This Summer's Favorite, Summerweet, at the End of the Season

Seems like every season I fall in love just a little with a particular plant and this season it was Summersweet. It wasn't just the delicious smell though or the long blooming time that reeled me in, but the potential for sweet encounters of the pollinating kind.

Red Petioled Maple

The petioles on the maple leaves are red even if the leaves themselves are not.  Most trees I have seen recently still are green, except for some red maples, dogwoods and honey locusts, which are turning now in this last week of summer. 

A Little Bit of My Dad's Garden in Late August this Year

Dahlias and caladium and eggplant.

Because the only thing better than watching your own garden grow is checking out someone else's.

At The House Near the Corner with the Sunflowers

I got to briefly meet the people who live in the house near the corner with the Sunflowers this morning. "Love your sunflowers" I said. (I didn't want them to think I was a stalker or on some kind of stakeout.)

Here Comes the Sun...Flower 🎶

....and here comes a pollinator that is definitely not a honeybee.

Hmm. Could it be Euodynerus hidalgo, a species of wasp, seen in the Eastern United States and Canada, according to the folks at bugguide.net? Perhaps. 

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic 🎶

Although technically the flower is a hermaphrodite with no magic wand, it does seem to have the power to put a spell on you as you walk on by.🎶

And isn't she pretty in pink?🎶

And in yellow and green? And in both bud and bloom?

Monday's Plant: Joe-Pye Weed

Of course the Joe-Pye Weed isn't really a weed at all.

It was clearly planted purposefully, most likely for it's beauty, and I'm assuming also because it is a North American native plant that attracts certain pollinators.

Tall, pink and handsome. 

It Takes Time to Get To Know Something

Because it takes time to get to know something, I have made it a habit to pay attention to plants I see or grow during the seasons. The bleeding hearts which were blooming this April at Hostra are just now starting to fade and turn yellow as they die back with the heat of summer.

Of course this is also just a really nice excuse to follow some of my favorite plants and spend some time outside with something beautiful.

Several Things I Rested my Eyes On This Week

A grouping of coneflowers between daylily seed pods and some cherry laurels

A splash of red behind a fence

Petals and flowers moved by the wind.

Quick Bee Hunt

I wanted to see if I could snap a picture of a pollinator today so I headed to a plant I figured might have some visitors and this Liatris, an American wildflower,  did not disappoint.

A big patch of Lysimachia clethroides was also a hot spot for bees and wasps. And while I got no pictures, I spotted pollinators visiting some Summersweet, Vitex and Russian sage on my quick bee hunt as well. Success!

Chasing Schmetterlings

At least once every summer you should find yourself spending part of the morning or afternoon chasing schmetterlings (which someone recently told me is the German word for butterflies). I was stalking some schmetterlings over by a bottlebrush buckeye yesterday afternoon, but only managed to capture this one Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, which I will say is male after consulting my favorite insect ID site bugguide.net, with the camera.

It's Crepe Myrtle Time Again

And if the number of pictures I have taken of Crepe Myrtles over time indicates anything, it's probably that I'm a bit of a fan of them even when they aren't in bloom.

I Take My Walking Slow

I take my walking slow.

And as the poem by Roethke goes, I learn by going where I have to go.

What is there to know?

Anemones bloom.

Two Seasons, Same Spot, Same Plant --Oakleaf Hyrdrangea

What remains of an Oakleaf Hyndrangea's bloom and bracts --winter 2017

The beauty of this season will endure longer than you might think is possible.

Drawn, Like Bees (and me) to the Summersweet

Drawn, like bees (and me) to the summersweet, doesn't quite roll of the tongue like moths to the flame. Still there we both were this afternoon, compelled by different desires, at the Summersweet. The bees wanted lunch. I had already eaten.

It's too bad the point and shoot can only capture images and not scents. Because if you get within a few feet of the Summersweet and the blooms don't entice you to get a little closer, the fragrance will probably do the trick.

American Beauties

If they make it on Piet Oudolf's list of preferred perennials, well surely there is a reason (or more than one) for that and who am I to argue?

A July Past's Bouquet From My Dad's Yard

I just came upon this picture dated July, 2nd from 2015 of a bouquet I made one late afternoon from what was blooming and growing in my dad's garden. It kind of makes me want to go outside right now with some clippers on a mission to snip just enough for a small bouquet.

So This Happened This Week

Since winter's end and spring's arrival when the first new growth of the year emerged from below the surface, these summer blooming perennials have mostly been just slowly growing and they have mostly been just green leaves and stems. This week though, this happened and the shift seems not so slow at all or subtle. I'm far from any prairie, but I imagine that right now would be a good time to see one, if these North American prairie plants are any indicator of some of the beauty that might be witnessed in the moment.

One From Here and One From There

The Trumpet Vine, which is said to attract hummingbirds from North America and the Russian Sage from the steppes far away, whose spikes of small purple flowers look to me like bees might be attracted to. Both are pretty fierce plants in their own way, formidable survivors.