From Central Park commentor Ema:
My “garden” is in summer bloom so here is a June display. I do not know the name of the flowers but they do look quite pretty, don’t you think?
Blue Hue Drops2
Pink Bells
Red Hue Drops2
The Twins
Violet Lamp
Last, but not least, spot the fauna:
Bug Life2
Taken on 6/18/20 with a Sony a5100. (Oh and, yes, I just learned how to combine two pictures, why do you ask?)
***********
I’m pretty sure that the flowers at the top are cleomes (in front of hydrangeas bushes), closeups at ‘The Twins’. And the violet-flowered vine growing up the lamp post is a clematis, probably a Jackmanni variety.
Anybody want to identify the others?
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Baud
My hope is that the heat wave turns my years into a desert landscape so I don’t have to maintain it anymore.
JR
Spiderwort is the unknown flower “blue hue drops”
They are great. Grow almost anywhere, naturalize quickly, native the US.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
NotMax
The horror, the horror — floral edition.
:)
Kristine
Thank you, Ema, for the lovely photos.
Thundery morning here in far NE Illinois. I doubt we’ll see any rain. Just enough noise to make pupster Gaby edgy. It’s already 81 and so humid, but that’s supposed to ease up tomorrow. Here’s hoping.
My bee balm are entering their second blooming wave, and the cardinal flowers are just beginning to open. Joe Pye Weed will follow close behind. Stargazer lilies are also gearing up—fingers crossed that the rabbits continue to ignore them. Same goes for the hosta.
prostratedragon
Also east, and all in the middle …
Lyrebird
@JR: Yeah I love spiderwort. I think the pink bells might be an abelia bush (Edward Goucher maybe), and that’s some kind of rose in the left half of bug’s life.
Thanks for some uplifting photos on a week when everything feels like heavy lifting!
CCL
JR and lyrebird beat me to it…spiderwort… tradescantia. We have blue,and purple, white and all sorts of lavender versions. I think the pink bells might be weigala.
JPL
I’m jealous!
debbie
My “garden” is my neighborhood. My gardeners have outdone themselves this year! Spring and summer have been outstanding.
Rugosa
Red Hue Drops on the left is a begonia.
Spanky
Already hit “only” 80 here in SoMD, but the dewpoint is 74. No breeze, so I think the window for outdoor work is closing.
Highs in the mid & upper 90s this week with overnight lows in the mid 70s. Yum. I think yesterday or today is the highest average temp for the year, so at least we’re somewhat normal. If such a thing as normal exists anymore.
All that is a roundabout way to say the hell with gardening this week.
Eta, the cicada crop is booming.
p.a.
Nice stuff!
Local woodchuck has discovered the wonders of parsley. My parsley. Likes my zucc leaves too although my neighbor has them the size of parasols.??. Trying a waterbased spray of basil & tobasco, online says they don’t like it, and those plants don’t got touched. Next step is trap and a ‘ride to the country’.
MazeDancer
The unknown flowers at the top, and the twins, look like Cleomes. Among my favorites as well.
An annual that does reseed, but haven’t seen ones that big in June in Upstate NY. Unless you bought nice starters in a six-pack. Though, the micro climate on a NYC terrace can be quite warm.
villiageidiocy
OzarkHillbilly
You guys already identified all the ones I know. Gonna be a barn burner today. Gotta hit it hard before the sun gets too high.Have a good day all.
Jeffery
Blue Hue Drops2
Left Asiatic Day flower. Right spiderwarts.
Pink Bells
weigela
Bug Life2
Rose right. I think another weigela left.
My garden has only just recovered from a dry hot period with the tropical storm watering it thoroughly. Now we have a heatwave starting today. I sure hope it rains during the next few days. If not I will lose a number of things that recovered.
SP123
I keep losing unripened tomatoes to squirrels. I’ve tried two different types of repelling powder but i think it mostly gets washed off when I water the garden. Any other suggestions that don’t involve firearms?
catclub
lovely photos
Aleta
@SP123: A solution of puppy dog.
StringOnAStick
I’m always amazed at the range and drought tolerance of Spiderwort; it does well in the dry wild lands in the spring here in CO, and I’ve seen It absolutely domination well watered spaces too.
It has become clear that my drip system isn’t working properly currently so I’m plotting how to work My way from the sprinkler box upstream. It has sure pointed out who is very xeric though! I suspect a failure of some compression fittings at the locations where I had to sneak the mainline tubing up terraces, behind stacked boulders, so this should be fun. I spent yesterday giving a good soak with a sprinkler; I need to get this handled since we’re moving out of state next spring unless we’re in a total Mad Max situation by then.
SP123
@Aleta: have one of those plus two more in the downstairs apartment, but they don’t spend all day in the yard. One of the downstairs dogs did kill a baby squirrel in the spring. The squirrel population exploded this year either due to a huge acorn crop or fewer getting run over on the nearby road with less traffic due to the pandemic.
oldgold
Ever since the Gold Specks prompted the Motherlode to issue her harsh edict: “East of Eden will have a butterfly garden, or else!” – I have been working like a Jehovah’s Witness at Door’s Unlimited to make it so.
Unfortunately, the results have been margerinal.
The slugs I trained last year to survive solely on premium beer and kale have not interfered with this project. The weeds have retreated to the vegetable sections of East of Eden. And, the Phlox, Coneflowers, Latanas and Zinnias are blooming. But, not one damn butterfly has been seen.
Have I been pursuing Fool’s Gold?
Like Vladimir and Estragon I wait for “or else.”
J R in WV
Very pretty, all of them. I too love spiderwort, we planted some way back, now they’re all over the place, which is OK. Love that they hide at dusk until the next sunshine! How do they do that???
JMG
It’s rabbits here on the Cape whose population has exploded, not squirrels. Bad for vegetable gardens, but we’ve sighted two different coyotes in our neighborhood, which is rare, so I think the balance of nature is reasserting itself.
Van Buren
Last year we had more Monarchs than we could count. This year, we have yet to see one, and only have a few butterflies of any kind. Others on Long Island have also noticed a drop in numbers. As I sit here I can look out a window at two milkweed plants and a butterfly bush but do not a single butterfly.
frosty
@JMG: A lot of rabbits here, too, on my < 1/8 lot in South PA. For some reason they haven’t discovered my vegetable garden is a food source.
Bonus, I got three pickins of raspberries so far. Seems the birds forgot about those.
The pole beans have gone crazy, they’re the whole way up the trellis and waving around looking for something else to anchor to. Not a single bean though. Odd.
Kelly
Last night my first astrophotography session yielded “Neowise over our swimming hole”
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5stTkoaaS7FXRyoXA
MoCA Ace
Just got in from an hour-long session weeding and harvesting. Yesterday the heat and humidity was oppressive and it looks like a repeat today. lots of rain last night so the ground was prime for weed pulling.
Broccoli is producing like mad and we had our first garden-grown BLT the other day. It was heaven… they should have to put ” ” around those things they sell in the store!! Cucumbers are about two days away and we are having our first garden-fresh beans tonight. the pole beans are 2/3 of they way to the top of my 7-foot trellis!
I planted round three of spinach, lettuce, radishes, and cilantro four days ago and most of it is up already!
This is the first year I fenced my garden… just some five-foot tall poultry mesh on drive in posts but it has made a world of difference. The Chickens are too fat to fly over and the deer haven’t jumped it once this year. Haven’t seen a rabbit all year… it’s looking like my years-long campaign of unflinching merciless suppression has paid off!
Miss Bianca
@Kelly: Nice!
Doggoes woke us up super early the other morning (like, 4:30 am super early), and we looked out the back window only to see something hugely bright in the sky by the moon, which we first took to be the comet but finally, after some fuddling around with binoculars and telescope, we realized was a planet with something like an eclipse shadow over it. Jupiter? Should have taken some photographs, but…4:30 am is not a “presence of mind” time for me.
So I appreciate yours, because that may be the only real view of the comet I get!
Wyatt Salamanca
Ema,
Thanks for these wonderful photos!
This is one of my favorite YouTube videos, a tour of the Conservatory Garden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpQ-0xEscY0
Aleta
DANCE OF THE BEE, by Endless Field
The album is Alive in the Wilderness, “recorded entirely outdoors using solar power in various remote locations in southern Utah over a two-week period.” “Every audio track has an accompanying video.” “Endless Field is donating 100% of the album’s proceeds to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), in support of their work combating climate change and protecting wild places.”
Jesse Lewis guitar, percussion
Ike Sturm bass, percussion
Benw
@Van Buren: we’ve seen one Monarch, but our yard’s full of these small white butterflies. Almost like moths; know what those are?
Elizabelle
@ Ema: gorgeous photos. Thank you for sharing.
And for your camera recommendation. I have just ordered a Sony a5100. Excited to have something with more power than my iPhone 5. I see such amazing things, week after week, and perhaps now can better record and share them.
Good morning, jackals.
WaterGirl
@Kelly: Wow!
I’ll just put in a plug here for folks to submit their photos to On The Road. We can all use all the beauty we can get, not to mention vicarious travel!
Elizabelle
@Kelly: That’s gorgeous. Thank you for sharing Neowise.
ema
Thank you all!
Askew
@Jeffery: I agree, though I’m more familiar with the scientific names: The genera, from top, are
Cleome (with Hydrangea in background)
Commelina, Tradescantia
Weigela
Begonia, Lonicera (Honeysuckle, with berries)
more Cleome
Clematis
Rosa, Weigela
Thanks for photos, Ema!
ema
@Elizabelle:
That’s great, you will enjoy it. It’s not too sophisticated for a beginner (like me) but powerful enough to give you some nice pictures. Just watch a few videos on the settings to familiarize yourself with the camera and then start shooting. Have fun!
Benw
Central Park and the New York Botanical Garden are two of my fav places in the city. Awesome pics!
Kelly
@Miss Bianca: This the first time I’ve used my camera in the dark. Started out as a bit of a fumble but once I started shooting everything worked.
Van Buren
@Benw: Probably Cabbage Whites
WaterGirl
Nice to see all the flowers in this thread, and everything was named before I got here.
Between the heat and the humidity, yesterday was pegged at “feels like 104” and today it was supposed to be “feels like 102” but now they are predicting that we will be a balmy “feels like 100” today.
It’s all I can do to get out early enough to water – it was 85 at 7am! Off to water the veggies now while it only feels like 95!
schrodingers_cat
Flowers look lovely
OT non-gardening question.
Questions for the Hive mind. I am thinking of buying a domain name for my blog. Any suggestions? I want to maintain some continuity with my old blog. I have some ideas too. But I would like your input if you have a minute to spare.
You can also leave suggestions on my bloggy email or here. Thanks
Beth
The last white flowers are abelias. Probably Abelia Edward Goucher.
Abelias have those characteristic little orangish tags hanging around near the flowers that weigelas don’t. (I have a very large abelia bush in my back yard for reference.)
Elizabelle
@ema: It arrives early this week, and I cannot wait! Am a beginner myself. Tech skills not equal to the beauty and history that I see all the time.
Steeplejack (phone)
Heat wave in NoVA: 95° now, might get up to 98° later. A good day to stay inside.
debbie
@Steeplejack (phone):
Asthma be damned, I try to get out and walk at least a half hour every day. Today’s supposed to go up to 98°; there’s a heat advisory today with an expected heat index of 100–105°. I think I’ll take a break today.
Steeplejack (phone)
@schrodingers_cat:
Your link is busted, because FYWP won’t let you do an e-mail address as a link. Fixed: Send mail to manyworldsonecat at the gmail place.
Spanky
@Steeplejack (phone): But at least it’s a dry heat. //
realbtl
We’re into NW Montana summer, highs in the mid to high 80s, lows in the mid to high 50s, perfect weather. Occasional afternoon thunderstorms for variety.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Spanky:
Ha! Actually, 47% is pretty dry for here. Usually it’s up around 70-80%.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Horrible use of potatoes!
Spanky
@Steeplejack (phone): Just found a wunderground station in my neighborhood that hadn’t been there a couple of weeks ago. It’s telling me the current temp here is 95.0 with a dew point of 79, making a relative humidity of 61%.
Beat that!
(I’m sure we’re all going to as the day wears on. And tomorrow should be worse.)
MomSense
I’m a little verklempt this morning. Youngest and I drove down to CT on Friday to help my son and his SO move to a new place. They are such a nice couple and I feel really lucky to help them set up their new home. Also I get to be with my grandpuppy! They call me giblet grandma because I cooked giblets for Kebo when we first met and now he follows me around.
mrmoshpotato
@Kelly: Cool! Great photo!
mrmoshpotato
@MoCA Ace:
Never had garden-grown bacon myself. How’s it compare to store-bought?
germy
Something I found charming:
A website that features historic photos. Recently posted a photo of girls playing baseball, circa 1955.
https://www.shorpy.com/node/25701
Scroll down to the reader comments. One reader recognized a girl:
Geminid
@SP123:Those darn squirrels will take a bite out of tomato or cucumber just to get a drink. A dog is the only effective squirrel control method I’ve heard of, short of fencing vegetables on the sides and over the top. A friend has a fat little terrier that hunts squirrels from ambush. Lays in wait, then springs up and runs them down. Shooting them in the butt with a pellet gun theoretically would work. You would have to be a good shot, though, and be able to stay on the project all day. And you might hit one in the eye. Then you could fall into squirrel rescue work. And need rabies shots.
Benw
@Van Buren: thanks!
Kelly
@Elizabelle: Free “film and developing ” is one of the great things about digital photography. I’ll shoot a couple hundred images on a nice day out. I bracket exposures then delete mercilessly.
Geminid
@Geminid: Actually, you would only need a rabies vaccination. I once built a stone fireplace for a very nice couple who did rescue work with raccoons, etc. They were the only customers I ever had who had rabies vaccinations. But I did once work on a project for a guy who went to Wall Street from the local prestigious university, made his pile, and came back to build his dream house on a local farm. He liked to show up at the job and scream about problems, mainly the slow progress. I worked for one of the masonry contractors, and he was basically a problem for the general contractor’s people. But I sometimes wondered if he had had his shots.
Yutsano
@Geminid: Border collie. Squirrel. Doesn’t even really need training.
Matt McIrvin
@Kelly: I’ve been trying to see the thing with my old binoculars but the sky has been infuriatingly cloudy and hazy during the few hours that it should be visible every night, sometimes only in the specific part of the sky where the comet is supposed to be.
Benw
Got our first cherry tomater from the yard today!
Gearing up for a week of blazing sun, and hoping the rest of the mater plant pulls through
opiejeanne
Pretty flowers. Thanks for sharing. My cleome are blooming, but they’re much shorter than what I expected. When we lived in a hot climate I planted them from seed and they reached 4 feet tall, and bloomed and bloomed all summer. The butterflies loved them and when we identified them we realized that the Red Admirals were chasing the Painted Ladies, which seemed about right.
@realbtl: We’ve been melting in the high 70s for a couple of days because we are now whiney Washingtonians, but tomorrow it goes up to 84 (probably 90). High 70s isn’t that bad unless you’re in direct sunlight, a horror that we are not used to. The humidity today is only 58%, tomorrow 64%.
There has been a breeze so really, it’s gorgeous out and we can sit in the shade for a while when it gets too hot to do anything.
Need to go out and check the greenhouse now. It’s so hot and humid in there that it’s hard to stay for long; it’s like St Louis in August. The vents and exhaust fan are doing their best, but I realize that the plants inside it are really enjoying the climate., especially the tomato in the corner. It’s reached the top of the 7 foot side wall and is now threatening to grow sideways.
opiejeanne
@Benw: Ours are still green, as are all of the tomatoes on the Early Girl. It’s been too cool and wet until this past week, so everything is slow, and some of our plants are stunted. it’s frustrating to have to start zucchinis from seed in early July because the ones we started back in May still look like seedlings.
We have an odd dilemma with the bush beans and the climbers. Two of the four Blue Lake bush beans (starts we purchased) have decided to climb, while all four of the Papa de Rolas (from seed and set out) are just sitting there, pretending to be bushes. It’s July 19 and the Rattlesnake beans are just beginning to show signs that they might climb, some day. We aren’t fighting the unexpected climbers, and they have started producing little green beans, so in a week we’ll have enough for a small side dish at supper. The bon choi are ready to eat, the French Breakfast radishes went in three weeks from seed to table.
I think I need to plant another round of radishes.
OzarkHillbilly
@opiejeanne: St Louis in August leaves an impression, tho for my money July is worse.
scav
Oh, I wish my cleomes had come up. Next year I’ll attempt some starts indoors — they always were self-starters in IL, but apparently not in the upper left. Thanks for the virtual glimpse!
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: Thermal inertia is pretty much the same all over the planet, causing average max and min temps for a location to trail the solstice by about 4 weeks. And here we are.
Benw
@opiejeanne: all the rest of ours are still green too, this one guy decided to ripen early, I guess! Too bad for him, he’s already eated
artem1s
Praxis Fiber Workshop a local arts organization has asked volunteers to assist in growing and harvesting an indigo crop for their dying workshop later in the year. Planting occurred at the height of the shut down so they provide volunteers with plants and grow kits and instruction videos on youtube. First harvest started last week. I’m really looking forward to next steps of prepping the harvested leaves for dying.
Gvg
@oldgold: I think you need to ask a local expert. There may be a pest or something. You might try a mud puddle for them. They supposedly need certain minerals they get from the edge of mud puddles. In my area there are local experts who publish books. I’ve also toured the gardens of certain experts around here. Garden shop owners set up tours. Also wild birds unlimited local store knew the butterfly experts and sold their books. Those interest were kind of cross connected. And the local natural history museum does a butterfly garden and sells plants. The native plant society covers the topic fairly often.
mrmoshpotato
@artem1s: This confused me for a minute!
Don’t forget the tying!
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: The thing about August that makes it less oppressive (to me anyway) is that hurricane season seems to really kick in to gear then. The storms get the atmosphere stirred up which then pulls cold fronts down to us. Even if it’s only for a few days, lower humidity and low-mid 80s temps rejuvenates me.
debbie
@germy:
What a great photo!
Jeffery
@SP123: chicken wire cage.
artem1s
@mrmoshpotato: I think their workshop focus is actually on batik, not tie dye. :-)
opiejeanne
@OzarkHillbilly: Come to think of it, we were probably there in July that one time in 78. We spent several hours wandering around the wonderful botanical garden, sweating like mad. It rained that night but we were already at the Illinois/Indiana border, visiting family in Robinson, IL. We never made that mistake again.
*shudder*
The one bright spot in that visit was meeting great great aunt Josephine who was intelligent and hilarious, and whom the rest of the self-centered dullards were not overly fond of. The great aunt we stayed with was a little put out that Dave’s mother’s cousins were not at all interested in us, so caught up in their own drama they were, but then, Dave’s mom was a “charity case”, her grandmother and a cousin took her in after her mother died and she was pretty much told she wasn’t like “real” family because of that.
MoCA Ace
@mrmoshpotato: Like beans, garden grown Broccoli tastes “greener” if that’s a thing. I think it’s mainly due to being fresh.
MoCA Ace
Now back out to stake my pepper plants… a big wind came through last night and tipped most of them over :( Other than that they are looking great this year. lots of little peppers and most of them are full of blossoms today.