Gardeners! Share your garden photos and garden chatter here.

[Joel Bolden]

My 1.25 acres here in North Central Pennsylvania is 1/2 woods and the rest in various gardens. About 98% of my flower/shrub plantings are native to Pennsylvania. These are some of the pics: 1. Beard Tongue 2. Yellow Tiger Swallowtail on an Ordinary Milkweed flower 3. Butterfly Weed(milkweed family) 4. Yellow Tiger Swallowtail on Button Bush(a native shrub) 5. Rhododendron 6. Native Bergamot

 

[SquarePeg]

Three new residents in my butterfly garden today!

 

[SquarePeg]

I’ve been trying to get a decent shot of this little butterfly forever. It rarely lands. I think it was looking for camouflage and finally found some among the whitish petals on some faded hydrangea blooms.

garden visitors by SharonCat..., on Flickr

 

[SquarePeg]

Had some garden visitors yesterday - but not the good kind! These tomato hornworms were making themselves at home and feasting on the leaves of my tomato plants. There were 5 on the two plants. These guys are creepy looking. Photo of them in the frisbee before I put them out front for the birds to find.

 

[Joel Bolden]

Had some garden visitors yesterday - but not the good kind! These tomato hornworms were making themselves at home and feasting on the leaves of my tomato plants. There were 5 on the two plants. These guys are creepy looking. Photo of them in the frisbee before I put them out front for the birds to find.

View attachment 258522

Nasty little critters. If I only spot one and it hasn't done much damage yet, I leave it for the Trichogramma Wasps to deal with; which is usually pretty quickly.

 

[SquarePeg]

Nasty little critters. If I only spot one and it hasn't done much damage yet, I leave it for the Trichogramma Wasps to deal with; which is usually pretty quickly.

I found 5 yesterday and one this morning. I only have two small tomato plants so I can’t afford to give them any extra time to destroy.

 

[Joel Bolden]

A Clear Winged Hummingbird Moth on my Monarda fistula this morning.

 

[terri]

I found 5 yesterday and one this morning. I only have two small tomato plants so I can’t afford to give them any extra time to destroy.

They are disgusting, and excellent at camouflaging themselves. I pick them off as quickly as I find them, too. I don't like tossing them for other bugs for fear they'll make it right back onto the plants. They work fast and can just ruin a tomato plant within 24 hours.

 

[SquarePeg]

@Joel Bolden
That’s awesome! I have only seen one once. That is commonly called Bee Balm yes? That color is new to me. I have Balmy Rose but it’s the short kind. I planted some tall red this year called Jacob Cline. It probably won’t flower until next year. It’s got such a great minty scent.

 

[SquarePeg]

They are disgusting, and excellent at camouflaging themselves. I pick them off as quickly as I find them, too. I don't like tossing them for other bugs for fear they'll make it right back onto the plants. They work fast and can just ruin a tomato plant within 24 hours.

Yes totally gross IMO but apparently they turn into a cool moth. One of the moms in my local gardening group saw my post on Facebook and wanted them for her kids to raise and watch the whole chrysalis process. I found a new one this morning. I put it in a food saver with a leaf and left it out for her. Bye bye! Also ordered a black light so I can go check for them at night. I worked hard on those plants and am not giving them up without a fight.

 

[Joel Bolden]

@Joel Bolden
That’s awesome! I have only seen one once. That is commonly called Bee Balm yes? That color is new to me. I have Balmy Rose but it’s the short kind. I planted some tall red this year called Jacob Cline. It probably won’t flower until next year. It’s got such a great minty scent.

This Bee Balm is Monarda fistulosa and the Red one you planted ,'Jacob Cline' (Monarda didyma) are species varieties, i.e. original in origin. Balmy Rose (also Monarda didyma) is a selected nativar of Jacob Cline. I used to have a 20 foot bed of Jacob Cline and both the Hummingbird Moths and Hummingbirds(and every other pollen loving insect) used to flock to it. It's susceptible to powdery mildew,so watch out for that.

 

[SquarePeg]

This Bee Balm is Monarda fistulosa and the Red one you planted ,'Jacob Cline' (Monarda didyma) are species varieties, i.e. original in origin. Balmy Rose (also Monarda didyma) is a selected nativar of Jacob Cline. I used to have a 20 foot bed of Jacob Cline and both the Hummingbird Moths and Hummingbirds(and every other pollen loving insect) used to flock to it. It's susceptible to powdery mildew,so watch out for that.

Thanks for the heads up. I read that some of the nativars are better at resisting disease.

 

[terri]

@Joel Bolden : Nice shots of the hummingbird moth! The first time I saw one I had no clue what it was, so convinced myself it was a baby hummingbird. Saw several more over time and did research to discover what they are. They're pretty cool!

I've also read that native plantings will be overall more resistant to disease. Makes sense.

 

[Joel Bolden]

Eight years ago I planted two Paw Paw trees and started the long wait until they would start producing fruit. Last year they both flowered and I got one Paw Paw. It was tasty though. This year they were both loaded with budding fruit when a late, hard freeze hit and wiped out all but 8 fruit(along with everyones' peaches, including mine). Still, eight is better than nothing at all. I planted another tree this spring between the two. Depending on the tree it'll be another 4-7 years before it starts flowering. No hurry.

 

[SquarePeg]

We are finally expecting rain today. It hasn’t rained for more than a few minutes since June. Unfortunately it’s going to be heavy thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. Going to bring my hanging plants down onto the deck and move the larger potted plants close to the fence for some protection.