Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, July 11

Mrs. BD went nursery shopping today to fill in the blanks in our northern Israel vacation home's garden. Except for the basil in the lower right corner, don't ask me what everything else is. That's not my department.

Biden's Dog

Lovely.

For color contrast, a few photos I'm a little late in posting:

My spring plants are pretty much done now (thanks to the heat) and while the summer bloomers have buds they're not quite ready yet. The astilbes in my back yard are still blooming but they'll fade pretty fast in the heat.

I've been planting various types of milkweed for the Monarch caterpillars and the butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa) is starting to bloom. I have a yellow variety from a nursery (next to a purple yarrow) and several of the standard orange variety. This orange asclepias is next to a catmint and a red hot poker.

I have a bunch of catmints around my yard and will deadhead them soon, to get a summer bloom for the bees and butterflies. My red hot pokers (which aren't really red) are just starting to bloom - this is the first flower. My purple milkweeds (A incarnata & A syriaca) will bloom in mid-summer, and this year I hope they attract some Monarch caterpillars to hatch into the next generation of butterflies.

Now I have to be patient and wait for the coneflowers, hardy hibiscus and daylilies to bloom.

badgerwx

Nice to have such variety in the midseason, with identification and cultural notes! Thanks!

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Cherry canning season from Kindltot

I canned cherries. This looks like a still life of canning.

Looks like work!

Plus some shots from the yard

Climbing Roses and Oceanspray

Nice view while canning!

Some sort of yellow plum. I thought it was a Shiro plum, but I now suspect it is some sort of yellow gage plum, like an Oullins, since it is a freestone. Doesn't matter much since they are tasty and it looks like I will have lots of them this year.

They look wonderful. There are some freestone Asian plums, as well as freestone European plums. It's just like you to have a mystery variety.

Time to send in tips for growing strawberries! Plus kitchen tips!

Landscaping

Puttering

A stunning compilation of Alley McGlynn’s favorite paper art creations.

[📹 alleymcglynn]pic.twitter.com/1qpmB6zuUc

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 11, 2026

Gardens of The Horde

I have this ground-cover plant, that is everywhere. It’s really aggressive, and hard to keep away from where you want to exclude it. It is the only true deer-proof plant I have here. They eat everything, including geraniums, which are stinky and supposedly deer proof.

I guess it’s colloquially known as St John’s Wort, which I guess is used for mood leveling. I could use this therapy from time-to-time, but have never considered eating it, or making tea with it. Flowers? Dried flowers? Leaves? Roots? Don’t care. It’s like a generic mushroom to me. Do not consume!
The blooms only last a day, 2 maximum, but there are enough to consider not trying to get rid of it all.

Here’s a pic or three…
Anyway, it is blooming now, many more than in past years.

Gary

Comments for Gary?

Don't look like mushrooms to me.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, July 4!

I closed the comments on that post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.