Have really been enjoying the blooms on the bellflower! The bee seems to enjoy it as well :)

Cestrum aurantiacum

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/50141139

As we in the northern hemisphere are entering peak seed-gathering season, you should know about seed libraries!

Seed libraries and seed exchanges are places where gardeners can donate, receive, and/or swap seeds they've gathered. You can often find them at community centers and public libraries. This year instead of cleaning up your bolting/flowering plants, why not let them go to seed? My local library was thrilled to receive donations of seeds I gathered from my garden; it sounds like their seed library is quite popular, but there are more people interested in receiving seeds than giving them.

There are tons of seed saving resources online, but here are some quick tips from my personal experience:

• You don't need a garden to seed save; some people gather wild plant seeds for use in home gardens to improve biodiversity in settled areas. A hike at the right time of year and a little knowledge of native plants can go a long way! As with all foraging, only take sustainable amounts of seeds.

• Most seed-saving resources focus on vegetables and other edible plants, but consider saving seeds from ornamental flowers too, especially native and pollinator-supporting species.

• Don't save seeds from hybrids; they won't turn out like the parent plant. If in doubt, "open pollinated" plants and wildflowers are the way to go.

• Many plants cross-pollinate in unwanted (occasionally dangerous, e.g. in the case of carrots) ways. Seed saving works best when only one variety of a species is blooming at a time, and when there's not opportunity for a neighbor's or wild plants to contaminate the fertilization process. Because of this there may only be a few plants in your garden that you can save seeds from, and that's okay!

• You don't need a large garden to seed save; you'd be shocked how many seeds even a single plant can produce (especially in the case of self-pollinating species).

• Letting plants go to flower and then to seed is great for wildlife. Tons of insects and birds come to my garden every year specifically because of the vegetable plants I allow to bolt, as well as for my flowering perennials like herbs. The visits continue through the winter, when critters scavenge for fallen seeds.

• While you can use ziploc baggies, pill containers, and other repurposed containers for seed saving, you can also buy dedicated seed bags, which I highly recommend if you're collecting seeds to exchange/give away later (compact size, durable, easy to label, relatively cheap, easily recognizable).

• When donating to a seed library, the more information you can provide about your seeds the better! It's a bit more work, but I always make sure to label my seed donation bags with the plant's common name, scientific name, variety name (if applicable), and a few short bullet points about the species (e.g. "native perennial, pink flowers, bee magnet.").

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I love seed libraries because in addition to making gardening more accessible for everyone, they allow me to share with my community the plants that I've found grow especially well in my climate, as well as plants I've found are especially beloved by local wildlife. Seed saving for me is a labor of love, both for people and for animals!

Satisfying work.

And some more.

I planted a Penstemon earlier this spring. The last time I checked on it I thought it looked a little strange. It turns out there’s a New England Aster growing in the same space. I’d like to be able to salvage both plants since that’s the best looking aster in my garden, currently. Everything else has been devastated by lace bugs, but this one only has minor damage. Do I need to dig up both?

In case the photo is confusing, the bottom portion is definitely Penstemon leaves. It’s difficult to see in this photo but they’re also on the other side. It even bloomed earlier this year. The tall portions sticking up look exactly like a young New England Aster to me. The portions that look like Penstemon, the lace bugs don’t touch. The aster portions have some minor lace bug damage. I only noticed due to the lace bugs. They don’t touch any of the other Penstemons in the garden so I was confused when I saw one hanging on this plant.

It doesn't bloom for me, but it grew a lot this year so maybe I will be blessed with flowers next year 💕

cross-posted from: https://crazypeople.online/post/21707244

We forgot that we bought one of these a few years back and just assumed it was totally wild. Looking back at our records we did plant one whip back in 2022 and it's no longer where we put it...so maybe it survived long enough to end up in some animals who then distributed them around the yard.

The pictured grouping is off the back deck.

Truly magnificent.

Never seen one in the wild.

Bonus picture from about one hour before when it had not yet opened up.

We went to a 'garden' centre that is basically this guy's front yard. He was super knowledgeable and my partner was very happy for his help and advice finding the plants on his guild list for the food forest. I focused on additions to my local-ish shade garden, plus some others that love wet conditions.

• Hepatica americana
• Viola nephrophylla
• Uvularia grandiflora
• Stylophorum diphyllum

https://www.torreyaguardians.org/pawpaw-ecological-michigan.html

The title says it all, but most of sap beetles life cycle happens in a small area because they're weak flyers. They need leaf litter to reproduce and larval beetles live off the rotting fruit.