Midsomer Blooms

 I have always had a keen interest in botany.  Since I was a young child, I have been interested in growing things and being in nature.  For the past 30 years I have tried to include as many native perennials, trees and shrubs to my garden as possible. 

When I lived in a house in Newmarket, I belonged to the North American Native Plant Society and would attend and volunteer at many plant sales and field trips.  When we moved here to Lambton county we had quite a bit of land, 1/3 of and acre, and I had a medicine wheel garden as well as many sunny border gardens.  I had a bog garden in an old clawfoot bath tub and a woodland garden around the mature trees.

Life happened and I find myself happy in a 2 bedroom townhouse with a 6' x 12' front garden.  I have always been drawn to meadow so I have included many grassland species.  

One of my favourite pollinator plants is the Virginia Mountain Mint Pycnanthemum virginianum.  It's delicate white/purple blooms arrive in summer and last until many other plants are spent.  The pollinators love it and we you always find bees and butterflies nectaring on it.  It has a lovely minty scent as a narrow leaved member of the mint family and has square stems.  

Ironweed Vernonia noveboracensis is another of my favourite native perennials.  It is a very tall (4-6 feet) strong stemmed showy perennial with gorgeous purple umbels.   It loves full sun as most of the prairie meadow plants that I love do.  It is also the host plant for the Painted Lady butterfly! though many other butterflies and bees love it!   It thrives in moist soil, but I have found it to be pretty drought tolerant.

Grey headed coneflower Ratibida pinnata is a wonderful tall strong (can be aggressive) perennial that has many yellow ray florets.  The bees especially love this one!  It is quite dramatic and signals the middle of the summer for me, blooming from then to fall.  

Pale purple coneflower Echinacea pallida is the true native species to this region.  Many people think that the Echinacea purpurea is native to southern Ontario, but its cousin pallida is.  This gorgeous flowering perennial is not as aggressive as its more popular cousin, but it  grows slightly taller and is more delicate in appearance.  

Joe Pye weed Eutrochium purpureum is a gorgeous tall sturdy herbaceous perennial in the family of Asteraceae as are most of the midsomer blooms in my garden.  I would have to say it attracts the majority of the pollinators in my garden.  It is a clump forming plant that is happy in most conditions.  This year I have a huge clump growing in the crack in my window well!  

Of course the milkweeds are in full bloom right now!  Whether it be Common milkweed Asclepias syriaca , Swamp, Asclepias incarnata or Butterfly Asclepias tuberosa, this beautiful long lived perennial has it all!  Looks, health and the fact that it is the larval plant for our endangered Monarch butterfly.  I have Butterfly and Swamp in my garden, Common Milkweed has volunteered here and there, but I don't encourage it, it can be quite aggressive.  Here is a female Monarch laying her eggs on a swamp milkweed.

I also have a sweet Eastern Prickly Pear Opuntia humifusa .  I love the bright yellow blooms of our native cactus (native to most southern most parts of Ontario) but it can be aggressive.  It loves the sun and a well drained soil.  I have brought this plant everywhere with me and is the original that I brought from a nursery Pelee.  

Asters and Goldenrods have always been in my repertoire of garden basics.  Skyblue aster Symphyotrichum oolentangiense, and Heath aster Symphyotricum ericoides  are some of my favourite asters.  Asters bloom from late summer well into late fall.  They are magnets for polllinators at the end of the season.  The combinations of whites, purples , blues are gorgeous in the garden.  Some of the species can be aggressive, so you need to be mindful where and what you plant.  

Goldenrods are also a good foundation for the native plant garden.  Some of my favourites are Riddel's Goldenrod Solidago riddellii and Grass leaved Goldenrod Euthamia graminifolia.  The more common goldenrods that you see in the wild Canada Goldenrod trio are too aggressive for the home garden.  

My all time favourite perennial for the native plant garden is the Monarda species  Beebalm Monarda fistulosa and Monarda didyma (our true native)are the show stoppers in the summer garden.  All pollinators love this plant, with its pink or red tubular flowers they are also attractive to humming

birds!

Grasses and sedges are also a good addition to the summer garden.  Whether it be Bottlebrush grass Elymus hystrix , Big Bluestem Andropogon gerardi  or Switchgrass Panicum virgatum you must be mindful of your space and if the grass is clump forming or sod forming (you want clump forming.  I have experimented with the variety of grasses out there and it is challenging.  Right now I just have a bit of Bottlebrush grass in my garden.  

Whatever you have in your garden, enjoy!