Gardeners! Share your garden photos and garden chatter here.

[Jeff15]

 

[cgw]

First flowering for new "old" roses at the family ruin
A rambler, 'Ghislaine de Feligonde.'

 

[terri]

Gorgeous old roses! Amazing how this plant still blooms, if it's the one I'm thinking of.

 

[cgw]

Gorgeous old roses! Amazing how this plant still blooms, if it's the one I'm thinking of.

That's Sidonie, the infamous "French B*tch," the rescued pink Damask much loved by my MIL. It sulked a bit this spring but is coming along. Pictured here is one of 6 old varieties we got bare-root from a grower in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

 

[Jeff15]

Dahlia

 

[terri]

Boy, did I miss this cat! I've been out there checking the swamp milkweed for the last few days, since that gorgeous female was visiting daily for awhile.

He's huge! I've been looking under the leaves for a tiny egg.

In a feeble effort to corral him before pupating, I put a garden stake into the ground, other end into my butterfly cage, then gently pulled this stalk and several more into the opening to give him additional blooms to munch on. Zipped it as much as I could.

It's getting ready to storm out there, so he may cut loose before I can check again. The other time I did this, my milkweed was short enough to let me drop the cage over the plant and all I had to do was wait for the chrysalis.

A couple years ago:

So I was able to safely set her loose into the wild.

We'll see if this cat cooperates or runs away to do his own thing.

 

[cgw]

We plant fennel and parsley for the "Jeffs." Lovingly named after the giant worm in MIB II.

 

[SquarePeg]

He’s a giant!

 

[SquarePeg]

@terri @jeffashman don’t hate me!

 

[terri]

@terri @jeffashman don’t hate me!
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Those are stunning!!

According to my reading on Major Wheeler honeysuckle, it's kind of over by midsummer. I got some nice flowering from ONE of my plants - a few weeks ago. Nothing but foliage on the trellis now.

Your plants are obviously very happy with their location! Just gorgeous. I hope the locals are appreciative and buzzing around them!

 

[SquarePeg]

Those are stunning!!

According to my reading on Major Wheeler honeysuckle, it's kind of over by midsummer. I got some nice flowering from ONE of my plants - a few weeks ago. Nothing but foliage on the trellis now.

Your plants are obviously very happy with their location! Just gorgeous. I hope the locals are appreciative and buzzing around them!

I remember it blooming for quite a long time last year. I’ll keep an eye out to see when it stops blooming this year. I know I lightly pruned and dead headed the Scentsation and it re-bloomed in September last year.

 

[terri]

I know I lightly pruned and dead headed the Scentsation and it re-bloomed in September last year.

Interesting! Mine is looking good as far as climbing the trellis and having healthy foliage, but I never thought about dead heading the blooms. It's now a full year in the ground.

The blooms are long gone but their pods are still there. I thought to leave them alone to see if critters would eat them - should I cut them off to see if that encourages more blooms?

 

[SquarePeg]

Interesting! Mine is looking good as far as climbing the trellis and having healthy foliage, but I never thought about dead heading the blooms. It's now a full year in the ground.

The blooms are long gone but their pods are still there. I thought to leave them alone to see if critters would eat them - should I cut them off to see if that encourages more blooms?

I left them on the first year for the birds, but the birds never ate them

 

[terri]

BTW, the Monarch cat I was watching yesterday apparently crawled off. Went out this morning hoping to see either him still there, hanging onto the milkweed stalks I stuffed inside the butterfly cage - or, an actual chrysalis. He was nowhere to be found. So, Mother Nature is now in charge of this guy.

However, another Monarch female showed up this afternoon, enjoying the buttonbush:

I hung around to see if there was any interest in the swamp milkweed, and sure enough, she landed on it.

Doesn't look like she's going for the nectar here - this girl is hanging onto the tall leaves and likely will leave an egg.

Maybe I'll come across another cat soon that I can lure into the safety of the butterfly cage.

I've not seen a single Black Swallowtail this year - after overwintering two chrysalises because there were so many last year. *sniffle*

 

[cgw]

Strategies...We're usually wrestling with the border(pun?)separating yard work and gardening at the family ruin--three large lots. After studying drone shots, we decided my MIL's 1970s design only partially worked with changed shade patterns and several huge black walnuts that poison many nearby plantings. So far it's been old and reclaimed beds within sight-lines of the house getting the love with less visible/compromised areas receiving suitable low-needs shrubs and perennials. Some perimeter areas get minimal care apart from whacking invasive stuff--what we're calling the "moat." Hah!