Pretty Insects on Giant Red Zinnias and Joe Pye Weed

Pretty insect on giant red zinnia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

Happy wild Wednesday! It's an amazingly warm and beautiful day here in Maryland. Although spring won't officially be here for a few more weeks, it feels like it's here and I'm enjoying the warm days.

Skipper on Joe Pye Weed: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

I haven't seen a butterfly or moth in the wild yet this year but hope these photos from last August make you smile. Spring and summer with their wild delights will be here before long.

Cute insect on giant red zinnia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

Last year I experimented with starting a batch of early zinnia seeds indoors and direct sowing the rest. The direct sowed plants quickly caught up with those sown indoors and then turned out to be far sturdier. They were from different sources so it could be that the direct sown seeds would have grown stronger plants anyway but this year I'm planning to just direct sow the zinnias and pray for the best.

Feeding insect on giant red zinnia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

Last year I waited until after Mother's day for direct sowing and I'll probably do the same this year.

Double insect love on giant zinnia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2016

If you have room in your garden, zinnias are a great delight for both humans and animals. We had finches, hummingbirds, bees, butterflies and moths enjoying ours.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you today and always!

Related posts:
Giant orange zinnia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/giant-zinnias-gladiola-mr-optimist.html
Giant pink and red zinnias: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/vinca-dahlia-giant-zinnias-and-day-lily.html
Blue ribbon zinnias: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/blue-ribbon-flowers-for-floral-friday.html

Summer Roses, Golden Sundrops, Dahlia, Joe Pye Weed and Day Lily

Hot pink rose over echinacea: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" Happy August too! The weeds are having a field day but thankfully the flowers are still more noticeable.  I think this is one of our "Senior Prom" roses, the first group of rose bushes we planted after we moved here.

Heliopsis Summer Sun: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Our golden sundrops (also known as heliopsis summer sun) are still going strong and when I'm behind in deadheading them the golden finches feed on them. By God's grace, in late September/early October I plan to stop deadheading them and let them set plenty of seeds for the birds over the winter.

"Magic Sunrise" dahlia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

The magic sunrise dahlia is still my favorite this year but all of the dahlias are beautiful.

Bee on "Little Joe Pye Weed": Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Two weeks ago I posted a photo of our little Joe pye weed at the budding stage and now it's in full bloom and the bees are enjoying it. 

Stella d'Oro reblooming day lily: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

The pretty yellow Stella d'Oro reblooming day lilies are usually our first to flower in the spring and now that most of the big ones are done they've started blooming again, which I definitely appreciate. If we are blessed, they will bloom on and off through first frost. One of my super kind neighbors was getting rid of a clump of them this week so we have a new one to add to our collection (thank you!).

Thank you for joining me. May God bless you this August and always!

Related posts:
Joe pye weed buds: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/sunrise-zinnia-pink-rose-sunrise-dahlia.html
Sunflower, day lilies and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/sunflower-day-lilies-vinca-and-mystery.html
Raindrops on dahlias and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/09/sparkling-chrysanthemums-dahlias-zinnia.html

Sunrise Zinnia, Pink Rose, Sunrise Dahlia, Joe Pye Weed and Funky Coleus Flowers

Sunrise zinnia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" I'm not sure what kind of zinnia the one above actually is but I think of it as my sunrise zinnia and love its multicolored petals.

Bright pink rose: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Our roses are still going strong although I've had to pick a few Japanese beetles off of them.

Magic sunrise dahlia 2: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

The Magic Sunrise dahlia is my current favorite although I do love all of the dahlias.

Joe pye weed buds: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

The joe pye weed flowers are just starting to open and should be covered in bees by next week.

Unique coleus flowers: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

I thought these coleus flowers were really unique and pretty. I usually cut all the flowers off of our coleus plants as soon as they appear (we grow them for the foliage) but I'm letting these remain because they're so neat.

Thank you for joining me on this week's mini garden photo tour! May God bless you!

What is your favorite photo from this week's post? Is there a flower I haven't posted that you'd like to see in the future? 

Related posts:
Funky flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/09/flowers-freeloaders-and-funkiness-for.html
Sparkling and funky flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/09/sparkling-chrysanthemums-dahlias-zinnia.html
Funky daffodil: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/04/pretty-pansies-periwinkle-forsythia-and.html 

Zinnias, Roses, Joe Pye Weed, Day Lilies and Fancy Echinacea: This Week in My Maryland Garden

Welcome to my garden! This will likely be my last Tuesday "This Week in My Maryland Garden" post but I'm excited to share that this week will also begin "Floral Fridays" where I'll still post some of my own flower photos but also photos from the gardens I visit during the week. (Hint to my local friends - if you invite me over and have a garden I will likely ask to take pictures). I hope you'll enjoy the new feature of "Floral Fridays" on my blog!

Above is a super close up photo of one of our giant purple / pink zinnia. I'm hoping there will be a good bloom to enter in this year's county fair. I love gardening but am not so into it that I can engineer blooms for certain dates.

Some of our roses. One of the good things that game from the emergency excavation of our yard this spring is that now, instead of having our rose bushes scattered here and there around the yard, we have a concentrated rose garden.

Our "Little Joe Pye Weed" is just starting to bloom. These plants are supposed to grow "only" to four feet tall and tend to be butterfly magnets. This is our first year with this plant.

This bi-color day lily might be one of our last day lilies of the year. I love having a long day lily season so we have a wide variety of the flowers with early, late and mid season bloomers.

When we saw this fancy red and orange echinacea (coneflower) we just had to add it to our collection. We might have to start an echinacea garden (like the rose garden). The butterflies and bees just love echinacea (coneflower) plants and we enjoy their many colors.


Hope you enjoyed my garden photos and God's amazing creation! Also hope to see you this Friday for my first "Floral Friday!" May God bless you!