At my Little Cedar Garden, it's hot, hot, hot, but it's also beautiful butterfly watching today. I returned home from an appointment and walked around the property looking for butterfly photo subjects. Butterflies and moths make me so happy, and my garden is all about them this time of year. Red Spotted Purple puddling on the driveway. I first saw a Red Spotted Purple butterfly fluttering around the garage. I'd never seen one here before, or I don't remember one. It finally landed on the driveway and sipped minerals and water from a puddle. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Phlox paniculata in my garden. Grow dill and fennel for their caterpillars and don't be upset when they devour it. Ventral (bottom) view of the same Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are among my favorite butterflies to photograph. They are pretty easy, and they sip nectar for a long time. If...

I guess I'm a generalist gardener. What does that mean? Male Monarch butterfly on 'Bluebird' aster. In my generalist garden, pollinators come first. No real gardening agenda except I want to help pollinators including butterflies, native bees and hoverflies, along with my honey bees. In fact, I'm speaking on pollinators at Bustani Plant Farm on September 10 and 11, 2021, at their fall festival. If a plant doesn't help pollinators or other creatures in some way. I won't plant it anymore. Although I still love my Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight,' I wouldn't plant another one because its bloom is sterile, and there is no nectar for butterflies and bees. H. paniculata Little Lime® is also sterile. On the other hand, H. paniculata Quick Fire® is covered in pollinators the entire time it blooms. Fireflies really love Quick Fire®. Want to read more about growing hydrangeas in Oklahoma? Check out my post,...

Daylily season may be nearly over, but my daylily sickness rages on. Every year, I do at least one post on the daylily magic that happens here each June. Hemerocallis 'Ninja Storm' (Gossard 2005) is officially an Unusual Form Crispate which means its petals and sepals crisp around the edge and pinch. I like the eyezone on this one which is so pretty against the throat. Daylily season is nearly over. Although we are past peak, there are a few late daylilies still flowering. I always know the season is winding down when H. 'Laura Harwood' and H. 'Peach Treat' begin blooming. H. 'Peach Treat' with 'Becky' shasta daisies. Usually, the daisies aren't this tall, but so much rain made them grow and grow. I took some of these photos on a cloudy day last week. We've had plenty of those this spring. Others I took this morning as I...

We learned several lessons from our open garden. Sit down with a cup of coffee or an iced tea because this post is a long one. Visitors see gardens differently which is cool. Little Cedar Garden as you drive in from the street. There’s another driveway to the right. Does this garden tour make my garden look big? Several visitors to our open garden told me they couldn't believe how large our garden is. I was surprised. Because I'm here all the time working in it, I just assumed everyone knew it's large. Visitors said the garden doesn't look as large in photos as it is in person. Perhaps, it's because much of the back garden is broken up into small rooms. If you only saw it in photos, it might look small. Small rooms make the back garden more manageable. I use these small rooms to organize how I...