1. I have three natives, one invasive, and two basics for this week. I'll start with the basics, or at least one of the yard basics for this area of the Southeast--lantana. Bees, butterflies, and even occasional hummingbirds visit it. The perennial plants below are very basic big box varieties purchased three years ago. The …
Sweat Bee's Sedum Autumn Joy, 22 September 2020
I'm starting this Saturday's post on Wednesday while waiting for hurricane Sally to throw some of her outer rain bands as far north in Alabama as Blount County. The projected track has fallen just south of here overnight, but this slow moving storm is having a devastating effect on the Gulf Coast. There are just …
1. This week's six begin with the flower in the featured image, Althea, or Rose of Sharon, or Hibiscus syriacus, whichever name you might prefer. I'm sure I have documented these blooms--even with bees--before, but this time I want to note the great variety of color of the flowers. There are many of these shrubs …
The stem structure of Hairy Angelica (Angelica venenosa) with its compound umbels of multiple rays ending in secondary umbels of small five-petaled flowers just seemed perfect for the featured photo for Six on Saturday, the 4th of July--a little plant fireworks for everyone. I wrote about this native last June, but I find several more …
Five of this week's six are things that surprised me as I did some general clean up in the garden this week. The sixth is just something bright and cheerful. I'm sure you can find a more coherent set of entries by visiting the site of The Propagator, the hub of our Six on Saturday …
1. I'm going to start out immediately with my first entry, because I've been waiting for these North American natives to bloom for a couple of weeks now--and for a couple of reasons. I look for the black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) to bloom because they signal my birthday. I also am happy to see them …
My offerings for today are the good, the bad, and the beautiful--with a quandary thrown in. I'm going to start with the beautiful--the distinctive woodland native azalea in the featured photo above. (Email readers, remember to click on the name of the post in your message to see the featured photo.) 1. I've been waiting …
My six plants for today include some purple blooms, some fuzzy seeds, and discouraging visual evidence of our current Alabama drought and unseasonably high temperatures. But before the disheartening image of a dehydrated and stressed hydrangea, let me remind others that they can see photos of gardens in other climates, in fact in other seasons, …
