Autumn seems to be pretty subdued in these parts. Very little foliage color, and fewer flowers than normal. My theory is that many of the flowers threw in the towel early because it has been pretty dry since the beginning of August. And the warm fall has kept the leaves green late into the season. …
Category: Native Plants and Wildflowers, Perennial flowers, Roses Tags: 'Puple Dome' Aster, Blue Stem Goldenrod, Brown-Eyed Susan, Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue', Cigar Plant, Cleome, GBBD, Morning Glory 'Heavenly Blue', Pentas, Plumbago, Rose 'Cassie', Short's Aster
When we returned from vacation a week ago the garden was looking a bit neglected. The grass was overgrown, perennials were flopping and needed rectification. This past weekend I started getting things back into proper order, but also took stock of our autumn blooms. Of course, autumn is about asters, and I have many species …
Category: Native Plants and Wildflowers, Perennial flowers Tags: 'Darlow's Enigma' Rose, Aromatic Aster, Big Leaf Aster, Blue Stem Goldenrod, Brown-Eyed Susan, Caryopteris 'Longwood Blue', Fennel, Mexican Sunflower, Morning Glory 'Heavenly Blue', New England Aster, Orange Coneflower, Plumbago, Sedum 'Matrona', Short's Aster, Tithonia
About seven years ago I dug up an L shaped length of turf, with the longer section along the front sidewalk and the shorter one along the property line with the neighbors. The result was a border in almost full sun, 4-5′ wide and about 25′ long. The soil was rich and moist, even before …
Category: Garden Tour, Grasses, Native Plants and Wildflowers, Perennial flowers Tags: Anise Hyssop, Bluestar, Bluestem goldenrod, Golden Alexander, Monarda 'Raspberry Wine', Northern Sea Oats, Penstemon 'Husker Red', Salvia 'Blue Hill', Salvia 'May Night', Short's Aster, Smooth Penstemon, Switchgrass 'Northwind', Virginia Wild Rye, Wild Bergamot
Extreme weather dominates my thoughts about gardening for this past year. It started with extreme winter mildness. This may sound like a contradiction in terms, but it was unnerving for those of us accustomed to harsh Chicago winters. January was about 8 degrees warmer than normal on average. Snow melted, the snowdrops (Galanthus) came up …
Category: Gardening Techniques, Native Plants and Wildflowers, Perennial flowers, Shrubs and Small Trees, Weather Tags: Agastache foeniculum, Amelanchier, Anise Hyssop, Anise Scented Goldenrod, Aromatic Aster, Celandine Poppy, Chasmanthium latifolium, Culver's Root, Echinacea purpurea, Eupatorium 'Gateway', Galanthus, Gardening and Climate Change, Gardening and weather, Golden Alexander, Grape Hyacinth, Joe Pye Weed, Muscari, Northern Sea Oats, Oriental Lily 'Casa Blanca', Purple Coneflower, Rudbeckia triloba, Salvia 'May Night', Serviceberry 'Autumn Brilliance', Short's Aster, Snowdrops, Solidago odora, species tulips, Stylophorum diphyllum, Symphyotrichum oblongifolius, Tulipa praestans 'Fusilier, Veronicastrum virginicum 'Fascination', Zizia Aurea
Now that I have the taxonomy issue out of my system (see last post), I can write about the asters in my garden. (As hillwards points out, “They may not be Asters any more, but they will always be asters …”). All the asters I grow except for one are Midwest USA natives and straight …
Category: Native Plants and Wildflowers, Perennial flowers, Wildlife Gardening Tags: Aromatic Aster, aster, Asters, Big Leaf Aster, Calico Aster, Crooked Stem Aster, native, Native Plants, New England Aster, Prairie Garden, Purple Dome, Short's Aster, White Woodland Aster, Wildflowers, Wildlife Gardening, Woodland Garden
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