what's blooming now 2014

[linrose]

Our first monarda is blooming now, I call it "my" monarda because it is a cross between M. fistulosa 'Claire Grace' and M. didyma 'Raspberry Wine'. It's such a great color and never gets powdery mildew. Common milkweed is blooming in the field now too, lots more than in the past years.

[EllenW]

I remember that beautiful blue monarda. Love it!

[EllenW]

Delphinium or larkspur. Don't know if it is a perennial or an annual. Will have to wait and see

[EllenW]

Two different shades of spiderwort

[linrose]

The butterflyweed in the field is going strong. I love seeing the splashes of orange all through the grasses. I think this is elderberry, I don't remember seeing it before but it lives in the sinkhole near the blackberries. New Jersey Tea is a little thing I planted a couple of years ago, these are its first blooms. The Cedarglade St. John's Wort is blooming for the first time since I planted it, I like the fireworks-like stamens. Wild quinine and pale purple coneflower are still going in the terraces.

What I have noticed are all the tiny pollinators, so many different kinds of insects that I haven't begun to identify them all but I am really noticing them more. Alas the butterflies were completely absent today, I hope to see them soon.

[EllenW]

I love butterfly weed. None of mine survived the winter. The plants I ordered were so tiny.
I have noticed lots of tiny pollinators also linrose. I never paid much attention to insects before this forum. Now I really enjoy watching them. The tiny bees are so cute.

[wildwatcher]

I like these because they have blooming now for 3-4 weeks!

ww

[will-o-wisp]

There is quite a bit of milkweed blooming now, butterfly weed (8 plants) and purple milkweed (2 or 3 plants depending how you count them) are in full bloom. Swamp milkweed is still in bud.

The purple milkweed has spread slightly and moved forward a bit. After planting tons of seeds it finally has grown a new plant and bloomed in a concrete planter.
The 3 new self seeded butterfly weed plants are either growing and blooming in the cracks between the slate and sidewalk or between the rocks and sidewalk.
I guess they prefer a lime based soil with all the concrete.
I haven't seen any Monarchs yet only black swallowtails and painted ladies.

[linrose]

I can tell you that butterflyweed does very well here in our calcareous soils. I have only one purple milkweed out of the three I planted, actually I haven't checked to see if it's still there. It's nice to hear yours are spreading. I lost all my swamp milkweed so I just planted three this spring, I hope they do OK.

I'm glad you are seeing butterflies, we have a dearth of them right now they are too few and far between in the garden. I'm encouraged at least to see the small bees and bumblebees on the monarda. Maybe they are between broods right now? I did see a lot of butterflies in spring. No cats on any of my dill, parsley or fennel yet.

[EllenW]

I have not seen many butterflies here either. I think I did see a baltimore checkerspot yesterday. I didn't get a good look at it. I planted white turtlehead which is it's host plant. I am starting to see some bees and wasps but not many. I used to have lots of wasp nests in my barn and horse shelter overhangs. I don't see any yet. I had a wasp building a nest in my bird house. I was reluctant to kick it out. I did knock it's nest down though. There is wasp starting a nest in my shed overhang near where the box is so maybe it moved there. It is welcome there.