too much for a lot of the more-delicate species.

Wow, something has happened and I can type and erase in here without it glitching and erasing everything.

No Monarch cats on my common milkweed, so Ive pulled some of them out. They were shading other plants like my Erigeron pulchellus, and I think they shaded my Lespedeza capitata to death. I checked them all for eggs and cats before I pulled them. It looks like my Asclepias subverticilatta has all the leaves eaten. The Monarchs seem to favor that species for laying eggs. I never actually saw the cats. Ive been doing a lot of weeding, mostly morning glories and Verbesina alternifolia and Verbesina virginica, and crabgrass. I kind of gave up trying to ID your agressive bog plant Iris. I figure it will be easy to ID once it blooms. My yard is a mess right now, so Im not planning on giving any tours anytime soon, except maybe one person at a time. Im trying to have a couple areas with shorter plants that don't like taller competition. Plants like Prairie Smoke and Phlox pilosa. I want to have more prairie grasses in between the perennials to keep them more under control. Little Bluestem seems to be useful for that purpose. I'm taking a lit of notes. Many plants would loik better if I clipped them back earlier in the season. My Tall Coreopsis are too tall, and all the plants on the west side of the house are sticking out so far trying to get more sun that there usn't much walking space. I have tons of vollunteer asters all over the place. I will let them bloom once and then pull them. Im ready to plant 5 Ionactis linearifolia, 3 Coreopsis palmata and a few Symphiotrichum sericeum. Then I have some grasses and sedges to plant. I actually have some Muhlenbergia cappilaris to plant. We've had about 3 torrential downpours in the past week, so the ground is saturated.

Wild Rice, Zizania

Phryma leptostachya. I need to try growing this again. I never had any germination.

Not sure if I can wait until that plant in my bog blooms. It’s spreading all over the place. My water spider orchid is also spreading, but I am happy about that.

I am having a bunch of tiny milkweed Tussock moth caterpillars currently. And some Monarch eggs. Had a good 5 hours power outage last night. Seems to have messed up the only automated sprinklers I have in the front flower bed. Guess I will deal with programming this again in the morning. Going to have to make this work, no rain chance in the next 10 days with another heat dome coming up tomorrow. I did water for a couple of hours today.

Released a Polyphemus last night. Big girl :)

Well, go ahead and pull that weed out Iris. It's a bad plant whatever it is Lol. Where do you find Luna and Polyphemus eggs?

I am just going to keep pulling the sprigs for now. Doesn’t show any sign of wanting to bloom yet though. Came across Hyptis Alata. Wonder if I should get some. I have seen seeds available. It being a mint, it would probably be really popular. Probably not in my little bog though….

I usually see the Polyphemus on oak. Had one on blueberry before though. The Lunas on Pecan and sweetgum. At least in our yard. The caterpillars glow with the black light.

Well, nobody here.

Jay I know you are tired of my bog “weed”, but are these red whatever’s helping?

That plant looks distinctive, someone who knows more should be able to identify it. Reminds me a little bit of Ludwigia alternifolia.

My wife got an old bird cage for free a couple years ago, and it's been sitting outside since then not being used. When I first planted the Ipomoea pandurata it got dug up, so this time I had an idea.

Also found this little Desmodium flowering next to my driveway.

I just potted seedlings into 38-cell deep plug trays. 15 Eutrochium dubium, 10 Spiraea tomentosa, 13 Spiraea latifolia and 38 Ionactis linariifolius. I'll probably give some away and plant a bunch here.

Maybe a Euphorbia species Iris? This pic should help. That's a nice list of species you're planting Skip. The Japanese beetles did a number on my Desmodium canadense. I had pulled them all out, but a couple vollunteers showed up. This guy in New Jersey is growing Asclepias rubra abmnd is offering seeds to anyone interested in planting them in the pine barrens.https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0b1sZnmj2aK4aFdroKacUzYFBVF5co7jGJjWfobDZtDbuFa1poXsfLTbxhwThYPCpl&id=15909393&mibextid=Nif5oz

Gentianopsis crinata and Lobelia kalmii. I have a few Lobelia puberula seedlings.

Ha, well. I have a lot of unknown plants, but this one is bothering me. Since everything else in my bog is so well behaved and kind of orderly. It’s the only area in my yard under control. At least so far :)

I have an old bird cage (of the domed parrot kind) over one of my Schweinitzii sunflowers.

Jay, what kind of moss (I suppose it is) do you have in there with your sundew? Is it sphagnum moss? Haven’t found any wild one in my yard yet. Ordering seems very expensive.

The Sumacs are starting to bloom. All kinds of critters are happy, but lots of honey bees.

My moss is a short growing Sphagnum apecies, but I don't know the name.

Your sundews are looking great, Jay. Are they easy to keep? My first time with them, and they just were volunteers with a pitcher plant I ordered.

Looks like some of the Pipevine swallowtail cats want to crawl over to the milkweed to pupate. Not a good idea since there are so many things eating it.

My false aster patches are really huge by now. Need to divide and spread them around elsewhere.

I'm amazed at the amount of caterpillars you have Iris.

Jay the Gentianopsis, Lobelia, and other bog plants are really cool. Looks like you are having success with that growing method. Do I have to direct message that guy about the Asclepias? I don't see a post about it on his page. He is 2 towns over from me. I wonder if he's in the native plant society.

Your yard is looking fantastic, Skip. Looks like a prime time to have another garden tour :)

Just 73 degrees here with light rain all day long. My bear foot is leaning down again, even though it already has a lot of strings attached. That thing is huge. I have found two volunteers in better locations, so I am planning to try to transplant this big one in late Fall. At least I will have backup if it doesn’t work. Found some red spotted purple caterpillars today. They blend in well.

I guess you can direct message him Skip. He's not a friend of mine, yet. Rubra is a beautiful species. I'm trying to just grow the species native to Illinois now, and some of them are difficult to get established. Your Joe Pye Weed looks great.

There are a lot of species I've wanted to grow, but realistically I don't have room. I want to concentrate more on arranging what I already have into a more balanced look. There are some species Im going to start clipping back every year, for a slightly more tame look.

Wow Iris, I'm jealous of the Trichostema. Jay, incredible Gentianopsis and bog.

I got excited today to see that the Chrysopsis mariana came back.

Jay, rearranging sounds like a plan. I am going to have to divide some stuff. There are still some plants I wouldn’t pass on to buy if I came across them though. Space or not :)

Skip, how have you milkweeds been doing this year? I know Jay’s was pretty much pristine without aphids. Mine had a terrible time with them, especially the common ones. Currently still can’t cut any of the nasty ones back again. It’s very busy, and the Monarchs are still laying eggs. Hopefully the leaves with chrysalises aren’t being eaten before the butterflies in there are ready. Saw this little common snout one today. Blending right in.

Im not able to post pics again. The orange aphids are here now but only few of them.

My milkweeds were super ragged all year with the milkweed beetles munching on them, although the regrowth after cutting back was nice. I don't see any monarchs on them, they don't seem to prefer my common milkweed, and my swamp milkweed hasn't been growing well the last 2 years, it's getting too crowded where they were. My whorled milkweed didn't seem to have any damage, except for the aphids. I looked around for caterpillars but I'm not seeing any obvious ones.

Boltonia decurrens

Helenium autumnale

Laportea canadensis

Big blue stem showed up all over my meadow, I didn't seed this and haven't grown any in a few years.

Verbesina virginica, I don't remember planting this either. It's one I definitely started from seed but didnt do anything with. Maybe when I dumped the pots out there were more seeds in the soil.

Solidago flexicaulis already past prime

Bidens polylepis, miniaturized because I waited too long to plant.

Chamaecrista nicitans

Lespedeza violacea, I like this plant's ability to do well even when crowded and in too much shade

One of the pipevines, checked it but didn't see any caterpillars, just green stinkbug and a couple small gray moths

You have some nice looking plants, Skip. Including your volunteers. Caterpillars are showing up all over now. Seems like some are finally making it on the sicklepot and fennel without being eaten.

Surprise on my driveway this morning. Not at all sad about it. Tree service already came at dinner time. Amazing how fast these people work. Looks like a lot of my plants around the mailbox avoided being smushed. 3 more of these darn trees to go.

Well between not being able to post pics unless I screenshot and crop them, so they are at the top of my gallery because if I don't click on them within 1 split second they wont upload, and I write comments and then watch all my words get erased for no good reason anyways.

Your plants look awesome Skip! The Chamaecrista nictitens looks bigger than fasciculata, I like the size. I need more seeds, I lost my seedlings during a heatwave. My Lespedeza violacea has a couple weeks to go before it starts blooming. I have a smaller one next to it, Im not sure if it's a seedling or a sucker, but I wouldnt mind having a couple more of them. Your Isotrema macrophylla has larger leaves than my tomentosum. Id grow that one too if I had the room. After several years, my tomentosum is suckering a lot more into the adjacent beds. It wouldnt be so bad if it was being eaten by pipevine swallowtail cats, but there never have been any on it. They could be on my wild ginger without me noticing them. It's getting dark by 7PM now and Im not ready for fall or winter yet.

Native mantis

Chelone obliqua and Physostegia virginica

Seaside Goldenrod. This is invasive in Illinois. Its a coastal species thats probably native in New Jersey. Im letting them bloom for the pollinators and then pulling them out after.

Eurybia macrophylla. I want a few more of these, so Ill be winter sowing this one.

Aralia racemosa. I have 6 plants, but I still want to collect and winter sow some seeds. Maybe the seeds will germinate better if they're fresh. Did using liquid smoke improve the germination of the seeds you used it on? I mean the fire dependent prairie seeds.

Iris what kind of tree was that? Sometimes I dream about cutting down some of my trees to get more sunlight. The trees are a defining feature of the yard and providing habitat so I'm not really going to cut them down, but if some of the trees fell down without damaging my house somehow, I would look at it as an opportunity.

Jay, I have some plants around my Lezpedeza too, and also couldn't tell if they were suckers or seedlings. Your Chelone and Physostegia are awesome, I want to get those at some point to have something other than asteraceae. I had the Chelone last year but I think it died.

Your Aralia looks much healthier than mine.

I only remember trying liquid smoke on Comptonia peregrina and Chimaphila maculata and it didn't work.

Skip, it was a Bradford Pear. Seems every driveway had them 30 years ago. The whole Main Street of our city was lined with them too. We started out with 11 I think. If it would be up to me, they would all be gone by now. My husband (and I guess more importantly my mother in law) love them when they bloom. They don’t mind the stink. Last year two died of blight or something. Sadly no sign of that on the remaining three. The neighborhood on the next road isn’t even that old, but they have the whole road lined with them. That’s how we got the 5 hour or so power outage a couple of weeks ago. Why would they plant something like that under power lines?

It’s still a nursing home for my dogs around here, so I am not even thinking about any kind of seed starting. Or looking into any new plants. As long as I can keep what I have in order and watered. On the bright side, I went with one of my dogs to get the newly approved shot for arthritis today. She was the first to get it at our vet. And this clinic is actually one of the first ones to receive it. If this eliminates some of the peanut butter battles to get the many tablets in a day, it will free up some time for gardening :)

I tried moving all the Physostegia out and away from my Sweetflag and Blue Flag Iris, but there are still some in there hiding in some other plants. I have some grasses and sedges that I need to get planted. Im going on a field trip at the sand prairie Saturday. This is a new Crime Pays but Botany Doesnt video with Joey visiting a local big native nursery in my area.

https://fb.watch/mXT2BRPQrY/?mibextid=Nif5oz

I went to the sand prairie.

Aureolaria pedicularia

I have no idea

Hieracium scabrum

Liatris sp?

Bidens polylepis

Cirsium discolor

Pasture Thistle with Swallowtail

Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium

Dont know why it made a duplicate post, but if I delete it probably both posts will be deleted. It's happened before.

Cirsium discolor and Swallowtail

Agalinis tenuifolia

Sassafrass albidum

Rhus glabra

Tephrosia virginiana

Osmunda regalis

Pedicularis lanceolata

Great pictures, Jay! Seems you have your picture posting problem solved. At least for now :) Looks like a good time with your field trip. How many miles did you walk? I hope my milkwort is going to spread somehow. It’s such a cheerful looking plant.

Maybe we walked 1 mile, but it was through a lot of 3-4 ft tall plants and branches. I had burs all over my clothes.

How is it with the ticks up there? Hope you didn’t pick any up. Saw some in May/ June, but not for weeks.

The long power outage I mentioned not long ago that was caused by a Bradford Pear in a neighboring subdivision? I guess the power company had enough of this. This is only a small part of what they have been doing. The only place to pull over safely to take a picture. One would hope they replace with low, native shrubs, but I highly doubt it. The homeowners are probably going to go with something fast growing the power company is going to top off again in a few years. Needs something though if they don’t want to have their backyards so visible from the road.

Would be nice if they planted straight native trees like oaks and sweetgum, and why must they always be all the same species? They could make it more diverse and plant several different species

Rosinweed and Tall Coreopsis

Gaillardia aristata, it's been blooming non-stop since March.

Pink Turtleshell, Chelone obliqua

Actaea rubra, Native Heuchera

Decurrent aster, Boltonia decurrens

Oaks wouldn’t work for long with the power lines so low. I am at times not sure what the power company is thinking when they cut the branches of half of the pines, cedars and other trees.

My blanket flowers are long dead for the year. The finches picked all the seeds they wanted by now. All turtle heads have been eaten down to the point they didn’t bloom. So has my oak leaf hydrangea.

I have been watching a cicada killer for the past couple of days while weeding. She must have brought back at least a dozen cicadas by now. I have been reading up on them some. Really interesting. I am probably just going to leave that area alone instead of putting my usual pansies there for Winter. Pipevine swallowtails are all over now. This one didn’t even have the chance to completely dry off before a male found her.