My end of summer jungle

It makes me so happy to see how well some of the plants have survived this year. For the first time I am seeing cone-flowers in bloom and after waiting several years for the "chigger-weed" aka Queen Ann's Lace to bloom, I have both in quantity. The beneficials especially love the Queen Ann's Lace. The Mountain Mint is another favorite and it has really spread. This is also the first year for a long time that I have been able to have the Tithonia grow and bloom. Not all of them survived the deer browsing, but a few did and I think they are lovely. I saw a Monarch this morning on the red zinnias out front and felt happy to see at least one here. None of the tropical milkweed self-sowed this year, but I still have lots of the common milkweed and a few other varieties. The spider plants are self-sown from last year. I hope to always have them now. The Peruvian Four O'Clocks are so large they block the back steps but every year I forget to move some of them. All in all, I just wanted to share my bounty, such as it is. It gives me so much pleasure to watch the insects enjoying something I helped provide for them and even if it's not all neat and pretty, it's my garden and I love it, morning glories, weeds and all!

self sown cleome

Peruvian Four O'Clocks

Tithonia

Queen Anne's Lace