Tuesday, August 3, 2021

More Flowers

For the end of July/first of August, the star of the flowerbeds is overwhelmingly the purple cone flowers.  These are all descendants of two plants I bought years ago. No one ever told me how incredibly invasive they are!


These black eye Susans have been in the flowerbed even longer than the cone flowers but they haven't spread. They do look pretty with the cone flowers.


Invasive or not, they attract insects. There were bumblebees and honeybees all over these flowers.


And then there was this beauty. There was a monarch butterfly flitting around too but didn't stay long enough to get a picture. I don't have any milkweed growing in the flowerbed.


What about these pretties?


The oriental lilies are flowering now. They are so elegant and dignified. I don't know what the names of them are. I bought a box of oriental lilies several years ago Lowe's, brought them home and planted them.


The day lilies are blooming now. I did read on someone else's blog somewhere that supposedly day lilies are invasive, not here. I've had day lilies growing here and there for more than 40 years and they've stayed completely under control.


After the cone flowers and black eyed Susans are finished blooming, I'll cut off the seed heads and taking a walk along the edge of the hayfield that a butts the road and toss them in the grass. 

Maybe next year there will be flowers blooming from when I did this a year ago. Wouldn't that be lovely, a half mile of purple cone flowers blooming. I don't mind if they spread along the road, I just don't like them taking over the flowerbeds.

Another wonderful thing about this time of year is local corn on the cob!

I am getting some time to sew but not lots. I'm enjoying summer and there is plenty of time for sewing during the winter.

15 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I would love to put some of the flowers in the vegetable garden area to attract more bees but always afraid of how invasive some can be and the bulb flowers only last such a short while. I had some black eyed Susan's in one spot and ended up having to dig them up as they multiplied like crazy - the purple coneflowers do that for me too. Right now I have a few flower plants still mixed in the vegetable beds that need to come out this fall as they are taking up too much room. For now I will leave the butterfly plants but I had a new clump of those come up too this year a short way away.

Ivani said...

Your garden is beautifully full of flowers. Enjoy Summer time!
Have a good week, Gretchen!

Melva said...

Beautiful Garden. I wanted to invite you to link up this week for the Tues. To Do at MelvaLovesScraps(dot)blogspot(dot)com

Chris is off on vacation and I am subbing in for her. :)

Melisa- pinkernpunkinquilting said...

Happy Tuesday, my dear. Your garden looks quite lovely. I have always wanted to grow coneflowers, but I did not know that they can be invasive. Thanks for the tip. I think blooms along the road side would be such a beautiful sight. It looks like your precious grandson is enjoying the fresh ears of corn. We have been lucky to get some local corn here too. Have a great day and happy quilting.

Linda said...

Love this peek into your garden. I had no idea cone flowers were invasive. We moved into a new (not new, but new-to-us) house last October and have planted day lilies. They are on the west-facing side of the house and are not blooming although they get a lot of sun. I'm hoping next year they will take off. What a cute little guy enjoying that corn!

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

You got me with the swallowtail butterfly! Beautiful photo! I love coneflowers! We have some but they haven't spread so much--I wouldn't mind if they did! They're monarch butterfly magnets here. Love seeing the lilies and the corn-eater, too!!!

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Beautiful flowers, and bugs! Have fun with family.

Created by Kathi said...

Gretchen I just love your flowers and glad you will let the seed heads go near the road :)
You grandson seeems to enjoy his veggies… that’s nice! Kathi

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

The flowers are just so pretty! So the coneflowers? Do they attract bees? I wonder if they would grow in my area....

Gretchen Weaver said...

The purple coneflowers seem to be a pretty resilient flower, at least in my area. They have attracted bumblebees, I've never seen so many bumblebees in my flowerbeds before! I thought I read somewhere that bumblebee numbers were dropping, definitely not on our farm!

Anne-Marie said...

Lots of pretty flowers. My coneflowers don't spread quite that much. I'd like if they did, because they are reliable bloomers in our hot, humid, southern IN summers. It's the lamb's ear that grows everywhere here, including the lawn, but their stalks are always covered in bees, so I accept it.

Jennifer Fulton Inquiring Quilter said...

Love fresh corn! Your garden is so beautiful. Love the butterfly. Thanks for sharing on Wednesday Wait Loss.

QuiltGranma said...

Beautiful flowers! I need to plant some cone flowers and black eyed susans, to fill in an aea that just grows weeds here!

Scrapatches said...

Mmmm ... fresh picked corn on the cob ... a late summer treat! Your flowers are beautiful. I have the same coneflowers and brown-eyed-susans in my gardens and agree that the coneflowers spread and the susans do not. The coneflowers have jumped out in front of some of my lower flowers in my front gardens but they are colorful and bees and butterflies do love them. I am planning to transplant a few to the other side of the house next spring and hope they flourish there as well. Thank you for sharing your beautiful gardens with me in my linky party ... :) Pat

K Reeves said...

Coneflowers will grow anywhere, but yours are quite spectacular! You’ve managed a lot of sewing this summer, even with the garden and the cows, I am very impressed!