The Show-Off

There is always someone who has to better than everyone else --- or at least they think they are (I won't name names, lol).  Same thing in the plant world.  My tallest flowering plants are Joe-Pye weed.  They get about seven feet tall.  Here they are as seen from the kitchen garden window, the tall lavender:

At the other end of the garden is another show-off -- Sears Tower daylily.  

Towering literally above all the other lilies.  But you know what?  In the plant world, unlike in the human world, I like show-offs.

Two Minutes in the Life of a Butterfly

One Bloomin' Season - It's already August!

Welcome.  Is it really possible that we are already in August?  Where did the time go?  Here is the view from one of the kitchen windows in my 'garden kitchen':

That's purple Joe Pye weed standing tall in the back-center of a large flower bed.   Also in that bed are three varieties of heliopsis, the daisy type bloom, and lots of yarrow.

And while all of the daylilies have now appeared and continue to bloom, new hostas are still opening each day.  This past week saw the opening of Hosta 'Gold Standard', an all-time classic.

H. 'First Frost'

H. 'Fortunei Aureomarginata' - I need to move this but don't know where to put it.  It grows on both sides of the fence.

H. 'Guacamole' - it smells wonderful too

H. 'June'

On the left is H. 'Fortunei Aurea' and on the right is H. 'Stained Glass', another fragrant hosta with pale-golden leaves.

And this is H. 'Whirlwind', introduced in 1989 by John Kulpa of Warren, MI.  Yay, John.  I love the variation in those leaves, but then y'all know how much I love hostas.

I'm saving the 'flowering-flowers' for next week, but here is another astilbe that blooms a little later than the others.  It is called 'Color Flash' and has leaves that will change colors as we move into fall.  Fall?  already?