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' circa 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 white and one purple, along the bed 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...

And check out this cute red milkweed beetle on, amazingly enough, my milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)--thanks Lisa for the bug ID in your most recent post! These beetles are immune to the toxins in milkweed but absorb them so they taste yucky to predators, much like monarch and viceroy butterflies.

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!