Poison Ivy

When we first moved into our home in 2001, there was a lovely vine growing up an old ash tree in our yard. It had five leaves, so I knew it was Virginia Creeper. There was also some wild grape vines growing up the tree and the birds seemed to love it. This tree was also right next to the new shade garden I developed in 2002, so I watered it when I watered the shade garden and the vine grew and grew and turned a lovely red color in the fall. Spectacular.

Then one year, I got a rash on my face. Doctor said it was poison ivy. What? I don’t have poison ivy anywhere near my yard. I had been to a nursery the day before and had been exposed to some poisonous tropicals there. That must have been it, because we don’t have poison ivy in our yard. Guess again.

I took a closer look at that vine I had been watering for five years. The stem was huge at this point and hairy. That was a bad sign. I looked closer at the leaves, which were huge and lush. They were all three leafed. I could find nothing left of the Virginia Creeper or the wild grapes I had seen in the past. We did indeed have poison ivy.

Now what should I do. Well first I researched the heck out of it online and found a helpful site called Posion-Ivy.org. I had no idea that poison ivy could look so different. This vine had smooth leaves, but there are also varieties with notched edges. Mine all seems to have a smooth edge. Newer leaves can appear to be shiny, while older leaves are duller. As the vine gets older, the stem gets “hairy” a tell-tale sign that it’s poison ivy. Young plants looks very similar to clematis and Virginia creeper, so it’s always safer to wear gloves when in an area that has had poison ivy in the past.

Poison Ivy can grow as a vine or as a scrub and can creep along the ground and never even cling to a tree that is nearby. It often grows at the edge of fields or lawns where it may not be mowed often but gets enough sun to thrive.

Researchers are telling us that poison ivy will only increase and get worse with the increase of carbon dioxide in the air. This sort of creates a super poison ivy that can cause harsher rashes. You can’t tell me that global warming isn’t affecting our planet. It is certainly affecting some plants.

Read the rest of the article by visiting our website.

Zucchini Everywhere!

At this time of year, you may have a ton of zucchini and you just don't know what to do with it all. Just two plants can supply enough squash for an entire family of four for many months. What is a girl to do?

Well, you could give some away, but that seems such a waste, unless who you are giving it to is someone who really needs it. If so, by all means, give some away. But instead of pulling your hair out or throwing it away, here are a few of my ideas on what to do with zucchini.

1. Give to a food pantry. Call first to make sure they will accept it from an individual and not a registered farm. Also contact local churches in the area that may have their own food pantries.

2. Leave it on the doorstep of your friends and neighbors. Everyone likes a random act of kindness.

3. Substitute sliced zucchini for some of the pasta in your favorite Italian dishes.

4. Shred it for use in cakes, breads, and pancakes. There are loads of good recipes on the net and I hope to add some to our Weight Loss Blog in the coming weeks and months. Zucchini makes surprisingly moist cakes and breads and adds almost no calories in the process.

5. Slice thin for stir frys. Zucchini soaks up all the flavor of the sauce and spices you are cooking with and you don't even know it's zucchini once it's done cooking. I pile a load of zucchini on my plate when we go to the Mongolian BBQ place and I don't even miss the fattening noodles. Seriously!

6. Zucchini is great for grilling. It takes marinades well and holds up nice and firm on the grill as long as you cut the slices thick enough.

7. Makes a great filler for meatloaf so you can use less bread crumbs.

8. Makes great fritters and faux crab cakes. I have a wonderful recipe for Zucchini Crab Cakes on our Weight Loss Blog.

9. Zucchini freezes well in slices as well as shredded. Just blanch first, allow to cool, dry and freeze. I blanch mine in the steamer, so there is less water to strain once finished.

10. Cut zucchini into strips and add dip for a healthier appetizer.

11. Zucchini is great to add to cold or hot soups.

12. Makes a great addition to salads in addition to, or to replace, cucumber.

13. Zucchini makes a great pickle.

14. You can replace apple with zucchini in a strudel recipe. Or replace half the apple with zucchini in a pie. The seasoning is really what makes it great, kind of like the faux crab cake I posted above.

15. Works great shredded up and cooked into spaghetti sauce.

Now get out there are start experimenting with zucchini. I know I will be.

Do you have a zucchini recipe you'd like to share? E-mail me and I will post them all at a later date.

I Guess I'm a Daylily Collector

From the first moment an online gardening buddy sent me some of her daylilies, I've been hooked. I love their grass-like foliage when they are not in bloom. And even though they only bloom for one day, their multiple blooms per stem makes it seem like they bloom for weeks. Here are few of the latest blooming daylilies in my garden. Many are new over the past two years, so this is only their second season of blooming for me.

This is probably my first daylily. It's just a double version of the common orange ditch lily, but I don't think there is anything common about this bloom at all, do you? My mom gave me some of these when we moved into our first home in 2001.

'Strawberry Candy'

'Siloam Ury Winniford'

'Ruffled Apricot'

'Glorious Daybreak'

'Clown Charm'

'Bama Bound'

Attractive Upside Down Planter

Stumbled upon this over at Instructables.com. I think it's pretty cool.


How to build an attractive, space saving upside down planter. - More DIY How To Projects

Mid July in my garden

'Miss Ellie' Tall Garden Phlox

'Lady in Red' Hydrangea is starting to look more like herself. When the blooms first open they are stark white and I wasn't sure if this was even the right hydrangea, but the flowers are quickly turning pink, so I think it's safe to say this is indeed 'Lady in Red'. Her stems are also red, with the younger stems faded to a brownish red as they age.

'White Tie Affair' Daylily

'Derby Bound' Daylily with 'Cherry Brandy' Rudbeckia

'Duet' Dahlia

Zinnias

'Ming Porcelain' Daylily with 'Chosen Love' in the background at the top of the picture.

An old variety called 'Hyperion'. I love the elongated petals and how it seems to be more open and upright than others.

This is a new daylily for me and the color is so intense....I just love it. It's called 'Summer Siesta'. The color is much more intense than the original photo I was shown.

Pest Busters #8 - Ants

I don’t really consider ants a pest in the garden, but in the house they can be a problem. In this article we will be talking about the run of the mill, small, black ant. I have no experience with fire ants, but hear that they can be vicious and quite a nuisance. Contact a local exterminator or county extension office if you do indeed have a fire ant problem.

As I said, in the garden, ants can be very beneficial. They help to aerate the soil and in many cases, they help with pollination as they move from bloom to bloom on some plants. They also eat the eggs and larvae of fleas and other garden pests. Some species of ants are attracted to certain plants. The plant provides food and shelter to the ant and the ant will fend off any predators of that plant. So as with everything in nature, there is a balance, and all creatures, no matter how much of a nuisance to humans, can be useful and necessary in the balance of nature.

If you notice a large congregation of ants on one particular plant, you can be sure that you may also have an aphid problem. In a way, the ants are beneficial, alerting you to the fact that you have aphids. If this is the case, please refer to my aphid article for ways to get rid of aphids, and in all likelihood the ants will disappear once the aphids are gone.

Ants can also be attracted to scale. I have not written and article about scale yet, but when I do, I will update you with that information.

If you find an ant mound in the garden, and the ants are truly causing a problem for you or your plants, I would suggest starting with the simplest and least offensive method to get rid of them; boiling water. Pour a pot of boiling water down the ant mound wait a few minutes and repeat. This may also kill any plants that might be right up against the mound, so be careful if plants are nearby. If you find that the ants scatter too quickly, you can cover the mound with a container and pour the boiling water around the container. Ants will climb into the container and you can kill them by pouring more boiling water into the container.

If you live in a dry climate with sandy soils, you may notice more ants in your landscape. You can help get rid of ants by sprinkling diatomaceous earth in and around the mound. Break the top of the ant hill up so the ants are more exposed and sprinkle liberally on the mound. This will only work if it will be dry for several days. Make sure it is horticulture grade and not the kind used in swimming pools.

I’ve found that soils rich in organic matter are less likely to have a huge population of ants. I don’t know if there is any scientific proof to this, but I have noticed that parts of my landscape that are sandy tend to have a lot more ants than areas that are full of clay or good compost (organic matter). You may not be able to improve the soil in your entire landscape, but you can help control the ants in your garden by applying lots of compost every year and turning the soil once in a while. The added bonus; your plants will do better in the long run.

Now that we have tackled ants in the landscape, let’s talk about getting them out of your home. This is always a problem for us in the spring time. If you follow these few simple steps, you can get rid of them pretty easily

1. Seal up as many cracks in your home as possible. Start with the windows and doors and then look for less conspicuous cracks around the foundation of your home.

2. Kill any lone ants you might find in your home. These ants are most likely scouts, searching for food. So don’t let them return to the nest as they will most likely bring more ants back with them.

3. Keep your home clean. Make sure counters are wiped off at all times and no dirty dishes are left in the sink. Wipe down the sink so that no standing water is left in the bottom. Confine foods to the kitchen or dining area only and vacuum these areas twice a week, or more often if needed.

4. Purchase sticky traps or ant traps and place them behind appliances and under cabinets away from pets and children. You can make your own ant bait by mixing boric acid with sugar water. Mix 1 cup water with 2 cups sugar and 2 tablespoons boric acid. It’s important to get the ratio right so that you have a better chance of killing the whole colony. Put the poisoned sugar water inside a small glass jar that has a lid. Punch holes in the lid big enough for ants to get into. Smear some plain sugar water on the outside of the jar and wait. If they are not taking the sugar water bait, try a mixture of equal parts peanut butter and borax instead. Homemade bait methods, could take several weeks to several months to work. Put the bait next to the trail, not across the trail, so that the ants will take the bait back to the colony. Before using a bait like this, make sure you have cleaned your house thoroughly so that you don’t accidentally attract a new colony of ants. Wait until you have a definite ant problem before putting down bait and only put the bait where you are actually seeing ants congregate. Again, keep away from pets and children. Since boric acid is toxic, please make sure you follow the manufacturer’s instructions for handling it and always wear gloves and wear a mask if exposed to the powder for a long period.

5. Sprinkle diatomaceous earth, salt or powder that contains talc under cabinets where ants frequent and around the perimeter of your home during dry weather. All these ingredients will dry out the body of an ant, so they generally will not even cross a powder of any kind.

6. Ants have a keen sense of smell and do not like the scents of cinnamon, vinegar, cloves, peppermint, cayenne pepper, black pepper, or bay leaves. I generally clean the floor with a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water and don’t usually have a problem with ants when I do.

7. If you can’t seal up all the holes where ants are visibly coming in, try this spray to repel them. Mix 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol, 1 teaspoon of dish soap, and 1 quart of water. Add it to a spray bottle, shake until sudsy and spray on any areas where ants have been known to frequent. You can also use this same spray on other pests as it will kill on contact. Just make sure you use soap and not a detergent. Real soaps include ivory and Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap. I use Dr. Bronner’s for lots of things and it has an added effect of the peppermint smell, which also wards off the ants.

8. Vacuum any ants you might find in the house and add a little talcum powder, cornstarch or borax to the vacuum bag to kill them. Empty the bag immediately in an outside trash can. If you use a bagless vacuum, just sprinkle a little of the talcum powder, cornstarch or borax in the catch container before you begin vacuuming. Better yet, if you use a vacuum that uses water as a filter, there is no need to add anything as they will drown in the water, if not from the trauma of being vacuumed up in the first place.

9. If you have pets, try not to keep pet foods out all day. If this is a problem, place the food dish inside another dish of water. The water will create a moat that the ants cannot cross. Check often for dead ants and change water immediately when you see them.

You may be able to find more ant control methods on the Internet, but these are the ones I have personally found to be useful for me and my region.

Attracting Birds to Your Landscape

Why should I garden to attract birds to my landscape?
Landscaping naturally increases property values. Planting trees, shrubs, and perennials naturally attract birds to your yard. Many birds also eat harmful insects and are just plain fun to watch.

Birds can provide hours of educational entertainment when they build nests and raise their young in your yard.

Many of the plants that birds are attracted to also help reduce soil erosion and help to prevent water run off into our lakes and rivers. Trees also help filter and clean the air we breathe.

And don’t forget that well placed deciduous and evergreen trees can help reduce your energy costs, by providing shade in the summer and blocking harsh winter winds in the winter.

How to attract more birds to your yard.
All you need to do to attract more birds to your landscape is to provide food, water, shelter and a place to raise their young. Here are some simple things you can do:

1. Plant native trees and shrubs (a mixture of evergreen and deciduous is ideal) for shelter as well as for food (trees that have seeds or berries can be eaten by the birds).

2. Plant native perennials and annual flowers that provide seed for birds in winter.

3. Place birdhouses in your trees or on poles in your yard to provide shelter and to raise their young. Not all birds will nest in houses. Many birds prefer to nest in trees and shrubs.

4. Provide water in the form of a birdbath (less than 3” deep) or a natural water source, such as a pond or stream.

5. Provide an additional food source, especially in winter, of mixed seeds and nuts and/or suet. Avoid seed mixtures that contain red millet as birds will not eat that type of seed. Providing a mixture of black oil sunflower, white millet, safflower, cracked corn, and peanuts will attract a wide variety of birds. If you can only provide one kind of food, black oil sunflower is ideal.

6. Provide suet in the winter to attract woodpeckers as well as chickadees and other birds to your yard. Suet is a valuable energy source for them.

7. Put out a variety of bird feeders to attract more types of birds. Some birds prefer feeding on the ground, such as cardinals, blue jays, and doves, so a platform feeder is ideal. Most birds are content with a hopper style feeder and finches prefer tube feeders containing Niger seed or white millet.

Following are good examples of plants to incorporate into your landscape that will attract birds. You may want to check with your local Extension office to see what is native or hardy to your area.

- Trees: Dogwood, Eastern Redbud, Sugar Maple, Crab Apple, and White Pine.
- Shrubs: Blueberry, Viburnum, Elderberry, Holly and Quince.
- Perennials: Coneflower, Black Eyed Susan, Ornamental Grasses and Penstemon
- Annuals: Sunflower, Millet, Cosmos and Zinnia.

How to care for your birdbath.
At least once a week, you should clean your birdbath by scrubbing it with a stiff brush or scrubby sponge and fresh water. If you have algae stains that are not removed by scrubbing, you may add a cap full of bleach to the water and allow it to sit for up to an hour to kill the algae. Cover the birdbath or bring it inside, away from the birds if you need to use bleach as the bleach will harm the birds. Rinse the birdbath several times to remove any bleach residue, allow to dry and then refill with fresh water.

In the winter, your birdbath will either need to be heated, to prevent freezing, or brought inside for the winter. If the birds will not have access to a natural water source in the winter, it is highly recommended to provide the birds with one to keep them coming to your yard all year round.

How to attract birds to your birdbath.
Your birdbath should be placed in a fairly open area so that birds can watch out for predators, yet at least 5’ away from a tree or shrub so that they can fly away if in danger. If you have cats roaming the area, place your birdbath at least four feet off the ground.

It can take some time for birds to find your birdbath. Placing your birdbath near a bird feeder will help attract birds faster.

You may also use a mister or water dripper as birds are attracted to moving water. Placing the birdbath in such a way that the breeze ripples the water as it blows will also help.

How to care for your birdhouse.
Once a year, birdhouses should be cleaned out. This is best done during the Autumn months as birds are usually done with the houses by then.

To clean a birdhouse, remove the side or bottom of the house and take out any nesting material inside. Spray the inside of the house with a bleach solution (10 parts water to 1 part bleach). Scrub with a stiff brush then rinse thoroughly with fresh water. Allow the birdhouse to completely air dry before putting it back up.

Many birds will use birdhouses to get out of the harsh elements over the winter, so make sure you leave some up all year round for this purpose.

Curious case of missing tiger lilies

Yesterday morning I was taking a stroll in the garden and noticed that the white tiger lilies I post a picture of on the 16th are gone! Completely gone like they never even existed. You wouldn't even know it except that the tag is still there. I have no idea if a human cut them off and took them or if an animal ate them. Usually, there is evidence of some kind of an animal whether it be droppings or leftovers, but there is absolutely no indication of what could have taken them.

These were new to my garden and only one came up, although I am sure I planted three bulbs. I don't know if I will ever see them again, but at least I have photos to remember them fondly. If it was a person who took these, I hope they get a huge case of poison ivy since there is a huge vine going up a tree next to this site. But somehow, I just don't see a person doing this. For one, this was way back in the mixed border and hard to see except from the road. The area is pretty well lit up all night from the street light and it would be very hard to find your way around if the street light were out. I am going to take another look at the area and see what I can find. If I notice any new evidence, I will revise the post.

Update - After some more investigating last night, I found the lily stem under some hosta leaves. It was definitely eaten by rabbits. Sigh....I guess I need to keep more of the plants sprayed with Ropel.

How to Attract Hummingbirds

Photo taken by Daniel E. Bruce and used with permission from www.everystockphoto.com.

Hummingbirds are a wonderful addition to any yard and garden. They are fun to watch and just a plain joy to have around. There is something to be said for a colorful bird that weighs less than an ounce, that can hover and fly backwards and fly at speeds of 25-50 miles per hour. What a powerhouse of a bird in such a tiny body!

Up north, we only have the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds during the summer months. They arrive in mid to late April and usually are gone before October. It’s always such a joy to see them for the first time. I know then that summer is truly around the corner. I can usually hear the hum of their wings before I ever catch sight of the first one, but there is always a smile on my face when I do.

Attracting hummingbirds is really quite easy. The best way to attract them is by planting trumpet shaped flowers that they can get nectar from. Hummingbirds use their sight to find new feeding grounds, so planting colorful flowers is a great way to attract them if you have never had them in your yard before. Popular flowers in my garden are the blooms on the weigela, butterfly bush, honeysuckle and flowering quince shrubs. They also really seem to enjoy the fuchsia, lupine, petunia, bee balm, coral bells, foxglove, four o-clocks, penstemon, yucca, salvia and hosta blooms. Plant different varieties and species of plants so that something is blooming for them all season long.

Once you have planted a garden that is designed to attract hummingbirds, you will want to stop using any chemical pesticides or herbicides as these chemicals can kill the hummingbirds as well as the insects they need to survive. They eat small soft bodied insects and spiders, so they need a good food supply if you want them to stay in the area. Nectar from flowers and sugar water are just a supplement to their diet. Bugs are really their main source of protein and nutrients.

Putting up sugar water feeders is a great way to see your hummingbirds up close and personal. I find that they use the feeders most in the early morning and at dusk when they are stock piling calories for the long night ahead or boosting their energy after a long nights sleep. The recipe for sugar water is simple. One part white sugar to four parts tap water. I like to warm the water in a pan or microwave first before adding the sugar so that it dissolves completely. Let the syrup cool, then add it to your hummingbird feeder. Any remaining syrup can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks.

I’ve noticed that hummingbirds love to perch near the feeder, so hang it near a tree or from a Sheppard’s hook where they can wait in the wings until they are ready to eat. Mine is hanging from a hook on our deck and a large maple is planted near it. They must spend hours a day perched on the limbs of that tree, flying down every few minutes to take a drink.

Hummingbird feeders should be cleaned weekly and the syrup should be changed every few days during hot weather. Once you have a heavy traffic of hummingbirds, you may find that you will need to refill your feeder every few days anyway, so it’s a good time to clean them at the same time. Since most hummingbird feeders have small openings, I like to clean my feeders with baking soda and white vinegar. The fizzing action that occurs once the two are mixed, act as a scrubbing agent. For really dirty feeders, you can add sand to the feeder, and swish it around with the vinegar. If your feeders are cleaned often, they should be very easy to clean. I avoid soap when cleaning as it is difficult to remove all the residue and apparently the hummingbirds can taste it too. Once a month I will disinfect my feeder by soaking it in hot water with a cap full of bleach. Rinse well, refill and enjoy the show.

New Hydrangea - Invincebelle™ Spirit

I just found out that Spring Meadows will be offering a new hydrangea in 2010 called Invincebelle Spirit. It's a bright pink Annabelle type hydrangea! Annabelle is one of my favorites and a pink one is so exciting!

Annabelle is hardy to zone 4, at least, and possibly to zone 3 with winter protection. I'm curious to see if this new variety will be as cold hardy.

Though I could not find anything on the Spring Meadow Nursery website, I did find some info on a Hydrangea website as well as The Plant Hunter's blog.

I also hear that the sale of this hydrangea will help benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation. You can bet your fanny I'll be adding this one to my garden.

Photo provided by Spring Meadow Nursery.

I love July in the garden!

I think this is the best month for my garden...then followed by August. I have so many mid summer bloomers that are really dazzling this time of year. I had so many new daylily photos, I decided to just upload them to the website since they were all new varieties that you haven't seen before. You can view them here.

White Tiger Lilies

Rudbeckia 'Solar Eclipse'

Purple Monarda (Bee Balm)

Tall Garden Phlox 'Katherine'

Hairy Alliums

Iris 'Eden's Paintbrush'

'Coral Sunset' Asiatic Lily

'Cherry Brandy' Rudbeckia

'Altari' OT Lily

Ramblings and Photos to Match

One of my hypertufa containers filled with hens and chicks, sedum and some portulaca. If you have never heard of hypertufa, you can find my instructions and more pictures of some of my projects here.

This is a fairly new hydrangea called 'Lady in Red'. I got her on markdown at a local nursery about two years ago. She was terribly shaped and at the time I bought her, basically had horizontal branches. She has finally grown tall this year and the offending branches can finally be cut. However, I kind of like her shape now, so I just might leave her the way she is. I'm beginning to wonder if this really is 'Lady in Red'. here branches have a reddish tinge to them, but her blooms don't have a hint of pink at all. I will need to do a little more research on this one.

'Karl Forester' Reed Grass Perennial Plant of the year 2001

'Summer Sun' Heliopsis. Also a new addition to the garden. I planted three of these last fall and one plant has begun to bloom so far. It's fairly tall (over 3' right now) and is not supposed to need staking...we shall see.

My 'Annabelle' hydrangea is huge this year and I just love it. I was worried I may have to move it becuase when we had a new roof put on last fall, it created a new one foot overhang, which we never had before. Without gutters, I thought the drip would pound this one into the ground, but so far so good. I still want to root some cuttings from it as it is one of my favorite plants of all time. A whole row of these beauties would be fantastic, don't you think?

This day lily is called 'Calypso Coral'. Another early bloomer, it has a delicate soft pink color with just a hint of yellow and green in the center. Lovely!

I caught baby bunny nibbling on some of the new plants in my birdtree garden, so had to spray the area with ropel. So far, he is leaving my veggie garden alone, which I have sprinkled with blood meal. Let's hope it stays that way. It's hard to tell in this photo, but he is really small and probably would fit in the palm of my hand. Well maybe a bigger hand than mine, but he's pretty small. And so far, not afraid of people. Mom and dad only come out at night or when no one is around, but this little guy comes out in the day and I can get within about 4'-5' from him. Let's hope he sticks to eating the clover in the lawn.

Great Colors in the Garden

Though white is one of my favorite colors in the garden, you can't deny the vibrant colors you see below.

This is a new asiatic lily for me called 'Pollyanna'....it has the most gorgeous golden yellow blooms I have seen in a long time. Or at least since the 'Mary's Gold day lily bloomed last summer.

You've seen this 'Jacqueline' lily before, but I happened to get a glimpse of it in the sunlight next to the 'Black Lace' Elderberry and it nearly took my breathe away. What a stunning color combination! The flowers have begun to fade just a bit, but still an impressive site. I think 'Jacqueline' is my most favorite asiatic lily of the bunch.

'Red Magic' is a day lily that is nearly as proliffic as the common orange ditch lily you see all along the roadsides. Boy, am I glad about that. It holds it's own against all the weeds that take control of my mixed border at this time of year. And it seems to bloom for nearly a month...maybe more.

Shade Garden

This shade garden was the first one I put in our at home in 2002. The hostas came from my mom's garden and the astilbes were bare root from some big box store. I didn't really know what I was doing back then, but I had grown up around gardener's all my life, so I think I knew what to do instinctively, but I was unsure of what steps to take and at what time, like a newborn fawn on a dewy spring morn.....OK....even I'm gagging on that one...LOL.

Anyway.....the atilbes do great here, providing they get enough rain each week. This spot gets a fair amount of sun in the morning, but shade during the hottest part of the day, which keeps them blooming full but with the blooms lasting a long time. Too much sun and not enough water and the blooms are thin and puny.

As you can see, the astilbes are in their prime at the moment. I think they are one of my favorite plants. The foliage is fern like in many ways and always looks good, all summer long. The blooms last a long time and even the seed heads are pretty. I don't even cut those down until Spring.


White has got to be my favorite color in the garden and my favorite color for an astilbe. It's so majestic looking, yet soft and innocent.

Random Garden Pictures

Oriental Lilies (Unknown Variety)

Asiatic Lilies (Possibly 'Salsa')

Daylily 'Stella 'd Oro'

Daylily 'Thumbelina'

Cosmos

Allium 'Christophii' (seed head)

Cleome

Cosmos

Asiatic Lilies 'Jacqueline'