Friday afternoon I went around and removed all the spent peony blooms. I was thinking that there wasn't much color, but that was because I was looking at the roadside and south gardens (day lilies will be next and are setting buds, but otherwise they don't have blooms right now). Then I started looking in other areas, and there is plenty of stuff blooming - especially the driveway garden where butterfly weed and black-eyed suzies are coming into their own.
The false indigo had massive seed pods weighing down the stems so I started trimming those off. Of course it started sprinkling a few minutes into this job, so I only got about 2/3 of them cut off before it started raining in earnest and I was wet enough to call it quits.
Flowers and flower buds from what I believe is an ash that is in the neighbors yard, but hangs over onto my property (not complaining). Edit 6:30/2024 - this is a False Spirea, also called an Ash-leaved Spirea.
I've shown this foxglove in the backyard previously, but it is so impressive. The top of the spike goes to just above my eye level, so it is at least 5' tall and the spike itself is around 2.5' long
The just started blooming on Thursday and is welcome color in the shady parts of the yard.
The winterberry is getting buds and are so big I may have to trim them. I'm unsure what is going on in this area of the shrub garden. I've not had this happen before - almost looks like something big bedded down there and pushed all the stems over. Mountain laurel should be in there. It is possible that it is shady enough that everything just started leaning but I don't remember it being like that while mowing - but that means nothing - LOL
Chokeberry are getting ready to bloom too
The next big event will be day lilies blooming. I think that will be lackluster in the roadside garden as the peony foliage is so tall and spreading that those lilies aren't getting any sun. And, some of the lilies, at the best of times, are not as tall as the peony foliage. Bad future planning on my part.
At this point it looks like I will not have the fantastic fall blooms in the south garden from the Sweet Autumn clematis. It has not put out any buds. I cut off all last summers vines in the spring, which I normally do, so I'm unsure what the deal is since I have never been able to kill them before. The winter was not harsh, nor did we have a late frost, so I'm perplexed. And the worst part is that the 5' tall pillar and other supports that I have out there look out of place and messy.
When I saw your first four photos, I thought they were French impressionist paintings. Lovely, and matched for effect by a couple of the later photos. You surely get a bang for your buck in your gardening, Bogie.
The ash looks strange to me. We have some sort of ash trees in our woods (and Adam & Kristi have that large, half-dead one in their front yard) that AFAIK do nothing like what you are showing. But then...I don't pay enough attention to them to be certain. We do get the fall of stems of leaflets such as you have shown. Those, I do not love.
I did go out in the 98-degree heat (it had cooled down from 100), today, to cut off the pod-bearing tops of our milkweed plants. I feared that, with everything else, I would forget to pluck the pods before they ripened and burst. I thought that it would be quicker/easier to cut off at the stem than to try to pluck the pods. It took a long time for me to do the plucking last year as they tend to hide from me, and I don't wish to miss even one.
Posted by: Cop Car | June 23, 2024 at 05:57 AM
I could be mistaken on the ash tree ID - it is always being cut down so stays in a shrub form.
Actually maybe it is sumac. IDK - it doesn't seem to look the same as other sumac in the area, but is close, so that is probably it.
Posted by: bogie | June 24, 2024 at 03:45 AM
It looks like an ash, to me too, Bogie - just not like what I think I see around here. Doesn't look at all like sumac to me, but you have it in hand, so I'll go with you.
; )
Posted by: Cop Car | June 24, 2024 at 05:27 AM
I just found a photo that looks like yours - called "Fraxinus ornus flowering ash also known as manna ash lovely fluffy ..."
Posted by: Cop Car | June 24, 2024 at 05:29 AM
If I were a smart person, I would get an ID app so I wouldn't be guessing all over the place. But, I'd rather hurt my brain instead :)
Posted by: bogie | June 26, 2024 at 03:28 AM
I reject any intimation that our daughter is anything less than perfectly smart ; ) You are just giving the rest of us the opportunity to exercise our research capabilities.
A few months ago, I suddenly had an ID app on my phone. After a few weeks it disappeared. I've no clue why either event took place.
Posted by: Cop Car | June 29, 2024 at 08:05 AM
I uploaded a picture to Pl@ntnet and found that is a False Spirea (sorbaria sorbifolia). I am very comfortable with that ID after looking at pictures. Interestingly, one of its other names is Ash-leaved spirea
Posted by: bogie | June 30, 2024 at 03:49 AM
See? You did come up with "the final answer". Different.
Posted by: Cop Car | June 30, 2024 at 08:05 AM