Tag: Cup Plant
Our Early Yellow Period
Just as Picasso had his blue period, our garden has its Yellow Period. Actually, there’s an Early and a Late Yellow Period. The Early Yellow Period starts in late July and is defined by 3 plants I refer to as the Jolly Yellow Giants. I’ve written recently about Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), the shortest of …
The View From the Sidewalk
Front yards are for showing off. That’s what I believe. That’s why when I think about what I’m going to plant and where, I think about how it will look to passersby on the sidewalk.
That’s Where the Tall Plants Grow
I have a lot of admiration for writer and landscape designer Benjamin Vogt. His blog, newsletter, and other writings make very useful reading for anyone interested in the intersection between gardening and ecology.
Riding August’s Yellow Wave
At a certain point in August, the garden is swept up in a wave of yellow flowers. This is largely due to what I like to call the Susans, members of the genus Rudbeckia.
A New Butterfly in the Garden
I always get excited when a new butterfly makes its first appearance in the garden. This happened a few days ago. At first I thought it was a Black Swallowtail, but then realized it didn’t have a “tail” and that the color and markings were very different.
In Defense of Cup Plant
Just recently I read an informative post entitled “3 Problematic Plants in Native Plant Gardens and 3 Native Alternatives”. The post was on the Facebook page of Indigenous Landscapes, a native plant landscaping company based in Cincinnati. While the arguments made in the post were reasonable, I had a somewhat different take on the plants …
Some 2018 Garden Highlights: Summer Breeze
Today is New Year’s Day. While a patchy blanket of snow lies on the ground outside, it seems a good moment to look through some favorite photos of our garden in summer.
Goldfinches, the Vegan Birds
Our Cup Plants (Silphium perfoliatum) are full of Goldfinches these days. Goldfinches love Cup Plant seeds. Also Echinacea seeds, Sunflower (Helianthus) seeds, and Thistle seed, among others. But of those 4, I only have Cup Plants.
Yellow is the Color of August
If each month were assigned an official color, August’s would be yellow. This is when yellow daisies of all sorts come to dominate, at least in our garden. Some cranky botanists refer to the ubiquitous yellow daisies as DYCs, or Damn Yellow Composites.
The Jolly Yellow Giants
Some say that Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum), or any perennial that can top 10 feet in height, is unsuitable for a small suburban garden. I disagree.
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