Late Boneset

I want to talk about a wildflower that is a boon to the late summer/early autumn garden today: Eupatorium serotinum or "Late Boneset". Most people call this a weed, but I think its multitude of small white flowers is beautiful!

Nobody I know plants this, but it grows almost anywhere it can. Here it is adding some late-season color to a somewhat ragged planting.

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A bit of neglect, with a good excuse

One of my favorite plants is the Fargesia 'Rufa' bamboo next to the patio. Although it's getting big it's just so beautiful I don't mind brushing against it when squeezing past. When it put on some height this spring I was excited, forgetting that once the culms leaf out fully they'll just bend over, resulting in a splayed out plant.

That's how it's been for a month or two -- a heavy rain once in a while just accentuates the problem -- and this past weekend I decided to gather the central culms and tie them together to give the plant its proper form again. I knew that I'd have to sort of wade into the plant in order to reach everything, so that's what I did. After a few minutes of wrestling deep inside the plant I made a discovery.

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What kind of feeder is this?

This is supposed to be a hummingbird feeder. You know what those are, right? Usually red, holds sugar water for the hummingbirds to eat. This year I've got one of my feeders hanging from my climbing rose trellis, so it's right outside the kitchen window. I see it dozens of times a day without even trying.

Why is it that most of the time I look out there I don't see hummingbirds, but this guy?

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