Bee...autiful Garden Pictures, Photos By Ed

My sunflowers that come up from seed every year are currently one of the big attractions in the garden.  Their sunny yellow faces never fail to make me smile and the bees are delighted.

The heliotrope is putting out a second series of flowers.  I love these old fashioned flowers with their sweet vanilla cherry pie fragrance.  With the rain we have had the leaves looks great.  All this will be mine to enjoy until frost.
  

This bright orange butterfly weed has been gorgeous this year!   It seems to be very happy here and the butterflies find it so attractive.   I wouldn't say it clashes with the blue lobelia and the white phlox in the background, but it sure stands out!

The butterfly bush that grows at the base of Ed's stone wall is putting on a lovely display for a plant that I thought was dead earlier in the season.  Buddleia is always touch and go here.  I'm delighted to watch the butterflies and hummingbird moths enjoy this plant.  I love it's delicate fragrance myself.
  

After enjoying a perfect garden ripe tomato at lunch, I had to include Ed's photo of this beautiful set of tomatoes.

 To be sure there are some ugly garden pictures that could be taken here.  We have tons of weeds, squash with powdery mildew ... Perhaps I will post them sometime, but today I went with bee...autiful!

Gone to Seed

The garden is filled with interesting seeds and seed pods. Here Chinese forget me not seeds have captured milkweed seeds. I'm afraid this is one plant we will wish we had deadheaded. If we brush up against them  the little round seeds are so sticky that Ed and I have to take turns picking them off each others clothes . These seeds are made to stick to any critter that passes by.

New England asters have pretty soft brown seeds.

All of the  poppy seeds are long gone. Some eaten by birds and some planted by the wind. I know when the ground warms next spring my pink poppies will return.

I really can't see that there are any seeds left in this bee balm seed head. It still makes an interesting picture.

These sumac seeds will attract birds to the garden this winter.

Most of the hollyhock seeds are gone. They have been either eaten or planted.

I would not want to have to count the tiny seeds on the stinging nettles. Some might think that allowing stinging nettles to grow here is foolish, but Ed and I both recognize the plant when we see it and it is the food plant for Red Admiral butterflies and others.

The sunflowers have been stripped clean by the birds, but birds are messy eaters and I'm sure the sunflowers will be back too.

For the first time in my memory every black locust tree you see here  has seed pods this year. With all the rain the pods seem to have a black mold on them even as they remain attached to the tree.
 

 Ed has been clearing the beds preparing them for spring planting. No seeds are visible here, but I know they are there waiting for spring and their chance germinate.

Rainy Day Cheer

We have been getting steady , sometimes heavy rain for a couple of days. The garden loves the water, but it changes our outdoor activity. This morning we watched as a the usual parade wandered by the garden. First the doe and her fawn came by and disappeared up Ed's path to the high meadow. It's been fun to watch that fawn grow bigger and braver. He wandeers away from mom more and more.

The family of turkeys spend a lot of time working the grass around the garden. Still two hens and 3 babies, the little family group seems to have settled in right in this area. It was especially interesting to watch when the doe and fawn returned to the lawn while the turkeys were still there. They didn't seem to be intimidated by each other, but at the same time it seemed like the party had become too crowded. First the deer left our sight and soon the turkeys were gone too.

The sunflower and bee picture is a couple of days old, taken before the rains came. Bees are fair weather pollinators. These two really have those pollen bags packed. Today the weather could go either way. The cloud cover is thick. I don't see the patch of blue sky big enough to make a pair of trousers that my grandmother said was necessary for the weather to clear. Either outcome will be good for the garden and there is plenty for us to do as well.

Sunflower Story

No Latin name will be given for this plant. I got my first one when I planted some parakeet seed in my old garden. I suppose it might not be real sunflower, but it is a sunflower to me. This time of year these plants are the shining stars of the garden.

I had to get out my books to do this post. Botany was not my thing in school in fact I was quite a late bloomer when it comes to plants. Mrs. Wm. Starr Dana's book helped me out.

This is a composite flower. That means it has ray flowers and disk flowers. Many flowers are built this way. The ray flowers in the sunflower's case are the bright yellow petals around the center . The disk flowers are the tiny little tubular flowers in the center. The two work together to get the attention of the birds and the bees. The ray flowers catch the eye. The disc flowers deliver the pollen and the nectar.

Here we have a just opening sunflower. The petals (ray flowers) are not quite unfurled. The disk flowers are in a ring around the outside edge of the center. When open they are also yellow.I used to wonder why the hummingbirds were interested in sunflowers. It's the tiny little tubular flowers that they visit.

As the sunflower ages the open disk flowers spiral in from the outside edge . How could this bee have filled her leg baskets with that much pollen from these tiny little tubular flowers?

Here's a closer look. If you count the tiny little disk flowers in this picture, it will give you some idea how numerous they are.


Here the spiral of disk flowers is nearly complete. It's one seed for each disk flower, so the seeds form a spiral too. The goldfinches, black capped chickadees and other birds will be interested in those, and will plant next year's crop with the seeds they drop.

The First Sunflower

I know I should at least wait until the flower is open , but sorry, I just can't. These sunflowers are one of my very favorite things in the garden. You will be seeing more of them. Another of my pop- up- everywhere- from- seeds plants, the sunflowers came originally from some Budgie seed that I planted a long time ago. They are not just a single stem flower, you can see a second bud in the picture. It's more of a sunflower bush. This one is planted right in front of the house and with the reflected light off the white siding it gets full sun and a half.

We are having other firsts as well. I picked my first summer squash, first zucchini and first parsley. Dinner last night was a delicious reminder of why we grow garden vegetables.

The other first this morning was the close encounter Ed had with a coyote in the side yard. As he was coming out of the house and up the stone ramp from the basement , he saw the coyote between the compost bin and the shed. Their eyes met and after a time the coyote turned and he and Ed went their separate ways. I'm not quite so brave, I 'm sure seeing the coyote that close would have brought one of my shrieks and both of us would have beat a hasty retreat.

What's Coming Up Here?

Ed's beds are filled with the most wonderful soil. It is a fabulous environment for plants to self-seed. This is a sample of the bed next to the stone patio.

The fuzzy deep green plants are dill. I just let the plants drop their seeds last fall. I always figure who knows better when to plant seeds than the plant itself. I love dill, butterflies love dill--it's a great plant, but planted a bit too thickly here.

The plant in the upper right is a sunflower. This is not an ordinary sunflower, but more of a sunflower bush. This plant originally came from some budgie seed that I planted years ago. It comes back wherever the birds, especially goldfinches and black capped chickadees, plant the seed. It's a real favorite of mine and of the birds.

The pale green feathery plants are gorgeous double pink poppies. These also come up every year. They are a sign that the soil is warming.

The plant in the upper left is lamb's quarters. It really is a weed, but one with some good qualities. It's quite tasty in salads and is full of vitamins. In fact I saw it for sale in NYC at a very high price. However, it does not travel well and wilts very quickly. That's where the gardener who can cut greens right before serving has the advantage.

All of these plants are too close together and need to be thinned. It's definitely not my favorite thing to do. It would be nice to save them all.