Butterflies on Butterfly Bushes

We have two large butterfly bushes on the south side of the garden shed.

Like most plants on the property, it is only a couple years old.

This is the first year it has flowered profusely and as promised --the butterflies are loving it.

 This is the violet variety,

and it has the most flowers -- and butterflies.

 This is the dark purple variety,

and it has some fans.

 While I was taking pics,

I caught this guy mid-lunch.

My oregano is also a popular butterfly stomping ground.

What Flowers To Plant For HOT DRY Summers

Mostly this is to remind myself what to plant next spring, and what NOT to plant.

Summers in the Ozarks can be brutally hot and dry -- like this summer.

Two weeks ago we had 1/4" of rain, and it had been four weeks before that.

I am not a devotee of watering, so I have to choose plants carefully, especially in containers.

(And I try not to do many containers.)

This is one of a pair of containers that bookend our driveway.

I would like for them to be plush and welcoming,

 but it is tough since they bake in the hot sun all day.

The spikey purple flower was great and I would definitely do it again.

The purple potato vine struggled....

and the groundcover was an epic fail.

I had moved it from a shady planter to here, and it is not a sun worshipper.

Try to remember this next spring!

Here is a success -- mandevilla (but not the vining variety).

It is in the shade of a little tree for a few hours a day and that helps.

I planted lobelia underneath that and in several other places because I love the color --

it does NOT thrive with heat and neglect.  Avoid buying next spring.

I don't know what this pitiful twig of a plant was called.

It was something  different and interesting, with a pink stem and pink balls on the tips.

I did ask the nursery person how it did in heat and drought --

obviously she lied.

Avoid making impulse buys next spring.

What you see here is our old stone birdbath turned planter.

What you don't see -- the celosia that I planted in the center that died many weeks ago.

Say NO to celosia.  

The coleus held up very well for as much sun as it gets.

Black eyed susans that I planted two years ago.  Look great, take no watering.

This pic is to remind me to thin them out and maybe plant something else in the middle next spring.

The day lilies had a great season, even though they look a bit bedraggled now.

Next spring I would maybe take out the center one, and plant something different there.

This is just the first year for these orange coneflowers,

they have received no love.

But they still manage to hang on, a little shade from the basil might have helped.

I don't think I have any standard pink coneflowers here,

so that is something to consider next spring.

And you know what I can always count on?

Lanatana.

Loves the sun.

Loves neglect.

Loves the dry weather.

Morning Glory

 

Surprise Aquatic Flower

I have mentioned our little 33 gallon pond before.  It was my husband's first covid project.  He bought some aquatic lettuce and one bigger aquatic plant for $5 through facebook marketplace.  We throw out a bunch of the lettuce each week because it multiplies so fast there isn't room to feed the fish.  Instead of one large plant (don't know what it is) we have FIVE now, and have given away one.  Then out of the blue -- yesterday one of the bloomed!!!  What?!!!  So fun.

Berm Beauty

 Berm means "artificial ridge or embankment".

Our berm was created in the middle of our yard when I was working on the house,

before we officially moved it.  There were rocks in a circle around our two large

sweet gum trees in the front.  The problem with that?  Large weeds and small

trees grew inside the perimeter, making it look trashy.  I needed to remove all the rocks,

but where to put them that wasn't a huge distance away?  So I made a berm of rocks

between the two large trees in our front yard.

 It has taken two years (three summers) to fill in the cracks

with dirt and plant perennial succulents (I am not sure this red tipped one is perennial.)

 I saw something similar to the rock berm with succulents at

Powell Gardens near Kansas City, but this is the first time I have

tried something like it.  I am thrilled with the results.

 Last weekend I emptied the 30 gallon pond and put most

of the water on the berm (we haven't had rain in over a month.)

 All of the plants were so appreciative and looked so good today --

that I had to take some pics.

Colorful Coneflowers

 I've always like coneflowers -- 

the "cone" shaped flowers with long droopy 

pinky purple petals.

 A few years ago I picked up three varieties of white

coneflowers.  Planted together they were lovely,

and survived summer heat so well.  But I had to leave

those at my last house.

 Last summer I planted these gold ones,

which look so great next to the lavender.

And this spring I planted these red ones.

I am not a "red flower person" but these

have knocked my socks off.

Sold This Week On Facebook Marketplace

When we bought the ostrich ferns last week off of Facebook Marketplace,

I decided I had some plants that I could be selling on FM.

I listed them on Sunday,

and by Wednesday night all of these things had sold.

I had potted them all at least a month ago,

so they all looked great by this time.

Most of them I planted in vintage containers

that I had picked up for little or nothing.

And at one person purchased a boatload of antiques besides

their plants.

Plus we sold these mid-century lounge chairs for $95 each.

It was a good FM week.

Chooks Have Moved Into The Herb Garden

Of Iris, Alpacas, Circus Ponies & Ostrich Ferns

It started out as your normal quarantine Sunday morning.
(Which is to say, not going to church.)

Just wandering around the yard.

Not enough important stuff to occupy the gray cells.

This is iris season.  

We have a gazillion irises planted around the birdbath.

Perfect location.

ONE stinking bloom.

A little one at that.

I mention to my husband that NEXT year we should tear out all of these non-blooming, common-looking piddly iris and replace them with iris from our favorite iris growers (pic above from their iris farm.)

Well, that is all it took.  Like lighting a match to tinder.  We are in the van and on the way to Dopey's Hillside Gardens before you can say Corona Virus.

By the way.  That is not their official business name. Yet. I suggested it, and they are considering it.  Another BTW.... Dopey is their rooster's name.

These lovely alpaca that we pass on the way to Dopey's are just a bonus.  And did I mention we also pass circus ponies grazing in a field? I am not making up the circus part -- these are arrogant, gorgeous little creatures that relax at a spacious country home when they aren't working under a big top.

So we buy a boatload of iris.
(Disclaimer: the above pic is from our trip to Dopey's two years ago.)

I leave my husband to the ripping out of the non-productive iris and installing the new iris.  

Both of us were very pleased with the results.

But what to do with the discarded, non-producing iris?
(See the ONE bloom on the right?)

Plant it next to a concrete wall where we need leafage (is that a word?) and blooming is optional.

It has good company next to the ostrich ferns that we bought on Saturday off of 

facebook marketplace.

On The Hunt For Ostrich Fern

On our way "into town" we pass a perfectly manicured

farmhouse that has lovely ferns out front.

My husband has been jealous of them for weeks.

We looked high and low at garden centers looking for similar ones.
We had learned in our search that they were called

ostrich ferns.

We did see many lovely ferns in our search.

But no ostrich ferns.  Until...

I looked on facebook marketplace and there they were!
Our hunt took us to a lovely home, where I took all these pics.
The groundcover above is strawberry geranium, which I don't believe I have seen before.
So we also bought some of it from the homeowners.

And more importantly (cue angels) our hunt is over.
I will take a pic of our new "fern area" sometime in the future.