Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: August 2018

The near-drought here in NW Ohio (Zone 6) has been partially relieved over the past few days, but my benign neglect and lack of watering is showing for some plants. Luckily, I try to keep my gardens stocked with hardy survivors and nothing especially needy, so I think all the established plantings (and even some new additions) will weather the dry spell just fine.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: August 2018

Zinnias are my new favorite annual. These four Zahara ‘Coral Rose’ zinnias I started from seed are blooming like gangbusters, and I think I only gave them a drink once all summer.

Continue reading

July in the Garden

In lieu of Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day (two weeks ago), I present all the photos I took on Bloom Day but didn’t manage to actually post yet.

Things have been hot and dry here in Zone 6, and even the stalwart plants are droopy. Thankfully, we’ve gotten some steady light rain this afternoon and evening, and that seems to be perking things up a bit.

Back on July 15, though, this is what the beds and borders had to offer:

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: July 2018

Continue reading

Visitors to the Front Garden

Monarch butterfly

This evening, after my daily 15 minutes of weeding, I sat down in my front garden to enjoy the flowers and flying things.

I saw a female hummingbird last week, so I was only moderately surprised (but still super thrilled) to see a male ruby-throated hummingbird stopping to enjoy nearly every single milkweed bloom, sharing space with the giant fuzzy bumblebee that was also enjoying the buffet.

What DID surprise me was the monarch butterfly flitting overhead. It didn’t stop to taste any of the flowers — it just fluttered in loops and figure-eights above the garden.

When it finally lit on a tree branch, I stood and slowly crept up to it with my cameraphone snapping away.

Butterfly camera roll

It let me get within a couple inches of it, and didn’t fly away until my phone and I had backed off.

Enjoy the milkweed, Your Majesty.