This is a first for me - the first time I have participated in
Gail's Wildflower Wednesday at Clay and Limestone. I have always loved reading Gail's posts and the posts of other bloggers who link up with her on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Click on over and read about the benefits of planting native wildflowers in your garden!
One of my first garden loves was this native hardy ageratum -
Eupatorium coelestinum - that was growing wild (of course) under the trees in our back yard when we moved in back in 2003.
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| in the budding stage |
It was love at first sight - so I dug some up and moved them to other sunnier areas. Since then they've spread to - well, everywhere!
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| Still in the budding stage - when in full bloom this will be a sea of blue. |
But they are easy to pull up - in fact, I thin them drastically each Spring as the foliage emerges because they're susceptible to powdery mildew when growing too close together.
Hardy Ageratum is in the same family as Joe Pye Weed, attracts butterflies, tolerates poor soil, and is a good cut flower. It's hardy in Zones 6-10 and is native to Eastern North Carolina.
The tight buds won't fully open until next month (the two photos above were taken in 2010), but I love the budding stage.
"None can have a healthy love for flowers
unless he loves the wild ones."
- Forbes Watson
12 comments:
A charming little wildflower! I love the color, it's set off beautifully by the deep green leaves, and most important it looks like the Skippers love it too!
I also love this plant, I had it growing for some time in the gardens, but then it faded out. Thank you for the reminder to reseed some more.
Ginny this is a beautiful flower and how lucky for you ti is a wildflower...for me it is a beloved annual..welcome to WW!
I don't think I've ever seen this in anyone's garden. I thought it was a tiny little plant, but it looks quite tall in your pictures. Your head photo is gorgeous, btw.
Lovely! Blue flowers are special and bees love them!
What a lovely wildflower, so few I have tried returned. And I love skippers, they are so friendly and have such big eyes.
I've been meaning to take photos of my neighbor's ageratums, growing in huge drifts along the street. They are stunning this time of year!
I'm going to have to try to remember to do the Wildflower Wednesdays. But it's so much fun to see/read about everyone else's wildflowers. Your Ageratum are lovely!
What a very special wildflower, we use a dwarf variety for edging on Summer bedding displays.
I have a lot of mist flower. I also have a white one. I love how fuzzy the flowers are. Your new header is wondderful. Your garden is gorgeous!
I have grown hybrid annual ageratums in my Nebraska garden. I didn't realize there was a native one. Are yours perennials? They are beauties! I can see how they would be related to Joe Pye Weed.
I saw a lot of this plant growing in another NC garden. They were so pretty and covered in butterflies!
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