October: Aster-kissing

Asters, asters, everywhere! Next Thursday I will try to get pictures of the carpets of asters in bloom at the Morton Arboretum. I am also working up the nerve to rehome some asters growing wild on a vacant lot down the street. In the meantime, I will just enjoy the ones in my own yard...

I was told this is heartleaf aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) but the leaves are more like arrowleaf aster (S. urophyllum). Whatever it is, I was also told it belongs in shade. I'm thinking that's not entirely correct since this is all it's accomplished in two years.

A fuschia S. novae-angliae passalong...

...and a purple one my grandma gave me.

The sky blue asters, S. oolentangiense, always look like lovely lavender clouds.

A pink NOID native whose tag is long lost...

and a white one. Both from Prairie Nursery many years ago. Not shown is the S. ericoides, heath aster, which is already done for the season. :(

And remember, greyhounds are an important part of any fall garden!

August: Bloom Day!

I am just now realizing, I have an awful lot of yellow flowers. Oh well!

North edge garden


Rudbeckia triloba, brown-eyed Susans


Rudbeckia subtomentosa, sweet black-eyed Susans, and Agastache scrophulariaefolia, giant purple hyssop


Garage garden


The 11-foot volunteer sunflower continues to amaze us, and hosts SO many bees, flower flies, and butterflies, the rest of the neighborhood must feel left out.


Eurybia macrophylla, big-leaf aster. Remember the good old days when asters were just Asters?


Well, this is a terrible picture, but it's my prairie dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum, with flowering stalks reaching high above my head.


Foley and Lucy, my favorite two flowers of all!


Thanks as always to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day!

March: Early signs of spring

Well, it's March 8; there had better be some signs of spring by now or I'd be sobbing in a snowdrift. The yard is still about half-covered in snow and ice, but with temps in the 40s this week and even some rain, the snow is disappearing quickly. Where it has unfrozen, the soil is a sodden, muddy mess, as is my kitchen floor. Oh well, that's the price we pay for sights like this...


Species tulips. Hopefully the orange stripes will go away now that they're exposed to the sunlight.


Hyacinths!


Peony sprout. I don't even like peonies but, well, there it is.


Daffodils!


The rhododendron survived the winter just fine in its sheltered corner.


I had forgotten about these irises. My grandma gave me a bunch of rhizomes last fall and I stuck them into a random hole temporarily. They seem to be doing okay despite having a hose on them. (No, I never brought the hose in. I always meant to, but, you know.)


Two species of moss now live in my shade garden, one leafy and one fuzzy (those are technical bryophyte terms, I'm sure). Also, the columbines are starting to grow.

And, as always, there are dogs:

Lucy keeps an eye on the neighborhood squirrels and birds. She takes her job very seriously.


Foley blends in well with the dead winter vegetation. Need to tie a bright pink bow around her neck so we can find her.

What's growing in your yard?

November: Oh yeah, plants

In the midst of the excitement of tearing off parts of our house and grading a genetics exam, I haven't been reporting on the plants.  The garden has been put to bed, McHouse-style, meaning hubby mowed the leaves up and dumped them onto the prairie garden, and I cut back the perennials that were in the way of the concrete guys.

Viburnum opulus, fall color

Calycanthus floridus, Carolina allspice, one of my favorite shrubs, has wonderful fall color.  It has developed its first and only fruit, a fig-like capsule that should persist all winter.  I'll cut it open in the spring and see what's inside.

My witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, is blooming.  American witch hazels have such cool flowers but I usually forget to look for them since they bloom at an odd time of year.  They tend to have low seed set, something like 1%.  I haven't found any capsules from last year's flowers.

I have two strawberry plants running wild in the lawn. I'm told that this is a bad thing but we have such a hard time keeping grass back there, any successful green plant is okay in my book! Until I start smooshing red berries onto my clothes, that is.  We'll see if they survive the winter.

Foley dozes in the November sunshine.  She's definitely an autumn; the earth tones suit her.