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Life is stressful so I’ve decided to post a picture a day of my garden. Starting with some Phlox divaricata, wild sweet William, from the little bed in front of my house. It usually gets hammered by thunderstorms & never manages to look nice the full blooming period. MO native.
Day 2 of pictures from my garden. I am really enjoying the last days of flowers from my patch of Mertensia virginica, Virginia bluebells. A really great flower for bumble bees, and a wonderful sign of spring for humans. Native plant in Missouri.
Day 3 of pictures from my garden. It’s raining today & I’m trapped in Zoom meetings, so from yesterday’s foray we have Stylophorum diphyllum, celandine poppies. Another native in Missouri. It has happily spread throughout my native beds. So cheery in spring!
Day 4 of pictures from my garden. I enjoy a month of blooms from my patch of Ribes odoratum, the golden currant (aka clove currant). Native in Missouri. Smells wonderful! Almost to the end of the flowering period (March & April) & I’m hoping for some summer fruits for jam!
Day 5 of pictures from my garden. I have a few patches of Polemonium reptans, Jacob’s ladder. Just started flowering. I have eight or so in the small formal front bed, and two more in the back native garden. Great plant, really nice foliage all summer.
Day 6 of pictures from my garden. The delicate flowers of Phlox bifida, sand phlox (or cleft phlox). It grows only 4-6 inches high. I just added a second one to the garden (if it grows well in a bed, then plant more is my general rule). Native in Missouri.
Day 7 of pictures from my garden. A cheerful Geranium maculatum, or wild geranium. Cheery pink flowers in spring, and nice leaves that add some texture to the garden until early fall. I often see some great bee visitors to this one. It’s just started to bloom this year.
Day 8 of pictures from my garden. This one is for @yuval_sapir. My newest flower to bloom is Iris cristata, the dwarf crested iris. One of the only irises native to North America. It’s quite short- <15cm. A lovely surprise to see it in flower this week.
Day 9 of pictures from my garden. Viola sororia, the common or woolly blue violet. A prolific seeder that happily spreads for a blanket of purple in spring. Edible flowers and it is a host plant for fritillary butterflies. Native in Missouri.
Day 10 of pictures from my garden. Lamium purpureum, or purple dead nettle (among other names). Not native to North America but extremely common here, including in my yard. Edible for people. Great for bumble bees. A good reason to mow later in the spring.
Day 11 of pictures from my garden. Nearly everything I’ve planted feeds insects or us. Here is Fragaria x vescana?? An heirloom variety called Old North Sea strawberry. I have a raised bed full of these. Delicious. This week it’s a frequent spot for Bombus impatiens queens.
Day 12 of pictures from my garden. Toxicodendron radicans, poison ivy (that isn’t actually an ivy). Probably bird dispersed into my yard. I’m tolerant of most native plants that appear, but this one will be removed as soon as I can do garden work again.
Day 13 of pictures from my garden. Tradescantia ernestiana, woodland spiderwort. Native in Missouri, found in woodlands. At my house they can be found in my more formal front bed. Just started blooming with the first flower yesterday. Nice for bees. Becomes dormant in midsummer.
Day 14 of pictures from my garden. Erigeron philadelphicus, the daisy or Philadelphia fleabane. Many common names for this plant. Native here in Missouri, biennial, lots of butterfly visitors. Wherever it pops up, I let it grow. Messy garden = better arthropod habitat. 
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Day 15 of pictures from my garden. Mentha spicata ‘Kentucky Colonel’, a great variety of spearmint. I grow a few mints in containers in my cooking garden. Pleased they all survived the winter. They smell amazing when I water them. The flowers attract a nice mix of pollinators.
A near lifetime has passed since my last plant picture on this thread. But the swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is blooming and it’s a crowd favorite. And by crowd, I mean my backyard bees and flies. This plant is a volunteer but I’m happy to have it in the herb garden.
