July Garden Blooms

You might think this is five days late, but really it's 26 days early (holla!) for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. This gorgeous Rocky Mountain beeplant (Cleome serrulata) came in a Rocky Mountain Native Wildflower seed packet from BBB Seeds. (It gets the coolest legumey-/beany-looking seed pods.)

...as did this noogie cute Coreopsis tinctoria--I mean, even the bud has gorgeous color.

A little splash of color.

...and close-up.

My 'Uchiki Kuri' squash is just wonderful on many levels. Its bright yellow flowers are so sunny and friendly...

... and attract many busy pollinators (look at the hind legs, noogie!).

...and, oh yeah, it has fruit, too.

My first rose ever 'Golden Wings' is doing well, despite being in my care. Thanks, Nancy Lindley, for the recommendation.

The chocolate cosmos buds are nearly black (!)...

...and open up a warm reddish brown.

The planter on my north-facing side porch (the only non-veggie container I have) is looking really good. I planted those Coleus from seed! The elephant ears (Colocasia 'Illustris' crica 1902 from Ann Arbor's Old House Gardens) come in the house over the winter, and ferns I have up the ying yang and treat as annuals. Bizi doesn't normally photobomb (!) my shots but she gives a good size reference.

This Echinops reminds me so much of Chihuly's Blue Moon at Meijer Gardens.

The bud of this cup plant (Silphium perfoliatum) is just so so sweet all tucked up and ready to rumble. The plant gets 6-7 feet tall and will have little yellow flowers. Mine is planted entirely in the wrong location (not enough sun, too dry) but it gets to over 5 feet. (I mean to move it every year and somehow never have.)

Cup plant has a square stem that shoots up through the leaves, and collects water. Larger insects like bees and butterflies drink from this water, whereas tiny ones get stuck and the plant absorbs them to help it grow. (H/t to Prairie Moon Nursery for the carnivorous bit.)

One of the sunflowers that grew from spilled birdseed.

I have three rose of Sharons, two purple and one white, along the bed that divide next to my neighbor's driveway. I got them as tiny sticks in 2004 from a person in my master gardener class, and now they're at least 6 feet tall.

My balloon flowers tend to get very leggy because I forget to cut them back in time.

This huge clump (maybe 10-ft. wide by over 5-ft. tall) of native sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus) is in my south wild bed.

Helianthus divaricatus up close.

Ligularia stenocephala 'The Rocket' does indeed rock it in my east wild bed.

I have two huge clumps of gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides 'Marlene'), which I painstakingly keep in check each spring. I'm not usually one to do garden things painstakingly, but a friend and coworker, who has since passed away, gave me these when I was first starting my garden and I can't bear to get rid of them entirely. (I have no idea what the real cultivar is, I call them Marlene in her honor.)

I have tons of clumps of Rudbeckia, even in shady locations.

A few large clumps of native bee balm (Monarda fistulosa)...

I found this heart-shaped chomp in the bee balm leaf and immediately thought of Katie.

A few cultivar bee balms (Monarda didyma) have self-seeded where they want to go.

Many clumps of Echinacea, including this big one (I was envious of Rose's clump before realizing I have my own, lol!)

Front of the house, looking south. Yes, friends, things are looking a little wild at Garden Faerie's Musings this year.

I love the bright fuchsia of this swamp milkeeed (Asclepias incarnata)... and I love that Asclepias is a public way of saying ass...

I don't know who this buggy is on my milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), but I bet one of you can tell me.

Ah, orange. Glorious orange. Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is one of my favorite flowers. Attracts butterflies, my favorite color, no big surprise there.

Yes, it really is 4:30 a.m., this is not a scheduled post. I've been up since 3:00 because Jimi, Radioactive Cat, has been yowling (meowing is too quiet a word) non-stop for about 8 hours. He had radiation (iodine) therapy for a thyroid problem and has to be isolated for two weeks, which he doesn't understand at all. I can only have limited contact with him. We're both a little exhausted! (Dear ASPCA: The photo shows him in the car right after I picked him up from the vet; he is in my spare bedroom now, not a tiny cat carrier! Also, I don't wear fur except what has been shed. Thank you.)

Update: I just got clarification from the regular vet who wasn't there yesterday when Jimi was discharged: I only have to isolate him at night (because he usually sleeps next to me and 8 hours is too much exposure) and if I leave the house (so I can be sure he doesn't use Fiona's litter box or eat her food). It's a good thing I'm a self-unemployed hermit I work from home!

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Sundries Sunday

Fasten your seatbelts, my friends. We've got a lot to cover!

Volunteering at Kempf House
I was excited to discover that Deborah Burling was looking for garden volunteers at Ann Arbor's Kempf House. Deb created a Master Garden Plan and Guidelines, which we are following to restore and repair the garden to the 1890s-1920s period. (After having researched, planted, and maintained an 1860s fountain garden at Cobblestone Farm for five years, I was ready to move on to a non-leading role volunteering in another historic garden.)

Kempf House was built in 1853 in Greek Revival style, but interprets life in the late 1800s. I'd been inside a few times, with my friend Carole, to help decorate for Christmas.

My assignment today was digging soil out of the beds between the fence and sidewalk, moving the soil to other parts of the garden, leveling the area, and adding mulch.

At my first volunteer session on May 9, I weeded around the base of this gorgeous saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana). It's over 100 years old, and I was sorry to have missed its pink blooms.

Update: Deb just emailed me a photo of the tree in bloom in April!

I also pulled a ton of goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) out of various beds--those suckers have crazy roots. I was so glad I had my Fiskars hori-hori with me, because it sure helped. (Thanks again, Gen!)

I swear, the German connection is incidental! Ne, wirklich!

One of the "grilles" mentioned in the sign.

I took this photo last time. I love how the bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) intermingles with the hosta. The bloodroot flowers early, before the hosta is fully unfurled, and will die back later, letting hosta steal the summer show.

Star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) was blooming today...

...as was this NOID lemon yellow day lily. It had a nice scent. The plan is to plant more lilies.

This large NOID rose caught my eye. I liked how the leaves are backlit by the sun so you can see the leaf veins.

I'm warming to roses... I love how the rugged calyx and the serrated, darker leaf margins.

Touring My Garden
Lots going on; too much to write about.

I haven't seen the groundhog all season, but someone has eaten my beet foliage. I'm pretty sure it was raccoons, a species I haven't had trouble with before. Someone also ate most of my marrowfat peas, but (knock wood) two remain.

The turnips remain intact...

...as do the radishes, which are almost ready to harvest. (All these veggies were winter-sown.)

Even though columbine are notorious self-seeders, I've always had trouble growing them in the garden. I have a few plants, but they only get maybe two to five blooms each. Then I find this columbine growing in extreme shade in the brick pathway next to my deck. I get it, Mother Nature, and appreciate your sense of irony.

Speaking of which, for the first time ever I had trouble getting nasturtium seedlings to sprout... and look what I found growing in the bin with my potatoes! I ask you!

Tooling around North Campus
Last week I was meeting my friend Mary Helen for lunch, and decided to ride my bike the 5 or so miles. I was huffing and puffing, but I didn't have a heart attack. I could even pedal up all the inclines, even those I used to have to walk up. And I made amazingly good time. I was just starting to feel the tiniest bit smug when the Universe humbled me: a 60ish-year-old gentleman (a regular guy in street clothes, not a super-aerodynamic bike racer) passed me at a clip that made me feel like I was standing still. Heh.

I had my camera with me and used the extra time before lunch to take some photos of the University of Michigan's North Campus. Allium, with no yellowing leaves!

I almost fell over, I was so shocked to see this Alexander Liberman sculpture. Not just because I oohed and aahed about his work at Meijer Gardens, and totally have a thing for orange, but because I'd never noticed this piece before, despite having been to this part of campus dozens of times over the eight years I worked nearby. Let's just say my job left me preoccupied!

I also like the Wave Field, which reminds me of Native American mounds.

The mounds are only maybe 3-feet tall, but I went ahead and rolled down one anyway. You kind of have to. Well, OK, you might not, but I did.

"Dude, some lady in a bike helmet just totally rolled down the mound!"

Lots more to catch up on, but I'm heading into the garden now. Happy Sundries Sunday, everyone!

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