what's blooming now 2014

[Birding Bunch]

My Prairie Blazingstar is just opening up. I really like this colour.

The Cow Slobber is dying down, but here is a picture from last month. I prefer that name over Spiderwort because it just sounds funny. It is also known as Snotweed, but I won't tell the children that.

[caseynet]

Here's 2 photos. One is wild petunia (Ruelia humilis), that I bought at a Wild Ones native plant sale in Bloomington, IL in May and planted. The other is of an okra flower. This is the first time I have tried growing okra

[EllenW]

Nice pictures caseynet.

[Birding Bunch]

The okra flower is very pretty, caseynet.

Here is what I hope is Hoary Vervain growing in the far north of our pasture. There is some along the road as well. If it is, I will try to gather some seeds.

[EllenW]

I read that the hoary vervain is a good wildlife plant. That looks like it

[wildwatcher]

the apple gourd bloom...

and these are 4 o'clocks, probably not native, but they bring me great joy in seeing them. They bloom & seed profusely!

Now for the questionable ID of the day!!!~~~

this is tall 5', has alternating lance shaped leaves, pretty yellow flower with 4 petals...any help with the ID would be most valuable to me!


ww

[rockerBOO]

wildwatcher, looks like a primrose. Maybe common evening primrose?

[wildwatcher]

Yes you are correct as usual, Oenothera biennis, tytyty.

I did think it might be a primrose, but as I was looking around the internet, I wasn't able to pin the ID down as well as you have.

ww

[linrose]

I like hoary vervain but can't get it to do well here. It gets chewed to bits in the garden and then just fades away. Nice to see you have a good stand of them BB.

As the beebalm fades the garden phlox is taking its place. This is a volunteer that popped up next to the deck along side 'David' phlox which is a pure white. I should plant more tall phlox, they break up the monotony of all the yellow composites that bloom this time of year. The summersweet is blooming, the compact white 'Hummingbird' and the taller 'Ruby Spice' which both are very fragrant. They are supposed to like moist to wet soils but these do fine without any supplemental watering.

Now that the Aralia is done blooming the fruits are starting to mature.

[Birding Bunch]

Thanks, Ellen, for the confirmation. And I am absolutely tickled that I have not had to slave over this. Purple is my favourite colour, so this is even better.

We planted 56 natives last week and three have died. But my Maximilian has started blooming already. I thought they'd be later in the summer. Maybe because it is their first year? The bare roots were labelled as Maximilian Sunflowers.