Fragrant Summer Clouds

A Beautiful Pinwheel Variety
Soft, Fragrant Blooms
Mount Fuji in it's Snowy Whitness

An Old Garden Variety...Any Guesses??
Phlox "Blue Paradise"
A Recent Seedling, I'll Take Cuttings...
Phlox "Lava" from the hardware store...
Lovely and Tagless, maybe if I dug around a bit...( click any image to enlarge)


When I was little, we had a large border of Phlox ,(Phlox paniculata) that was composed mostly of hybrid plants long gone to seed. This sounds like a minor garden tragedy, but the muddy lavenders and pinks had their own special aura. We had what I would now describe as a strolling garden, a garden meant to be walked through and "take the scents and views". We did have named hybrid Phlox, Mount Fuji was always at attention in the border, looking like thunder heads forming before your eyes.

I've always cut flowers for the house, even when very young. Phlox seemed to be the prime summer blossom to cut, and there were so many...it never took away from the display! I have many memories of walking in that garden at night, a bright sky illuminating the still scene. You could find the phlox just from the drifts of powdery sweetness floating in the air. I've always had Phlox in my gardens, not just for memories sake, but for the quintessential feeling of Summer that a garden with Phlox is. So many of our beloved garden stalwarts are from Asia, thank you Asia!, but Phlox paniculata is child of our land's loins and we should cherish them, even if they are considered common by some.

Phlox are easy garden plants. They will take some afternoon shade, but the healthiest clumps are grown in full Sunlight. A moisture retentive soil with a good amount of organic matter is all they need, an established plant can take some drought, but the wear and tear will show a bit. The biggest complaint that I hear about garden Phlox is their propensity to harbor mildew. This can easily happen here in the Midwest if the plants are crowded or need dividing. I always take pieces of the mother plant in the Spring when the growth is a few inches high on the clump. They lift easily at that time , and they will hardly skip a beat.A fresh location and an open situation will usually reduce any mildew that might occur. Some people thin out the weaker emerging stalks, I would rather just remove a outer section and fill the excavated area with compost and soil. Water this division, and use a compostable mulch to keep the ground evenly moist while the offset is setting roots. Once the big initial floral show is over, remove the seed heads, and you will be rewarded by a second flush of bloom....I usually have a few in re bloom going into Fall. At Hiddefield farm, secondary Phlox blooms are probably one of the last plants that the migratory Hummingbirds get to feed on as they make their was South.

Wild about Wildflowers

Native Jewel Weed, an Impatient
One of Many Zinnias
Black EYed Susan
Oh So Delicate Cosmos, The Color Puple...
So Much Life Going On Here!

This Spring, I posted about getting ready to seed several areas with wild flowers. Two of the areas are a disappointment, at least this year,... hope springs eternally in the garden for the next year! But the third area, the "hummingbird garden" has been a real joy! I also added many collected seeds to a purchased mix, coming from Wild Seed Farms. The area has a diagonal path that leads to the Bee yard at the back of the garden, so I would be "forced" to meander through a glorious swath of annual blooms, life is tough some times, No? This season is all about Cosmos, Zinnias, Black Eyed Susans, Queen Ann's lace, Silenes...many annuals. I'm not an annual nut, but you sure get a great deal of color in a hurry!

I have also added trumpet Lilies, wild Bergamot, Verbena....this is a garden in the making, but you do indeed hear the hummingbirds buzz through, and the resident Bumblebees are in Bee heaven! The native perennials will make their appearance next year, and the year after that...LOTS of milkweeds (Asclepias), more kinds of Asters, the list is quite extensive! I even spotted some Jack in the Pulpits that had survived the dense prairie grass prior to the clearing of the site.

Cool Blooms for a Hot Month

Silene regina, the Royal Catchfly
Cosmos and Bumblebee, a great combination
Asclepias verticillata, the whorled milkweed
Hymenocallis-or Peruvian Daffodil
Civia "Golden Dragon"

I have been a bad,bad, blogger.So many things to do in the garden and at work, that I've felt "blocked"...and the endless weeds. Several special things need to be given their due, so I am showing a few to get unplugged. After a dry winter rest, one of my favorite Clivia decided to send up a late flower stalk for July. I had drooled over the expensive yellow Clivia that were being offered at White Flower Farm,unfortunately out of my garden budget.Then,years later, My friend Patrick found a healthy plant of "Golden Dragon"at a local nursery,and made a special gift of it to me. I checked the progress of the flower stalk every day, and after a summer shower it bloomed. Beside the "Golden Dragon", is a rare variegated Clivia that actually came from White Flower farm, via the amazing garden and collection of Matt Mattus -Growing With Plants-(you are the best!). He and his partner Joe just happened to be at the famed nursery when a shipment of regular orange Clivia minata were being delivered. Mixed with all the dark strappy leaves was one plant with the treasured striped pattern, and they scored it! Matt says this is a robust form, some are of weak character and slow to bloom...I can't wait to see!


I bought some Ismene bulbs late in the season, but the bulbs still were firm, so I potted them up and was rewarded by a crystalline bloom in just days! Not a winter hardy bulb, but easy to care for during warm months, then give it a cool dry rest for the Winter.

I have a great fondness for Asclepias (milkweeds), and was so excited to discover the elegant but diminutive A. verticillata or whorled milkweed growing in the native grasses by the back road to the farm. I have explored my property in all seasons for ten years, and I have never seen this jewel before! I have about ten species and cultivars, the essential food plant for our beloved and threatened Monarch butterfly. I encourage all readers to plant at least a few varieties in a remote, or not so remote a spot for this purpose. I think they are stunning, amazing native plants to celebrate and enjoy. Butterfly Encounters in California offers a large selection of these great plants (seeds), and Bobby Gendron, owner, also has produced a simple and easy to fallow planting video for novice gardeners to learn how to stratify the seeds of some species for abundant germination.


One of the wildflower areas I burned in the Spring has come into full annual bloom. Although there are many perennial species I hope to see next year, the happy annuals are giving the July garden a bright face lift! I will post on that next time, but I had to share the crisp white cosmos with a very contented Bumblebee foraging the golden pollen to feed it's colony.


The last thing I wanted to share is a lovely native plant that shines like a star in the moist meadows of Southern Missouri and Kansas, Silene regina. I first saw the plant on a float trip with the devine Devines and some of our other friends. The bright red stars where along the river bank (North fork of the White river), being visited by hummingbirds. I was captivated, but did not find a source for the plants until many years later. Once I get fixated on a plant, only time will stop me! Hopefully, I can get these somewhat finicky plants to set fertile seed, so I can introduce them to the edges of Hiddenfield pond.