Update from the beebalm garden . . . Those of you who follow this blog know I'm a native wildflower aficionado and have been working steadily to convert my beds to native plants. I don't have a lot of space to work with, but I do my best with what I've got. My beebalm garden is especially precious to me because it draws pollinators by the shitload, everything from bees and beetles to dueling hummingbirds. Well the garden is having a moment: the scarlet beebalm (Monarda didyma), also popularly known as Oswego tea; foxglove beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis); fire pink (Silene virginica); downy skullcap (Scutellaria incana); and heartleaf skullcap (Scutellaria ovata) are all in bloom now. The wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) is just starting to bloom. I also planted fringed loosestrife (Lysimachia ciliata) and cutleaf coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) by seed last fall, and while a few small plants are coming, I doubt they'll bloom this year. The skullcaps are particularly attractive and whimsical and wildly undervalued as landscape plants - in addition to their comical, hooded flowers, they produce gorgeous foliage on long, gracefully-arching stems.
