yard plants

There is so much going on in the garden now, I can hardly keep up with it (in terms of updating the blog!)

My bee balm (monarda) is blooming-

it's easily the tallest plant in the back bed (full pic of here, hit with the sun)- bee balm is just behind the tree trunk.

Another plant I want to divide and spread or get more of next year.

I see it attracting bees and other insects already.

Lots of cosmos are blooming- these in the garden bed

and the nicest foliage on the three largest I put in a pot on the deck.

I've been regularly cutting the flowers to put in a little vase with daisies. The daisies last a lot longer than the cosmos, which fade and drop petals after a few days.

I pulled up that tallest daisy-like plant that was growing in the back bed. It made a cluster of small flowers on top. Yes, they look like daisy family but a weedy one. (This is a bouquet my youngest gathered for her room).

My red daylilies are flowering!

and the other lily (still can't remember its name) coming up nearby.

Gladiola foliage is getting taller- I might have to stake these.

My coleus in the front aren't doing too well- and one of them has simply disappeared.

The area they're in has some celosia as well- these are growing faster,

although I had to put plastic cloches over some during a downpour (they were under the eaves of the house where water sheets off) and stones ringed around them to hold in place. I had almost forgotten I'd sown some celosia seed directly into the ground around the stump, and now those are coming up too!

New hostas are doing well-

this is the blue one I transplanted to a different area in early spring. But the biggest, yellow-green ones are suffering from too much sun now that the neighbor's trees are gone. I think I will have to dig up and move them to a shadier area come fall.

The salvia I moved to a spot under a side tree have grown a lot, but I think their spot gets too much sun as well.

Joe pye weed 'chocolate'

and turtlehead also doing great (I really like the joe pye) but my husband thinks these look like glorified weeds and I have to keep reminding him not to pull them up. I might have to move them as well, into a less noticeable part of the yard!

Rose looks healthier now that we've picked off most of the caterpillars-

but the stems continually bend over. This is looking down on the plant. I think it gets leggy reaching for more light. Another plant I'm going to try and move in the fall.

Dahlias are blooming too! But I'm surprised how short the plants are. Maybe they will get taller as the season goes on.

This is that blue-green (not so much anymore) weed plant I put into pots. It's finally making buds so maybe a flower will help me identify it (and then if it's an undesirable I will toss it before it makes seed). It's foliage kind of reminds me of parsley now.

Here's another unknown- I think it's virginia creeper. I also think a lot of people try to eradicate this plant from their yards? but in this case both C. and I find it rather attractive, so for the time being I let it stay against the fence. When the runners sneak out into the lawn I pull those up.

And last of all- I'll save more plant pics for next post- are the coleus on the deck. Last year at this time the potted coleus was twice as big, but I shaded it under the tomato plants this time. It wilted fast for lack of water in the hottest days before; I'm trying to avoid that.

My funky coleus also went from an indoor pot-

to a larger, outside one. It's grown a lot.

I found the label, so now I know its name- 'kiwi fern'. How cool is that?

Here it is next to the nicest cosmos. It's twice as big now, since I took that picture.

You might think from all these pictures that my yard is full of flowers, but really it's not. They're all spread out and one of my main goals for next year is to divide what I can to add more plant mass and fill in the gaps...