Splendor In The Grass And The Weeds

This year with all the rain, the weeds and particularly the meadow grasses  have outdone themselves in our garden.  We have managed to get some areas under control, but in others the plants have to duke it out with the invaders waiting for us to come to the rescue.  Here the anise hyssop and black-eyed Susans are looking terrific!  Either could be considered a weed but we consider them cultivated plants.

Earlier in the summer this bed was well weeded and Ed planted asters. They are starting to look good, but are surrounded by invaders including the Chinese forget-me-nots that came up from self planted seed.   These lovely blue flowers are unforgettable indeed. The way they make sticky seeds that catch on your clothes or anything passing by guarantees that should you forget about the beautiful blue flowers, new plants will spring up to remind you!

 Gloriosa daisies that have self seeded can be found in many places in the garden.  The color variations in the flowers are amazing.  Ideally we should allow our favorites to form seed and pull the rest.  Perhaps we will get to that.  In the meantime they all add a little more splendid color to the garden.

My scarlet runner beans are blooming to delight me and the hummingbirds.  I'm thrilled to see the beans develop.  I love to save the shiny pink and black seeds to replant next year and to share with friends.

I have had evening scented white Nicotiana come up from seed here ever since we first started this garden.  Here for the first time just one red plant has appeared in the garden.  It was a splendid surprise.  We are wondering out loud what we can do to increase the chances that this color sport will return next year.

This striking pink catchfly is really surrounded by grass, but it is still beautiful and attractive to the hummingbird moth.  This is another weed that we moved into the garden.  The brown sticky sections on the stems and the color of the flowers combined to make these a must have plant.  Many are weeded out each spring but many are allowed to flower.  It's the gardener who decided which plants get to stay and which have to go.  We are working on it!