Tag: Anise Hyssop
Mid-August Blooms, Part 1
I had a happy reunion with the garden after Judy and I returned from our trip late Saturday afternoon. The first thing I noticed were bright swaths of yellow that seemed to dominate the area in front of the house. Yellow – sometimes clear and light, sometimes golden, or shading into orange.
Blooms of Mid-July, Part 1
By the middle of July it feels like we have reached the gateway to high summer in Chicago. Let’s see what’s blooming in the garden, starting with the main part of the front garden: the Driveway Border, Sidewalk Border, and the Island Bed. The remainder we’ll cover in a second post.
Ten Favorite Stars for Sunny Gardens
In my last post I wrote about an article in the current issue of Gardens Illustrated called ‘100 Plants Every Gardener Should Grow’. While I took issue with the title, it has inspired me to do a much more modest list of my own. I want to stress up front that just because these plants …
Out, damn’d leaf spot! out I say!
So here’s a vignette that isn’t so pleasant. Right now my garden has the worst leaf spot infection I’ve ever seen. It may have something to do with the cool, wet spring we’ve had. At least I hope it’s leaf spot, a fungal disease, as opposed to some viral plant malady like aster yellows. I’ve …
Blooms in August
Once again it is time for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day (GBBD), hosted by May Dreams Gardens. GBBD provides a mid-month opportunity to count up our flowering plants like a latter day pirate counting his treasures. So put on your eyepatch, and let’s go. The Driveway Border is the most colorful of all the front garden …
Blooming Stars of High Summer
With high summer comes a new cast of players in the front garden’s Driveway Border. There are many stars in the border, and it is gratifying to see them strut their stuff. At the far end, anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) comes to center stage. I’ve already written about the virtues of this plant, but let …
Beeing There
There are a lot more bees in our garden this year than last. That does not mean, I realize, that the crisis of bee survival is abating, but it is nice to know that at least our garden provides bees with good foraging. Here’s a little video of the bees on our anise hyssop (Agastache …
The Five Best Native Blue Flowers
CLEOPATRA: Is it true that when Caesar caught you on that island, you were painted all over blue? BRITANNUS: Blue is the color worn by all Britons of good standing. In war, we stain our bodies blue; so that though our enemies may strip us of our …
Snow and Sun
And now for something completely different: on Saturday it snowed. It was just an inch or two of light, fluffy snow. Then on Sunday we had an odd meteorological phenomenon – I forget what it’s called – in which bright light seemed to emanate from an object high up in the sky. Now I remember …
Companion Plant for Yellow Coneflower?
Along with perusing garden catalogs, now is the time for obsessing over where to move old plants or add new plants for spring. For example, I love my Yellow Coneflowers (Ratibida pinnata), so in the last couple of years I’ve planted a bunch of them. Next year the younger ones should really come into their …
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