Goldenrod

My neighbors have well-behaved goldenrod that is less than 3 ft. high.  I have out-of control goldenrod, which reseeds all over the place and grows to about 5 ft.  Someone suggested I move mine into the shade to help control it.  There are very few flowers that bloom in my yard in the fall, so I don't want to get rid of all of it. 

 

 

The sedum is starting to turn pink. Sedum is not my favorite plant because it often gets tall and floppy, but again, not much is going on in my yard in the fall, so I appreciate anything that blooms.

 

 

Last year I had hordes of volunteer marigolds.  This year only a few came up.  I planted the original seeds about 6 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Beard Blooming

About 3 years ago, I decided I didn't have many flowers blooming in my yard in the fall.  I went out and bought 3 blue beard plants.  They were just little twigs then, and I planted them what I thought was a good distance apart.  Now they are overgrown, too close to a baby crepe mytle, and need to be moved. I wanted to wait until they bloomed one more time.

 

They attract lots of bees and butterflies.

 

 

Chase and Keeper went out with me this morning when I was taking pictures.

 

 

Keeper watched me from the patio.  He doesn't like to walk on grass.  I suspect he was raised in a kennel with cement floors.  He was found wandering around in the woods about 3 years ago.  He had Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, double ear infections, worms and was about 15 lb. underweight.  Now he is healthy, and you wouldn't suspect his past unless you look at his ears, which are shredded at the edges.  I also think he was fixed by an amateur because the first vet he saw, couldn't say for sure if he had been neutered or not.  He is timid and very independent.  He has just decided that he likes to be petted, but he doesn't understand how to fetch or play. 

 

 

Chase is our watch dog. He is always alert and lets me know when there are any birds in the yard or people in the cul-de-sac.  He is nine years old,  about 30 lb., built like a corgi but with the coat and tail or a golden.  He loves to play and do tricks.  We call him our circus dog.  He can roll over, give high fives, spin, and fetch a ball.  Chase is neurotic and axious. He was getting over-dependent on me which is why we took in Keeper, hoping the canine company would help him.  

 

 

 

Not a Hosta

Two years ago, my neighbor split her hostas and gave some to me.  I planted them on the shady side of the house next to the driveway.  One of them turned out to be a canna plant, not a hosta.  I thought cannas needed sun, but these are thriving in the shade.  They need to be thinned out this fall.

My garden doesn't look great this time of year.  It is too hot to do a lot of weeding. Some of my  flowers were planted years ago,  and since then, trees have grown up and are shading plants that need full sun. The day lilies aren't blooming very well.  I think they need to be split.  I have a lot of transplanting to do this fall.

Mystery flowers

I still haven't identified this plant.

 Now it looks like this:

It is tall and floppy and could use some staking.  The flowers aren't beautiful.  What I like about this plant is that it comes back year after year and lasts well into Dec.  It's not my favorite, but I'd like to know what it is.

Another mystery plant is this one:

It looked like this earlier this spring.

I love the leaves on this plant.  Now it looks like this:

The flowers aren't beautiful, but they are interesting.  For some reason, my camera doesn't take good pictures of very light lavender flowers.  It makes them look gray or white.  I've tried to get the color right in several lights, but this is as good as I can do.  If you know what these plants could be, please let me know.

Summer Flowers

A lot of the summer flowers have started to bloom.  This crazy looking flower is a  bulb I bought at Lowes on sale for 1/2 off.  They called it a Peruvian daffodil, but my neighbor thought it looked like a lilly.

My butterfly bushes are just starting to bloom.  My neighbor's have been blooming already for a couple of weeks.  I don't think mine are getting enough sun.

The daisies have just started to bloom.

My Rose of Sharon has one flower right now.  I have several of these plants, given to me by my sister.  They originally came from a co-worker of hers.  This plant reseeds uncontrollably in my yard.  Sometimes I wish I had never planted it.

These are daylillies of unknown variety.  They were planted by the former homeowner.  They used to look peach when they were growing in the shade.  Last year, we had a tree cut down.  Now that they are getting more light, they look orange, not pale peach, and the center dark orange splotch is more pronounced.

These marigolds have been volunteering in my flower bed for years. Last year I had so many they overran the daylilies.  This year they seem to be very short and more under control.

More Flowers

The bee balm started blooming a couple of weeks ago.  This is a plant that first appeared in my yard when it crept though our neighbor's fence.  I moved a hunk of it to the middle of my yard a couple of years ago, but it isn't really getting enough sun.  Still, I love the color, and it is too tall to move in front into the sun. 

Some itty bitty day lilies have also started to bloom.

These day lilies are less than 10 inches tall.  I'm not sure where I got them, but they make me smile because they get flowers that are really big for the size plant they are.  They also bloom even when it it very hot and dry, and  my other day lilies have give up.  They seem to like this spot a lot, but they are getting  crowded.  I hope I remember to go back and read my flower posts next spring to help me remember which perennials to split.

The porch is moving along. 

They are waiting for the screens to come in.  Also, the windows for the utility room and the utility room floor are on backorder.   One and a half weeks so far without a washer and dryer.  My DH took dirty clothes to the laundermat last weekend, and I did a load at my neighbor's house this week. 

Is This a Weed?

I have several plants in my flower beds that I can''t identify.  Is this a weed?

It has little white flowers, but it isn't a very pretty plant.  Maybe it is an herb?  I don't remember planting anything this ugly!

What about this thing?  It has pretty leaves.  I got it from the backyard plant sale, and it is growing in full sun.  It has never bloomed in my yard.  I have 3 of them, but I don't know what they are.

This is also an unidentified plant.  I had two. One I planted in the shade, and it died.  This one is in full sun, and it is bordering on invasive.  It gets small whitish pink flowers that are kind of spikey. Let me know if you know what it is. 

False Indigo has been blooming in my yard for about a week and a half.  I love this plant! 

The columbine is also still going strong.

Yellow Irises

My yellow irises opened overnight.

These irises were given to me about 15 years ago by my husband's Aunt Linda. I split them several years ago and gave some to my mom.  When we moved into this house, my mom split hers and gave some back to me. The best part about these is how quickly they multiply.

I only have a couple of these ruffled irises. They are fancier than the others, but they don't multiply as quickly, and they didn't bloom last year at all.  I got them at the backyard plant sale in Ashland, VA a couple of years ago. (backyardplantsale.org)

My false indigo is just starting to bloom.

My pincushion flowers look pretty good. I started with 3 plants, but I only have one plant left. The flowers are a light purple, not blue as in the picture.

More Flowers

I haven't taken pictures of my flowers in over a week.  The second wave of azaleas has bloomed.

The purple-pink azaleas always bloom about a week and a half after the baby pink ones.  They look a lot better now that the big tree that was shading them has been cut down.

These are dark pink ones are  getting old, and I've had to cut off a lot of dead branches this spring.


This has been a good year for columbine.

Most of my columbine came from my friend Brenda's garden.  I took seeds from her plants and sprinkled them in my beds.  This is a hardy strain, and the plants are very sturdy, not delicate like a lot of columbine.

Just a few of my Dutch irises came back this year, and they are all white.  Last year I had yellow, and 2 shades of purple too.

I'm not sure of the name of this plant, but it looks better this year than it ever has.

I can't remember what this is either, but it usually blooms in June, not April!

Can't Keep Up

It was my intention to document all of my flowers as they come up and bloom this year.  It has been so warm, though, that everything seems to be coming up all at once.

Hosta

Pincushion Flower

Azaleas (Coral Bells)

Hosta

False Indigo ( I like the way it comes up looking like asparagus.)