Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Bloom Day July 15, 2008...

July Gold Daylily



Welcome to Clay and Limestone Garden. This garden has many native(N) wildflowers and perennials indigenous to the Central Basin (Middle Tennessee), the Southeastern USA and some well mannered exotics from all over the place!...I hope you have a wonderful visit. If this is your first time here, please come by again. The conversations are lively and open to all.

Also, stop by Carol's (May Dreams Gardens) to say hello and find out which other Gardenbloggers are celebrating Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Thank you Carol, I know that GBBD keeps getting bigger and I appreciate all you do! You're the best! gail

...and now for your enjoyment, my blooming plants! All photos enlarge with a click!

Oregano has plans to take over my world....definitely a mint family member! He's a wonderful groundcover....well, maybe not all of them are well behaved!

Stargazer Lily an oriental lily with star power, has brightened up the screened porch wildflower garden. If you have the orientals you know...
they are even lovelier in closeup. Stargazer's perfume is sweet and draws Luna moths each night....the porch is a good place to watch and then breath deeply. I love working in this bed when they are blooming! These guys came from Costco...you don't have to spend a lot of money to get this kind of return.


Rudbeckia hirta reseeds and I let it! Without this plant by the end of July this garden would be desolate! (N)

Blackberry Lily/Belamcanda chinensis...I like the old bloom's twists on the tip of the developing seed pod.



Cosmos sulphureus. I have read that butterflies like this flower, but they seem to prefer the monarda, liatris and coneflower. It's pretty though. Do you have it in your garden?




Growing with the Hemerocallis fulva more golden and not nearly as orange. This is probably a version of fulva. I wonder how much the fulvas cross with other daylilies? Daylilies were my first love, wildflowers are my soul mates! Here are a few that are still in bloom.


The problem is that most of my Daylilies have misplaced their name tags in a big relocation move! So I am still trying to identify them! Even without a name they are lovely...don't you think?

Could this be Puddin or ubiquitous Stella?

Hyperion, a bit rain soaked but one of my favorite Daylilies...Hyperion is fragrant!

H fulva "Kwanzo" a delightful double ditch daylily!

Daylilies come in adorable and small flowered.


This lady has quite the smudged eye liner!


Blazing Star/Liatris spicata~~ A butterfly and bee magnet with his pal the the purple coneflower. (N)

This time attracting my camera strap! Did you know that Liatris is a member of the Aster family?


Spiderwort rebloomed after an early summer shearing. It's the only way to make him look tidy during the summer....keeps down the volunteers, too. How do you like it with the Amsonia hubrectii?....now that's a plant I highly recommend. (N)


Thin Leaf Coneflower or Rudbeckia triloba pops up here and there....it can get tall and the flowers are much smaller than other Rudbeckias, but in a native woodland it's perfect. (N)

Peachie's Pick/Stokesia laevis and a friend. Peachie has bloomed for several weeks and I am faithfully deadheading to see if she will rebloom. (N)




Summer phlox...it's back! After a two year absence from the garden! (N)

The last of the PPPP...Phlox Pilosa, the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox...I took this photo July 14, 2008 at 4:30 PM. So when I say it is long blooming I am not pulling your leg! (N) Here I am on Bloom Day adding this link to Mr McGregor's Daughter...who loves this plant as much as me!



Tennessee Coneflower, such a sweet flower, notice it's leaning toward the sun! We haven't it situated in the best spot! (N)

Purple Coneflower...there's something eating him! (N) A little black beetle that I can't identify!

Monardas on Parade: all natives (N)

Monarda didyma sps... a lovely scarlet colored beebalm who resides in the woodland garden.

Marshall's Delight in my garden and/or Blue Stocking in Iowa Victory Gardener's (Urban Oasis)

Monarda didyma v Pink Supreme with a lovely visitor.

Monarda didyma 'Grand Marshall' is smaller and redder than Marshall's Delight....also not as popular a hang out as either Marshall or Pink S. HMMM!


More natives:

River Oats
Homestead Purple Verbena..This guy will get a big shearing and start blooming again in a few weeks. He will bloom until a frost knocks him out!

Joe Pye Weed
Hydrangea arborescens spp.


H arborescens 'Annabelle' is what the label said!


You've reached the end of the grand tour. I hope you had fun...you've been ever so patient. Please do come back for a chat and another visit!

Thank you!

Gail

“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” --Iris Murdoch

64 comments:

  1. Wow Gail,
    That's quite the tour today! Absolutely great photos, too! Such lovely lilies that they almost make me want to plant some if we had the right spots! I miss my Cosmos ('Bright Lights'), as I had that for quite a few years until it finally disappeared (but I only planted it once and relied on volunteers). Next year I need to get some going again.

    I'd never thought of planting Liatris (ours is starting to bloom now!) with the purple Monarda, but they look great together! And with the coneflowers too ... that Pink Monarda is actually quite pretty, not at all what I thought of when you mentioned it over at my place, because the varieties I've seen were much paler and more like the wild version. And that butterfly is spectacular! Oops, on second thought/view ... it appears to be a moth, but still lovely.

    That was so nice of you to link to me on your blogroll (thanks!). Looks like you have one too many "http" in there, so you might want to edit that, lol. I always tread very lightly when adding things to mine, because one slip of the HTML and you don't quite get what you thought you were getting, lol.

    Fantastic post as always! 5 Blooms Way Up!

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  2. Good morning Gail,

    What a festive post! Kwanzo it is then. Thanks.
    Tell me about the despised Stella: is she very much smaller than the usual daylillies? Or is my label wrong and are we not talking about the same plant here. Mine is titchy and so lovable that I am really bewildered by the dislike she causes.

    The peachy blue plant is totally stealable, like a Monet painting in a museum. (If one of those goes missing, it is me that walked out with it.)

    Didn't you do well with the butterflies. Not easy to get them to stay open for a shot. And I love the photo with the gate in the background. Is that there to stop them crossing the double yellow line :-) ?

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  3. IVG,

    Thank you...I feel honored indeed! I was looking at some of your earlier posts and your photos are excellent, so you see why I feel honored!

    I think the monarda looks surprisingly good with the liatris. My color combinations are frequently happy accidents,if they go wrong they get moved...occasionaly or a mitigating color might help!

    With the monarda colors...I find that colors don't always show true on cameras or monitors! I never know if the pink I see is the pink you see....and they never look like the photos at the nursery sites!

    Hmm, I am puzzled about the html...that was a blogger link...I can get it to work does it not work for you? I linked to your monarda post. Let me know and I will try to fix it! I do mean try as html is a foreign language!

    Gail

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  4. Jo,

    Glad you're back. You are very welcome...it was a pleasure that I could I identify a plant for you...you are far better at that than I.

    When Stella came out on the market...she was an instant hit and why not she is cute and has a lovely bloom and reblooms...but everyone one and his grandmother began selling them and soon they were everywhere! Stella is mass planted in almost every commercial building site in America and gardeners are feeling saturated with the color. Is the photo Stella? Maybe! But it could be Puddin another sweet golden yellow~


    The butterflies and moths cooperated by sitting quite still as I lumbered about! Also, it took many shots...we love digital!

    The gate is a actually a garage sale headboard from a twin bed! A sweet vine wa supposed to be planted there...and now I have a space for one of the less climby clematis I bought!

    Gail

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  5. Hi Gail, thanks for identifying which are natives, that is something I don't know much about unless I have looked it up. We have been growing many plants for many years without the native knowledge. I just go with what will grow LOL. Our cosmos are up but not even budded yet. I have trouble waiting until the ground is warm enough before throwing out the seeds. They used to self sow so there wasn't any problem then. Your are heavy on the purple shades, so lovely. The daylilies help set that off, as well as the lilies. Thank goodness for those black eyed susans, all types of them, we so need that splash of yellow in the late summer garden before the goldenrod and mums kick in. Your porch with the lilies and luna moths sounds like heaven.
    Frances

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  6. So much to see! You could charge admission for this garden walk:)

    Love the photo of the liatris with coneflower--a great combo and a very artistic photo.
    Just yesterday I was looking through a bulb catalog debating about the Stargazer lily. I'm glad I could see it is as lovely in your garden as in the catalog.

    I'm envious of your Tennessee coneflower--after some research, I discovered there is no Illinois coneflower(:

    Happy Bloom Day!

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  7. I did not know liatris was in the aster family at all. You have much blooming and even without the hirta it would still be alot! Looks great!

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  8. Phlox, yum.

    I inherited a garden with a yellow lily, I enjoyed the flower a lot.

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  9. My oh My Gail, you do have quite a show in Tennessee. Down here in Texas we enjoy seeing such beauty when it is sooooooooo 100 degree hot with no rain. Thanks so much for sharing you gorgeous flowers.

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  10. Frances,

    Just for the heck of it Frances, I googled native plants and boy oh boy...people sure like to argue and as a friend says so well, "get their panties in a wad!" Lines are drawn in the sand! My son and I talk about this subject frequently...he is a grad student and doing research on invasive plants, anyway, it's always a fascinating discussion...sometime I want him to write a guest post. he did tease me about the verbascum thapsis! It is one of the invasives that he is counting in his field work!

    I really am heavy on the purple tones! If I were a little girl now would I be dressed all in purple and lilac with pink crocs?

    The cosmos came from a packet of flowers I bought at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center gift shop! It's the only plant that grew and bloomed! I am liking it a lot and think he looks good with the purples...now if he can throw his seeds uphill!

    I am glad you came by...August won't have this color and now that we are going back into the 90's July won't either!

    gail

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  11. Wow, I envy all the color I am seeing this morning! I must plant more once we are out of this drought.

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  12. Gail-
    What a flower parade. The daylilies are gorgeous Mine have just given out in the heat, their foliage just fried! Really the tropicals, grasses and most extreme drought tolerant are my buddies right now. I wish I could have hydrangea like you! But we do have the purple coneflower in common- I just love it. So dramatic. But who is scarfing yours down???

    Thanks for the tour. Hope you're doing well.

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  13. Rose,

    You are way too kind! But thank you!

    I was visiting your site this morning and totally enjoyed myself...I love coneflowers and you have some gorgeous ones! Well, no Illinois named coneflower, I am sorry, but you can grow them so easily!

    Does that mean you will be ordering the Star Gazer? I urge you to...if I can grow them here on clay soil think what your Illinois prairie rich soil can do for it! and the fragrance is wonderful.

    happy Bloom Day to you, too.

    Gail

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  14. Tina,

    I do have more than I thought, it's just here and there not all in one gorgeous spot, so it looks to me as if I haven't much in bloom!

    Yes, it's an aster...that is one of the largest plant families I have seen..mint is big, too!

    gail

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  15. Hi Gail, your daylilies are beautiful and everything else for that matter. I love the photo of the phlox and liatris against the iron trellis - that is a beautiful shot. I have a question about trimming the spiderwort - how far exactly do you cut yours back?

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  16. Phillip,

    I chop to just above the last leaf axil...it worked for me. The liatris and monarda shot was so lucky...I just wanted a good photo of the monarda! Thank you!

    It's back to high temps and no rain for us, but we did get some much needed rain...the ground was cracked! Hoping rain comes your way!


    gail

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  17. Linda,

    I love your blog and want to spend more time reading your posts! Today's is fascinating to this once urban kid who finds herself in the suburbs!
    I am glad you stopped by,
    Gail

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  18. LMCG,

    Your header is lovely and such a true statement...nature is therapeutic! We are lucky that we got some rainshowers recently other wise July can be desolate here! August here probably is like your late June has been. I often think that I have been short sighted to not capture all the winter rains in a GREAT BIG CISTERN!

    I am enjoying the blooms and am glad you did too!

    gail

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  19. skeeter,

    Well, you have a lot of color, too...you have the butterflies! This is the tail end of the liatris, dayliliesconeflowers (soon cones) and probably the monardas! But then we have the Black and brown eyed susans!

    gail

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  20. What a lovely tour of your garden! The daylilies are beautiful, as always. And the spiderwort flower! How lovely! That's new and quite a beaut!

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  21. I can't believe you Phlox pilosa is still blooming. Mine stopped last week. Not fair! I like that Thinleaved Rudbeckia. Is it hardy in Zone 5? That might be just the thing for the way back of the woodland garden. I'm so glad your Phlox paniculata bloomed this year. They are such a mainstay of the summer garden.

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  22. I forgot to say that I don't think your Daylily is Stella. At least from the photo it looks too yellow. I like it.

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  23. mmd,

    I think it is Puddin, I looked it up on Dave's and it matches! I kind of thought it was...maybe I don't have stella, now that I think about it...she is planted in a planter on the patio!

    I just noticed it blooming in two more spots...I did say I let it go! I have a wild garden!

    You know when I put PPPP in it was for you! I am going to go back and edit that in! with a link to you!
    We are it's biggest fans!


    Gail

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  24. Bonnie,

    I like your garden and I thoroughly enjoyed my tour there...you have Texas natives and tropicals.

    I am doing well and getting lots of upper body workouts from dragging the hoses around.

    Gail

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  25. Gail your photos or wonderful! Your garden looks to be an absolute dream. I'm fond of daylilies too and we've built up a pretty good collection this year.

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  26. Such a wealth of flowers you have at the mo, Gail. Love that quote by Iris Murdoch btw.

    Love the monarda's and I think I'd like to grow the Stokesia laevis too. How very pretty it is.

    Happy GBBD!

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  27. Gail, I'm always inspired by my cyber-visits to your garden. I hope someday I can visit for real ... I'll bring a bottle of wine and we can sit on the porch to enjoy the view and the fragrance of the lilies!

    I had cut back the spent bloom stalks on my Peachie's Pick Stokesia and you reminded me to take a look at it. It's blooming again, so I expect yours will, too. Sure hope so!

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  28. Is your Blackberry Lily a type of toad lily?

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  29. Is your Blackberry Lily a type of toad lily?

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  30. Wow, what a beautiful list, Gail! I didn't realize that the monardas are natives, so that's good to know. I bought a dwarf one that stays about a foot tall, and it makes me feel better about planting them. :)

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  31. randy and jamie,

    Thank you...it is easy to find so many to love, Daylilies, I mean! I still like the simple unruffled the best and the spiders, of course...which is why Hyperion appeals to me. Glad you stopped by for a visit. You're always welcome.

    gail

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  32. Hi! Now I know that my daylilies by the mailbox are H fulva "Kwanzo". I love that they are double! They were planted before we owned the house, but they have really taken off in the last couple of years.

    I love your spiderwort, it's one of my favorites!

    Thanks for your bloom day post - I just did my very first one. It's fun to go and see what other people have going on in their gardens.

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  33. Yolanda E,

    I have been deadheading like crazy or I would try to find a way to save seeds! My goal has been to see if Peachie will re-bloom as promised on the tag!

    That is a good quote!

    Happy GBBD to you!

    Gail

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  34. icqb,

    Thank you and glad I could help...I want to stop by and see your bloom but must visit with the spouse who just brought dinner home. What a prince!

    Inconsequential indeed! I think not! I did a quick peak at you blog and I will be there later!

    Gail

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  35. Cindy,

    I love when you visit and it would be fun to hang out on the porch...especially when the temps are a wee bit cooler! But then I will have to spray some Stargazer fragrance...does it come in a bottle?

    Good news about Peachie! I will watch her!

    Gail

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  36. Blackswamp girl,

    Now a monarda that short would be fun in the front of the border...and easy to get at if it gets to out of bounds! Do you have a photo of it?

    Have a lovely Bloom Day visiting everyone,

    gail

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  37. Meryl,

    No it's actually an iris..Belamcanda chinensis is it's botanical name and it is an easy plant to grow and makes delightful seed pods...that look like a blackberry cluster...so cute. It comes in orange and yellow and maybe other colors. If you buy one it will make more babies from the seeds.

    gail

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  38. dp,

    Sorry I skipped over your name...I am always glad you stopped by! Did you have a good vacation...as soon as I finish dinner I want to see how your garden has grown! Have a fun rest of Bloom Day.

    Gail

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  39. Looks like you have a lot going on, thank you for sharing. I particularly like the shot with the Liatris and the Echinacea.

    Les

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  40. Les,

    Occasionally I refer to this garden as clown pants! But today not so much! I like the combination of coneflower and liatris makes me imagine a real prairie garden.

    gail

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  41. Gail, the blooms are fabulous, and I notice we have a lot of the same flowers in our gardens. I just got blackberry lily from a friend last year, and this was the first I'd seen it bloom. It is really pretty. Happy Bloom Day.~~Dee

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  42. Dee,

    I am so glad you stopped by...I love your post on Annabelle...she is lovely indeed. I also love the species it has a simple flower...I think they call it lace cap.

    You are going to enjoy the blackberry lily! After it flowers, the spent flower curls, trust me, very interesting...followed by cool seed pods!

    Thank you, btw.

    Gail

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  43. Love those stargazers Gail, and the fragrance is just heavenly. My sister's wedding bouquet was mostly stargazers. (Guess who suggested them ;) She was like the pied piper that day, mesmerizing people with those gorgeous blooms with their hypnotic scent. The photographer loved how they looked against her fair skin, and there are lots of shots with her bouquet near her face - in all of them her skin looks perfectly porcelain.

    All of your blooms are beautiful. I love how you combine natives with cultivated plants.

    Hyperions are one of my favorite daylilies. Love the fragrance, and they're just the perfect shade of yellow.

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  44. Thanks for the tour of your garden, Gail, and a very nice one too! Your daylilies look so nice..they are great this time of year!
    /Katarina
    Roses and stuff

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  45. Gail, that was a wonderful tour through your garden. So many blooms, and I do think your one daylily is "Stella..."

    Thanks for joining in for bloom day!

    Carol, May Dreams Gardens

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  46. Gail - What a lovely garden tour. I love, love, love the scent and look of stargazers. They are one of my favorite.
    I also love all the daylillies. I really have to find a place for some.

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  47. Garden Girl,

    What a lovely image you have created with a bride, beautiful flowers and a parade of admirers around her. A designer friend has said that certain pinks are 'the color' for all women, especially women of a certain age!

    I love combining natives and the exotics! They are fun and truthfully...needed in this garden!

    There are wonderful daylilies out there, new ones hourly, but the older ones like Hyperion, Kindly Light and lemon daylily remain my favorites! Yes the fragrance is lovely.

    I am always glad when you stop by for a visit!

    Gail

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  48. Katrina,

    Thank you...I did enjoy your garden and loved when I read that your husband teases you about wanting to be an 'English Lady'....It was so sweet. I do like Daylilies and have been glad they are here to brighten up the garden!

    Gail

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  49. Carol...thank you for the sweet compliment and for identifying Stella! She is a funny little thing.

    I love Bloom Day and have gotten to visit lots of gardens!

    Gail

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  50. Cindy,

    Stargazers have added a great deal to my shade garden...color and fragrance during the day and evenings.

    I shall miss them when they go out of flower!

    There are so many wonderful daylilies, have fun looking in the catalogs and at nurseries!

    Gail

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  51. Hi Gail, What a thoughtful, beautiful post! I hope you're having time to actually Enjoy your garden these days! Summer can sneak by pretty quickly. Thank you for giving me an ID on the "Kwanzo." I found a site that is Wonderful for daylily ID. I've found a couple of exact matches lately! http://www.ofts.com/photo/dl_view.html
    Enjoy! :-)

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  52. Hi Gail. Absolutely wonderful tour!
    The liatris/monarda combo is perfect. I made a horrible mistake in siting my liatris in front of sea holly Eryngium planum. Not good.

    When I moved here in 1989 Kwanso or Kwanzo daylilies were growing wild and I transplanted some into my garden. I thought they were rare but later find they are fairly abundant. They are gorgeous!!! Too bad they are sterile.
    Marnie

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  53. shady,

    Thank you...I am enjoying the garden as much as I can but the chiggers are killing me...Get this...all websites suggest that I get rid of my shade to get rid of the chiggers! Too funny!

    So I bought a shirt from REI that is impregnated with bug spray...it helps but now I need the pants!

    How have you been!

    Gail

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  54. marnie,

    Aren't you wonderfully kind! Thank you!

    Have you moved the Eryngium planum to a new spot or waiting till fall? I have lots of clashing colors and I read someplace that adding white or even the right yellow helps...I'm not entirely sure that is the case...it's like kids, sometimes they have to be separated and sent to seats in the classroom.

    I still like Kwanzo and although it isn't rare most people don't have it in the gardens! I find it pops up here and there...I didn't know it was sterile. I thought it was traveling! Maybe I moved them and don't remember!

    Gail

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  55. Hulllllloooooo Gail !
    Wow .. you have been so busy with such beautiful pictures ! My raccoon saga sucked the life out of me ! LOL
    I love all of your plants and wish I had the room for them too .. but we have a few in common and that is a good thing as Martha ? would say ? LOL
    I did a little post on one of your favorite ones .. it is a cutie !
    Joy : )

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  56. Joy,

    When we had the raccoon in our crawl space, it was all consuming! Then a possum climbed into the pipe that connected to our french drains and climbed all the way to a downspout...where I could hear him all day long . I couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from and knew the raccoon was back! Then I happened to be outside and saw this weird pink nose sticking out of the down spout! I ripped the downspout off...he refused to come out and instead hissed at me...the ingrate! So I concocted a tent of tarps and chairs to give him privacy to climb out! He left and I 'fixed' the downspout. The story is longer but I will save the 'fixed' downspout story till later!

    I will be over to see your posts...I have been out side all day!

    Gail

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  57. Gail: Great blooms and I, too, love to open the pictures! How do you get 56 comments! Good job. Have you negotiated your RI trip yet? Tucker and I are waiting for you!

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  58. Gail .. love the possum story .. I would have passed out from shock of it hissing at me ? LOL
    I haven't been working in the garden for days now and it shows it .. the raccoon adventure sucked the life out of me with worry .. worry for us .. and worry for raccoon mommy and her little ones .. soon the repair work will be complete and we can get our routine back ? BIG sigh ! ; )

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  59. layanee,

    No and if you knew my kid you would know why! There's not really 56 comments...only half that many...they count my responses! Very clever is blogger!

    Gail

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  60. Joy,
    I knew you would! Hissing at me indeed! Maybe you will have pleasant weather and get back out there soon! I can't tell from your garden photos that you are not in the garden...they look great!

    Gail

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  61. What a fantastic show Gail! Love the daylilies, love the natives, and the little seed pods on your Blackberry lily are so interesting. Nice job!

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  62. chey,

    Glad you like them...the garden was especially nice this year...I guess after last years drought this seems like Eden! Also, the daylilies have had an especially nice year.

    Gail

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  63. I enjoyed the tour - you have so much loveliness in your garden! I think I will have to get more monarda . . . . (so you're not helping my "collecting" tendencies)! Thanks for sharing all your lovely flowers.

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  64. Kim,

    The monarda has turned out too be a really wonderful plant...it's teeming with life! So, forget the budget!

    Gail

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"Insects are the little things that run the world." Dr. E O Wilson