Nine Tenths of the Universe

I'd never noticed this plant before coming to MN and was going to eliminate it from the yard until (whew!) a colleague who's amazing with plants and who has contributed mightly to this garden (yay for mature gardens that need dividing!) told me that a)milkweed is ambrosia for monarch butterflies and b)the flowers are pretty and smell good. She was right on all counts. Imagine a nice lily scent with hints of gardenia. Oh, it started blooming mid-June and plants will still be putting out flowers through the summer.

Posted by Amy West at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Got this one a couple of years ago as part of a thank-you for wokring on a MN Horticulture Society event. I plan to take it, the Golden Gopher and a third one w/no official name that I know of, but which is a deep buttery yellow and group them in the back yard. It started mid-June and is on its last bloom today.

Posted by Amy West at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These were in the yard when we got here; I think. Pretty sure I didn't buy them. They bloomed from mid-June to now; they're on the last blooms today. So, when I was double-checking the spelling of the scientific name just now I discovered that daylilies are poisonous to cats. Uh oh. Not sure if cats have any desire to eat them, but, hey, if you see a cat chowing down on a daylily, take them to the vet asap...

Posted by Amy West at 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This was a surprise - I must have put it in the front yard, although I don't recall doing so; never bloomed before, but I'm glad it finally did! It bloomed the 3rd week of June and was about 12-14" tall.

Posted by Amy West at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The dark purple clematis (2nd picture) looks better this year; it's really settling in.

I decided to experiment with the medium purple one and turn it into groundcover. It's sort of working; as you can see in the foreground weeds still got through this year, but I have high hopes for the next. I think I'll put honeysuckle up as the climber on that side of the garage too...

These guys started to bloom mid-June and are just now tapering off.

and

Posted by Amy West at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Love these poppies; just wish I had more. I put out seeds last year and this, but so far no luck. These bloomed the second and third weeks of June.

and

and

Posted by Amy West at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I planted a packet of mixed color lupines, however, only the pinks and purples came up. They started the second week of June and the purple has just begun in the last week of June; it should still look good through the second week of July.

and

Posted by Amy West at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This plant began blooming in the second week in June and is still looking good at the beginning of July.

Posted by Amy West at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These bloomed the second week of June:

Posted by Amy West at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)