six on Saturday, 15 June 2019

My six for this Saturday just about close out my wildflowers.  I’m just waiting for the Carolina lilies to bloom; mountain mint will come later in the summer.  But let me get started.

1. Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) self-seeds.  I never quite know where it is gong to appear, but I always just let it have its way.  My first name is Susan, and it blooms about the time of my birthday.  How could I not let it have its way?  I could do without the accompanying mosquito I captured on the flower below, though.

2. I first became familiar with Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) as a plant in a medieval medicinal garden.  I’ve long  known that it is proven effective in relieving headaches, but only recently discovered that it contains pyrethrin and is supposedly effective as an insect repellant, including mosquitos.  I have the most blooms I ever have this year, but I suppose it would be worth cultivating more plants–especially given the mosquito population represented in the photo above.

3. Althea (Hibiscus syriacus), also known as Rose of Sharon, is a staple in traditional Southern landscapes.  And to say that it is  hardy shrub here is a bit of an understatement.  I pull dozens and dozens new self-seeded plants all year long.  I’ve got bushes 30 feet high and I have plants in pots.  The best thing about Althea, though, is the variety of flower colors.  The most common, I guess, is the purple with a red center, shown below with a bumble bee, as it often is seen.

There are several shrubs with pure white blooms in the back of the house and in the front three that appeared on their own several years ago that flower with a delicate pink shade.

4. In some ways, the fourth entry is 3b since it is related to the Althea above.  There is one shrub that comes out with variegated leaves every spring.  It is in a very inconvenient place, blocking a narrow space between stairs and a tree.  But, I leave it for the leaves.  Also, they remind me of the Tulip Mania of the 17th century.

5. The daylily (Hemerocallis) in the fifth selection is one I picked up at a plant sale as an “unidentified.”  Every year it performs beautifully with particularly large flowers that make great photographic subjects.

6. Number six today is a salute to Morocco.  When I visited a year ago, I became enamored with Fez blue and with the decorative program of blue, yellow, and light green in the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech.  A Black-eyed Susan blooming next to one of my blue Adirondack chairs was just too good to let go by this week.

Should others have something too good to let go by, they can join in on Six on Saturday by following the guidelines at https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/.  A final note, the Golden Banded-Skipper I wrote about on 1 June has been confirmed in Blount County–but so far only at my home!