Rain garden in bloom (2021 season)
Rain gardens for the win!
Last year’s rain garden was such a success that I’m going to expand it this year!
The garden produced flowers throughout the summer!
First Bloomers
The earliest bloomers were some of my favorite - the coreopsis, swamp milkweed, and blue flag irises all had their day in the sun! These were all in the first two little gardens along the rain trench.
Swamp Rose Mallow
Next to bloom was the very impressive swamp rose mallow in the third garden! I hadn’t known what to expect with this one, but everything about it was amazing. The pods before they bloomed were giant and beautiful, the flowers were abundant and amazing, and sometimes you could see a bee butt poking out of the end!
We saved a lot of seeds from this guy at the end of its season, and I plan to spread this plant all around the homestead.
Lobelia and cardinal flowers
The blue lobelia and red cardinal flowers were some of the latest to put out a nice show. The butterflies seemed to especially like these.
They took longer to establish than most of the other plants and they never looked quite as healthy, so we’ll see if they come back strong next year or continue to struggle!
This might become an addictive habit…. the next spot I’m eyeing for a combined butterfly/rain garden is the swampy area across the driveway…
Watch out bare patch of land - I’m coming for you next!
