Gardeners! Share your garden photos and garden chatter here.

[SquarePeg19]

Some of the plants in my backyard garden are absolutely mega sized this year. The cone flowers that I winter sowed are at least 4-5’ tall and covered with blooms and the butterfly bush I planted last year is easily over 8’. I’m going to have to stop using the Neptunes harvest fish emulsion. It’s too effective ! It’s a jungle!!! I’ll have to move the butterfly bush in the fall - it’s shading out the tall phlox and the bee balm. The cone flowers I’m hoping if I Chelsea chop them next spring they’ll be a bit shorter?

 

[terri16]

@SquarePeg : Everything looks lush and healthy. Our issues here have been rain-related. As in, lots of it! My coneflowers are sagging and I've staked a few. I might move my bee balm this fall or plant more.

In other news: he's done with the Milkweed, it seems. Not quite in full classic J shape but by tomorrow, he'll be there. Then I will move the cage and hang it on a tree or on the deck where it will get afternoon shade.

And fertilizer for the chewed up Milkweed!

 

[Digger...]

@SquarePeg : Everything looks lush and healthy. Our issues here have been rain-related. As in, lots of it! My coneflowers are sagging and I've staked a few. I might move my bee balm this fall or plant more.

In other news: he's done with the Milkweed, it seems. Not quite in full classic J shape but by tomorrow, he'll be there. Then I will move the cage and hang it on a tree or on the deck where it will get afternoon shade.

And fertilizer for the chewed up Milkweed!

View attachment 276761

You're having a great time with your new wild pet.

 

[jeffashman1]

Well, my Petunias are saying they've had enough of the hot weather and are slowly withering away. My tomato plants are also suffering. But my Mandevilla and Coneflowers seem to be doing ok. Impatiens are also ok, but not flowering much. The begonias are trying their best as well, but it'll be another week or two before I really see flowers on them. Our heat and humidity is brutal this year. Hit 100F/37.8C today.

jun25202401 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

jun27202401 by Jeff Ashman, on Flickr

 

[SquarePeg19]

@jeffashman those cone flowers look great. That’s an unusual color. Is that the native type for your area?

 

[jeffashman1]

@jeffashman those cone flowers look great. That’s an unusual color. Is that the native type for your area?

Last year they looked like normal purple coneflowers, but this year they have much more red in them. I don't know if it's heat, or something in the soil, or all the rain they got.

 

[terri16]

Last year they looked like normal purple coneflowers, but this year they have much more red in them. I don't know if it's heat, or something in the soil, or all the rain they got.

They look like the "Pow Wow" coneflowers that have been so popular. Very bright and vivid - and clearly able to tolerate the heat wave!

Up here, it's been a much better day. The temperatures have been better but rain and humidity have kept on. Today's high was only 72F, and finally humidity was normal.

More rain this weekend - hopefully just a passing shower - all the plants are waterlogged and I'm not expecting much from my first round of tomatoes!

 

[SquarePeg19]

Last year they looked like normal purple coneflowers, but this year they have much more red in them. I don't know if it's heat, or something in the soil, or all the rain they got.

Weirdly coincidental- today I noticed that this cone flower plant has two different color flowers on it.

 

[cgw95]

Red Norlands
The gro-bags just keep pumpin' out them spuds.
Unsure if I need a business license for a streetside stand--hah!
Happy Canada Day(7/1)to all at TPF!

 

[SunriseAvenue]

Slightly offtopic, but doesn anyone happen to know a landscape software in English? My grandma uses the one that's in German but to me it looks pretty inconvenient, so I'm looking for something similar. Any recommendations (besides a list of paper and a pencil) would be welcomed greatly

 

[jeffashman1]

Slightly offtopic, but doesn anyone happen to know a landscape software in English? My grandma uses the one that's in German but to me it looks pretty inconvenient, so I'm looking for something similar. Any recommendations (besides a list of paper and a pencil) would be welcomed greatly

Here are some to choose from. Don't know about "best" but they are worth looking at. I'm looking for something similar for my back yard. As with everything on the net, always make sure your AV software is up to date.
Landscaping Software Reviews

 

[SunriseAvenue]

Here are some to choose from. Don't know about "best" but they are worth looking at. I'm looking for something similar for my back yard. As with everything on the net, always make sure your AV software is up to date.
Landscaping Software Reviews

THANK YOU! I've been asking this on Reddit and so far nothing seemed really good, but this list looks promising!

 

[SquarePeg19]

My winter sown cone flowers are really amazing this year! Planted outdoors in water jugs in January of 2023. They were all foliage last year, no blooms, but they are making up for it this year.

 

[terri16]

Monarch caterpillar update!

Last seen, I was still showing the cat, right after I dropped the butterfly cage over the swamp milkweed outside - the cat crawled up and attached to the top in "J" position:

The very next day, we had this:

This morning when my husband checked around 8:30, we still had a very darkened chrysalis. I just looked twenty minutes ago, and -

It's a girl!

Apparently you can easily tell by the back of the wings like this. Without seeing the two black spots on both lower wings that indicate a male, you have a female.

Another view:

I'm going to be checking on her about every 20-30 minutes. She can't have been out too long, and conventional wisdom says let them dry out and try their wings for a couple of hours.

Once she's moved away and is active, I'll turn her out.

 

[SquarePeg19]

Monarch caterpillar update!

Last seen, I was still showing the cat, right after I dropped the butterfly cage over the swamp milkweed outside - the cat crawled up and attached to the top in "J" position:

View attachment 277204


The very next day, we had this:

View attachment 277205

This morning when my husband checked around 8:30, we still had a very darkened chrysalis. I just looked twenty minutes ago, and -

It's a girl!

View attachment 277206

Apparently you can easily tell by the back of the wings like this. Without seeing the two black spots on both lower wings that indicate a male, you have a female.

Another view:

View attachment 277207

I'm going to be checking on her about every 20-30 minutes. She can't have been out too long, and conventional wisdom says let them dry out and try their wings for a couple of hours.

Once she's moved away and is active, I'll turn her out.

Awesome!! If you have any potted flowers you could put them in there so she can fuel up.