Wildflower Wednesday

Monarda fistulosa

This summer's been rough on humans and wildlife, crops and livestock, lawns and gardens.  Still, with a little extra help from the end of a hose, our garden is weathering Mother Nature's and climate change's challenges.

With our early hot weather, plants bloomed early. Now, in July, that seems to have mostly leveled out, with most  bloom times pretty normal. What has been off is height.   A lot of stuff is shorter than usual - in some cases several feet shorter.

Lobelia cardinalis have their share of challenges this summer. One disappeared, one got smashed by a fallen branch during a recent storm, and this one . . . well, at least it's blooming.

They like moist soil, and live in an area of our swale that stays moist all year, normally . . .


This summer  has been lots of things, and normal isn't one of them.

Most of the purple coneflowers are two feet tall and under.  Most of the phlox, and everything in this part of the garden is shorter than usual.

Joe Pye Weed is a few feet shorter than usual, along with way-shorter-than-usual  Rudbeckia 'Herbstsonne.'   Besides being shorter, lots of stuff is less full too.

Nodding onions, Allium cernuum, seem oblivious of the heat and drought.

Culver's root, about finished blooming, is weathering the weather well.

A volunteer eupatorium (or do you say eutotrichum?) seems unfazed by the weather.  It's one of few July bloomers, whether native or  cultivar, that's its usual size.

Our small corner of the world has been hot and dry most of the summer along with much of the country.  Lately, there's been welcome relief with a few mid-80-degree days, and a few good deluges.  The occasional breaks from lugging hoses feel luxurious.

 

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain. ~ Unknown

To see more Wildflower Wednesday posts, please visit Gail at Clay and Limestone.

Wildflower Wednesday

On Wildflower Wednesday, the fourth Wednesday of each month, we join with Gail to celebrate and share the love of native plants and wildflowers across the blogosphere. Wildflowers are beautiful, easy-care additions to any garden, and there are wildflowers suited to any challenging combination of climate, soil, moisture, critter, and sun conditions you might have.

We have a little sunny space in our front yard, but most of our garden space is in back in beautiful, loamy soil. While the soil is great, we're challenged by gardening in the shallow roots of three mature silver maples, where there's little sun, the soil tends to dry out very quickly, and it can take years for new plants to become established. Many native plants and wildflowers have been equal to the challenge. These are the ones we find blooming here this month:

Allium cernuum, or nodding onions, came to live here last year, divisions shared with us by Monica. Tough, easy-care, and seldom bothered by animal or insect pests, their delicate blooms are a welcome addition. Nodding onions are attractive to pollinators and will thrive in full to part sun.

Eupatorium purpureum - Joe Pye weed is a tall plant excellent for the back of the border, with showy flower heads that last a long time. After the flowers fade, the seed heads can remain attractive well into the winter. Joe Pye weed is equal to the challenge of growing in a very dry area of our garden where the roots of the maples mingle with the roots of an old, mature arborvitae hedge.

Monarda fistulosa, a native bee balm, is doing well in its third year here. Although monardas are often plagued with powdery mildew, this one has shown no sign of it so far. Bee balm is a good name for it, considering how many bees visit this plant every day. We have lots of bunnies here, but bee balm is equal to the challenge they present, since our bunnies don't seem to like the taste of it's wonderfully fragrant foliage.

Phlox paniculata cultivars are abundant here. This seedling of unknown parentage turned up last year. Hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees don't care about its pedigree, and enjoy it just as much, if not more, than the cultivars. Phlox blooms well even in some of the challenging shadier spots in our garden.

Now that the main garden area in back is fully planted, in the last three years, we've expanded into the swale way in back. It's a mostly shady area where moisture conditions vary from a shallow area that never dries out to the deep end that goes from constantly flooded in winter and spring to bone dry in summer. We're still working out what, if anything we can plant in the deep end. The shallow area is perfect for moisture-loving, beautiful natives that don't mind the challenge of wet feet, like Lobelia cardinalis, or cardinal flower. Hummingbird magnets, cardinal flowers are hands-down their favorite blooms here.

Helenium autumnale, also called sneezeweed, was started from seeds last year. They bloomed their first year, and are budding again now. They're thriving in the shallow end of the swale too. They too like moist soil and don't mind wet feet. This one was pinched in early July as an experiment, while the others were left to grow as tall as they wanted. Next year they'll all be pinched. All but this one flopped, and it has more buds than the ones that weren't pinched.

Late last winter I ordered seeds for Lobelia siphilitica. Blue lobelia, cardinal flower's cousin, seemed a nice addition to the shallow end of the swale. From an entire packet of seeds, only two germinated, and only one survived the seedling stage. The little lobelia was carefully nurtured until, during it's first week outdoors, in a pot on the edge of the west veggie bed, some critter bit off its little crown. In the bed, wilted but intact, the severed section was found. After re-hydrating it in a cup of water, it was planted in fresh potting soil in a small nursery pot in hopes it might root itself in case the original plant didn't re-grow.

The original plant grew new leaves and survived, and the decapitated portion grew roots, so now we have two! Both are budding in their first season, despite their early trauma. Now they live in the shallow end of the swale, where they were transplanted back in June. I expect they'll be equal to the challenge of wet feet. Hopefully they'll survive the challenge of the bunnies. Maybe in September we'll see some blooms.

We added two little prairie smoke (Geum triflorum) plants three springs ago. One disappeared last fall, and the remaining one bloomed for the first time this spring. One of the blooms set seeds. A few seeds were collected, and started under the light in the basement. In the next few weeks they'll find homes in the garden near their parent that has so far proven itself equal to the challenges of dry soil and and not much sun.

Every garden presents challenges. Through research, trial and error, and experience, native plants can be found which will not only survive, but thrive in nearly any challenging garden conditions we may have.

For more Wildflower Wednesday posts, please visit sweet Gail at Clay and Limestone.

Wildflower Wednesday

Purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, has been a favorite native plant for as long as I can remember. Silly me, when first starting our garden, was lured by some of the coneflower cultivars. I won't tell you how much money I spent wasted on bigger, supposedly better blooms in various colors, only to have most of them die within their first season. I wised up and bought a packet of seeds, had flowers the first season, and plants that have all been perennial in our garden for a tiny fraction of the cost of those long-gone cultivars.

Goldfinches LOVE coneflower seeds. I'm not thrilled watching them pick off the petals, but I love seeing them come to the garden for the seeds, and the swallowtail butterflies and hummingbirds who enjoy their nectar.

Nodding onions, Allium cernuum, are about to bloom. Monica shared these with me when she came for a visit last summer, along with a few other native plants that are happily settling into our garden. The blooms of nodding onions can be pink, white, or lavender. (Ours are white.) They're happy in full to part sun, and are to said not to like hot summers. I'm happy they're doing well here in spite of our weather! All parts of the plant are edible. It's a very nutritious plant that was widely enjoyed by Native Americans and early settlers. The juice is said to make a fine insect repellent. (I'm not sure I'd want my skin to smell like onion juice!)

This is a young Culver's Root, Veronicastrum virginicum. It had a smaller, single bloom spike last year. This year's one bloom spike is a little bigger, but still not as impressive as the candelabra of spikes it will hopefully have when it's more mature. At about thirty inches, it's also much smaller than it's eventual five-foot mature height. Still, it's a lovely plant. The foliage has stayed fresh all season, and shows no signs of insect damage or any fungus, yellowing, or crisping whatsoever. Culver's Root is visited by many pollinators. You can see a list of them at the Illinois wildflowers website at the link above, where you can also see a photo of the blooms on a mature plant.

The roots of Veronicastrum virginicum have a long history of medicinal use by Native Americans, mostly for digestive disorders, and as purifying herb which induces sweating. It's believed the plant is named after Dr. Culver, an American physician and proponent of its medicinal uses in the 17th or 18th century.

Eupatorium purpureum's buds are just starting to turn pink. I divided these plants last spring - not an easy task thanks to their very tough roots. The plants resented having their roots disturbed and looked pretty awful the rest of the season. They've recovered very nicely though this year, although they're not as tall as they were before dividing them. The divisions are doing well in another area of our garden, though so far there are no signs of flower buds.

Also known as Joe Pye Weed, these very large, tall plants are wonderful in the garden. Another native with usefulness as a medicinal plant, they're grown here primarily for their ornamental value and attractiveness to pollinators. They draw lots of different kinds of bees, every butterfly in the neighborhood, and even hummingbirds thanks to their tubular flowers. The pollinator traffic on Joe Pye Weed is truly something to behold.

To see more Wildflower Wednesday posts, please visit Gail at Clay and Limestone, who hosts this celebration of native plants and wildflowers on the 4th Wednesday of each month.