We arrived earlier in the day on this visit and the weather was perfect for a walk. Instead of going to the flat area of the garden, we turned left and down the hill to the ponds, as we sometimes do.
But before that I always check to see what is blooming in the flower bed that lines the parking lot. The first one I noticed was this pretty plant called Lily of the nile. A flower that is native to Africa, its other names are Blue lily and Common agapanthus. In European and American countries, it is called the African lily, and its botanical name is Agapanthus praecox.
I am not sure about my ID on this red plant. My app said it was a Firecracker hummingbird bush, It may be a kind of broad leaf Firecracker bush. This being the case I am not going to give a lot of information, other than it looks like it would be great attracting hummingbirds. I have something very similar called a Honeysuckle Fushia in my planter, so who knows. If you can positively identify it as either, I would love to know for sure. In the meantime, I will continue looking around.
Next is a display of Purple coneflowers, also known as Eastern purple coneflower and Hedgehog coneflower. I have these in our garden as many of you do. Its botanical name is Echinacea purpurea. It is an herb native to North America and flourishes in prairie environments or open wooded areas. It makes a great addition to a flower bed or garden because it blooms the whole summer. It also attracts a lot of pollinators such as bees and hummingbirds. Its genus name, Echinacea means "spiny", because its flowers are especially like a prickly sea urchin, which also has the same genus name. Some people think its flowers resemble petals around the pinecones, and so this genus is called the coneflower. Since this species has purple petals around the cones, it is called the purple coneflower. Echinacea, which is also known as the purple coneflower, is an herbal medicine that has been used for centuries, customarily as a treatment for the common cold, coughs, bronchitis, upper respiratory infections, and some inflammatory conditions. Research on echinacea is still going on, including clinical trials which are limited and largely in Germany, according to this website.
Ditch Lily is the name of these beautiful perennial flowers, also called Orange daylily, Common daylily, Tawny daylily, Tiger daylily and Fulvous daylily. Its botanical name is Hemerocallis fulvia. They are considered to be a weed largely due to how invasive they are, and people have difficulty getting rid of them once established. The reason is the tuberous roots bury deep into the soil making the ditch lily difficult to remove. But, it is a hardy and versatile plant, so I suppose it's how you feel about them on the whole. I would love them but then again I've never had any in our garden before. Each individual flower lasts only a day, but the plant blooms new ones for weeks. It can be toxic to animals (like many plants no doubt), so I would do some research if I were you. This website gives you information if you have pets.
I still have photos to share from the pond area but as I want to set this up so that you can see it tomorrow (the 26th), and it is getting late, I am going to stop here and leave the pond photos for another day.
