I'm excited, I finally succeeded in getting a milkweed to bloom. This one is "annual" here, Asclepias curassavica, but would be perennial in a warmer climate. I had an old package and gave them a try and they grew, but it became apparent toward fall they weren't going to have a long enough growing season, so I gambled on bringing in aphids and spider mites, and brought the pots into the basement. This spring they were forming some buds in the house, so I put them out and voila!
Today I am linking with-
Orange You Glad It's Friday hosted by Maria
Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen
Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly
Today's Flowers hosted by Denise
I Heart Macro hosted by Laura
Macro Monday 2 hosted by Mystical Magical Teacher and Gemma
A few daylilies are also on the orange side-
Spider daylily Yabba Dabba Doo-
Red with wild and invasive oxeye daisies-
New tiny babies with their chain-gang coloration that says "danger!"-
Later they will look more orange as they get bigger-
They were originally imported to control Tansy Ragwort, you can see they do a great job, they will prevent blooming and eat them to the ground. Sometimes I have to move them to new plants. Tansy Ragwort-
An herbal plant, Valeriana officinalis, grows well in my garden and self-sows. It is great for insomnia and depression, but the root tea is very strong-tasting so I like capsules. It has a symmetrical flower head-
with a wonderful fragrance. Here it is growing in front of some wild huckleberry I transplanted from my mother's house in the Olympic Peninsula-
There is also an ornamental plant that is tough called Red Valerian or Jupiter's Beard, in the same family but not closely related, some confuse it with Joe Pye Weed, like the people who gave me a start-
What medicinal herbs do you like to grow?
Hannah or cameras are macro
©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved. I enjoy reading your comments and will visit your blog and comment there, if possible.
Today I am linking with-
Orange You Glad It's Friday hosted by Maria
Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen
Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly
Today's Flowers hosted by Denise
I Heart Macro hosted by Laura
Macro Monday 2 hosted by Mystical Magical Teacher and Gemma
A few daylilies are also on the orange side-
And for a taste of pink-
Yellow with a pink tinge-
Red with wild and invasive oxeye daisies-
Another orange surprise was the beginning of the Cinnabar Moth's caterpillars on my Tansy Ragwort. They are very numerous and conspicuous because they are poisonous and fear no predators. I dote on them and permit the Tansy Ragwort plants to grow so I can see them and occasionally the beautiful moths.
Later they will look more orange as they get bigger-
They were originally imported to control Tansy Ragwort, you can see they do a great job, they will prevent blooming and eat them to the ground. Sometimes I have to move them to new plants. Tansy Ragwort-
An herbal plant, Valeriana officinalis, grows well in my garden and self-sows. It is great for insomnia and depression, but the root tea is very strong-tasting so I like capsules. It has a symmetrical flower head-
with a wonderful fragrance. Here it is growing in front of some wild huckleberry I transplanted from my mother's house in the Olympic Peninsula-
There is also an ornamental plant that is tough called Red Valerian or Jupiter's Beard, in the same family but not closely related, some confuse it with Joe Pye Weed, like the people who gave me a start-
What medicinal herbs do you like to grow?
Hannah or cameras are macro
©Weeding on the Wild Side, all rights reserved. I enjoy reading your comments and will visit your blog and comment there, if possible.
Wonderful pictures. Love those little dangerous caterpillars. Congrats on the milkweed. Glad it's doing well for you.
ReplyDeleteI only got the one set of blooms but have several plants. It remains to be seen if they will try to bloom some more, but they are still rather attractive plants. I did see my little Asclepias tuberosa managing to come up this year so here's hoping.
ReplyDeleteLovely flowers!
ReplyDeleteHooray for you and the milkweed!
Thanks, Lea, I suffer under a delusion that if I grow milkweed, Monarchs will suddenly appear.
DeleteI love spider daylilies! We don't see many cinnabar moths or caterpillars around, though there's plenty of tansy ragwort.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Evan, the spider daylilies are fun with the cascading petals that curl. I'm sorry to hear you don't have Cinnabar cats, they are fun to watch. I didn't have to do anything to get them, they just appear.
DeleteLove the caterpillars.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Adam, I expect them every year and leave the Tansy Ragwort plants in good places for them so I can watch them develop. I wish I could see the moths more but they are skittish and always fly away.
DeleteGrogeous Lilies. Have a lovely weekend.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Margaret, I enjoy the daylilies while they put on a show.
DeleteHello Hannah, congrats on the milkweed growing! Your lilies and plants are beautiful. The caterpillars are neat and I love the colorful moth. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Have a happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Eileen, I hope if I can succeed in actually having a stand of blooming milkweed someday, that a miracle will occur and a Monarch butterfly will come.
ReplyDeleteLoved your blooms. So nice seeing what other parts of the world have.
ReplyDeleteThanks, La Voice, summer is a good time for roses and daylilies.
DeleteSummer blooms are in full glory here too....lovely series.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laurie, I enjoyed your Wispy Desert Bush art featured on OYGIF.
DeleteWhat great shots. Interesting you can move the catepillars where you want them to do their job. This was an interesting post. I only have pots so I don't get to plant much. I enjoy your gardens.
ReplyDeleteWhat great shots. Interesting you can move the catepillars where you want them to do their job. This was an interesting post. I only have pots so I don't get to plant much. I enjoy your gardens.
ReplyDeletethe lilies are beautiful. i like the other wild looking blooms.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Theresa, I really enjoy plants I don't have to pamper and care for.
DeleteDearest Hannah; The orange colored milk weed is really PRETTY♡♡♡ And I found the meaning of the French 'voila' p:-) What a varieties of daylily with beautiful colors you have, I cannot say the favorite♪♪♪ I was attracted by the Valeriana officinalis which has the pretty symmetrical flower head; what is more its medicinal effect, must be perfect herb for me p:-) And the caterpillars; fun to read you said that you dote on them. It must be the word from the specialist☆☆☆
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful Sunday， Dear friend♪
Sending Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan to my Dear friend in America, xoxo Miyako*
Thanks, dearest Miyako. It is hard to pick a favorite daylily. It's kind of whatever is blooming. The fragrance of Valerian is so special, one of those that makes you feel good just to smell it. Lots of people who like caterpillars have their monarch or fancy butterfly 'cats', but I have my superabundant little striped guys, so I look forward to seeing them every year, and watch out for them since they often eat the plant down before they mature. They don't really like being moved, and it is a little hard to get them to stay on the new plant since they curl up into a disk, indeed look kind of like a candy with the stripes. I have to carefully place them and hope they won't fall off. I just wish for all the work I could actually see the moths more, they fly off fast. Hugs from the hot PNW!
ReplyDeleteThe Cinnabar Moth's caterpillars are not poisonous to the our UK Common Cuckoo but as you say they are deadly to most creatures. I wonder if your North American Cuckoos or some other species can eat them? Time to Google!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting, Phil, I looked up cuckoos here, there are 2 species but they don't mention Cinnabar moth 'cats'. I did see mention of the 'cats' running out of food by consuming the ragwort plants, at least I'm here to help the ones in my garden.
DeleteWell, the flowers are beautiful Hannah.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Bob, I enjoy your birds.
DeleteWas für schöne Fotos !
ReplyDeleteWolfsmich habe ich schon lange nicht mehr in den Gärten gesehen, aber Lilien haben wir auch.
Welch herrliche Stimmen die drei Sängerinnen haben , sie haben ein schönes Lied gesungen.
Liebe Grüße
Käthe
Danke, Käthe, die Wildpflanzen können alle einzigartig sein hier. Ich denke, die drei Sängerinnen haben wunderbare Harmonie.
DeleteHi! Nice milkweed flowers. I have never seen them before. The day lilies are very beautiful too. The spider day lily is very cool. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Minoru. Milkweed is related to Hoya vines, with the same architectural 5 pointed buds and similar flowers. I like to grow Hoya in my windows. Milkweed is the only food of the Monarch butterfly caterpillars.
DeleteCongrats on your gardening efforts! Growing plants for butterflies and moths is quite rewarding.
ReplyDelete~
Thanks, Thunder, I like to grow flowers for the pollinators, it is lots of fun.
DeleteBeautiful flowers. I like the coloring of the cinnabar moth.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pat, my photo doesn't do them justice because their underwing is the color of the stripe, cinnabar, hence the name. They are amazing, when they are flying the bright cinnabar color flashes, then they suddenly fold their wings and land, so it is as though they disappeared into thin air!
DeleteI can see your lowers are a bit ahead of mine. :) LOVE the oranges!
ReplyDeleteThanks, EG, I'm behind some people on the east coast, and now I'm facing 100ºF weather this week, who knows what that will do. The oranges are so HOT! The weathermen were fooled this weekend though, clouds came in and kept the temperatures down. YAY!
DeleteWhat a variety of lovely colors! I have to wait for winter to end before I see mine :(
ReplyDeleteThanks, Betty, I can remember how I longed for spring during the winter, I hope you can enjoy some rest and festivities as you wait. The heat wave we are having makes summer less appealing here.
DeleteBeautiful captures! I love the colour of your milkweed. The daylilies are gorgeous. Have a happy week, Hannah!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gunilla, the week is supposed to be very hot but hopefully it will surprise the weathermen again. I love the shape of the milkweed flowers.
DeleteWonderful flowers! I love all the different colors!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary, I'm glad you like my mish-mash of colors and flowers.
DeleteSuch a beautiful array of flowers - soft and gorgeous colours too :D)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sue, summer is so wonderful. I enjoyed my vicarious visit to Paris with your blog.
DeleteMy milkweed is blooming too! My first year to plant them. Your garden is always an inspiration to me! Lots of colorful, happy blooms here. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gail, your milkweeds probably have a chance of attracting Monarch butterflies. I may try to buy some established plants so I can do better, my annuals are not a good solution and my A. tuberosa is tiny. I do get a lot of flowers.
ReplyDeleteLovely blooms! Thanks for joining. Your Milkweed will be featured on OYGIF this weekend. Hope you could drop by Maria's blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liza, I'm glad you liked my milkweed.
DeleteGlad you have the cinnabar moth, and hope you attract some monarchs with that milkweed. Congrats on your success with it! Beautiful daylilies too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marie, I'm kind of disappointed not to have more caterpillars, they seem kind of skimpy this year, but there aren't many tansy ragwort plants to support them so probably just as well.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that you were successful with your wildmilk, Hannah! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, that the monarchs will come :)
ReplyDeleteSomeday I will also have a wonderful wild garden like you, with lots of wild herbs, flowers, apple trees bumblebees, butterflies...
I would plant nettles, melissa, ribwort, calendula, mallow, peppermint, dandelion, rocket, sage, blackberries (strawberries and currants, too) and many others...
Have wonderful summer days!
Katrin, who loves to see all these beautiful growing plants and animals in your enchanting garden, and who has enjoyed that amazing song a lot :)
Quite a few colorful daylilies and lovely wildflower....
ReplyDelete