A look around: back yard

The Monarda that I was going to remove a few years back is in bloom, and I'm sure glad I didn't clear it out (although I doubt I could get it all out even if I wanted to now).

Rather than show you closeups of the blooms and how much the bigger bees love them, I'll show how this plant really adds to this area of the garden -- just a little look around.

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I should mention that this is 'Marshall's Delight' bee balm, with a little patch of what must be a seedling volunteer because it's a lighter color. It's on the edge of what I call my "prairie beds", just across from my fenced veggie area.

In the photo above we're actually standing at the bottom of the prairie looking at the pond. The veggie beds are to the left.

Moving forward toward the pond and turning around to look back where we were just standing, we see this:

The Phyllostachys nigra bamboo dominates above, while the Pleioblastus fortunei variegated bamboo does so below. The bee balm adds just the right amount of color, doesn't it? There's a peach-colored rose there too, which just looks white in this lighting. In the midground is 'Grosso' lavender, just finished blooming.

Let's go back into the prairie, up the hill near the top:

Now the nigra bamboo is just out of frame to the left and you're looking at the veggie beds in the background -- you can see some tomato stake poles sticking up, but otherwise the view is blocked by the enormous dog bane. How much larger will that thing get?

There's some 'Karley Rose' Pennisetum in the foreground, with just a little bit of the dark-leaved 'Vertigo' grass and some Nepeta next to it.

Moving to the left to get a different angle...

All the same plants as in the previous shot, but you can see some of the butternut squash which I'm growing outside the fenced veggie area... it's just next to the purple Monarda in this photo.

Turning to the left...

Now the Ph. nigra comes back into the shot, with the 'Morden Sunset' rose and the variegated bamboo. In the foreground though you now see the Ratibida, which works so well here. The 'Karley Rose' is now on the right and the Monarda is out of frame on the right.

Let's go back to the top of the prairie (three photos up), but turn to the right:

There's the Fargesia 'Rufa' bamboo that I pruned recently, with an unremembered variety of butterfly bush on the right which is one of my oldest plants. Plain green canna at the bottom of the frame. I'm always amazed at how much the canna rhizomes grow by the end of the summer!

Here's an overview of the prairie area (as always, click for larger version):

There's so much green, that bee balm color really helps, doesn't it?

How about some random shots of other parts of the garden now...

That Musa basjoo is really looking great -- nice contrast to the small-leaved bamboos:

I have several more Colocasia that I'll be moving back here for even more big-leaved contrast.


How are things looking in your garden this summer? (Or winter for my friends in the other hemisphere)

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