#1 certainly looks like Echinacea to me and #2 is some type of aster. They are so many of them, but this one is taller than BES so I'm not sure. That Sweet Autumn Clematis sure is lovely, and as for the stump, there are craftsmen in our area doing wonders with them - forming them into tables and various works of art in the garden. Seems you may have some bellflowers with the rose - make sure you get rid of it if it's the wild one because it can be a thug. I am surprized that Rozanne is still flowering - very pretty. I wouldn't worry about the hostas - you can divide them in the spring when they start to form shoots.

northerner_on, thanks so much for the helpful comments. I'll let it go and see what it does (what we think is ech) but I don't want any of them in back.

Yes, I'm certain #2 is some type of aster. I was just excited to see the new color, then got my BS catalog and they have actually 3 similar there, was a color breakthrough. So it's a spinoff from one of those getting a seed mixed into the Purple Dome no doubt. From the brightness of the pink, it could be Alma Potschke but also September Ruby or Pink Dome. Pink D would be most likely since I bought the P Dome but I'll never know for sure. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that I learn what to look for when they emerge and try to work them into nicer shapes. They're supposed to be vaselike which is more pleasing to me plus you can pinch them back for more blooms. These two have ugly shapes which I think is due to damage I don't think I did, chemical damage possible from prior years but not last or this year.

My neighbor offered to do something with the stump for me; his idea was to make a sitting bench out of it. I generally don't like stumps but couldn't afford the price to have it chipped out. If I let him do his thing then get a chance to get it ground out cheap, you know that wouldn't play well.

Those flowers with the rose are hosta, not to worry. I've let those 3 hosta plants get way too big but it's a nice payoff in the fall with all those blooms. What you don't see in there are lamium I'm going to start pulling because it takes over. I had volunteer I thought it was campanula or Ladybells come up in several places. That bent and when horizontal it shoots up lots more bloom stalks. Someone here remarked about it and it happened with me. I thought they were "good" plants, had unsuccessfully tried to grow some variety of them from seeds. So maybe I do have the wild one and should get rid of it but I can assure you I have wild stuff that's much worse :-(

Yes, my neighbor's Sweet Autumn is wonderful and the scent now competes with the Honeybell blooms on my hosta. It's been there for years but I can tell you really need a strong support for it.

Rozanne flowers until our first hard frost (close to the ground they can go a little longer sometimes). Yes, I know you divide hosta in the spring, was just wondered if my physical strength was up to it other than slice off pieces. The ones with the purple blooms need to be dug up and cut apart; I doubt I can do that; they're packed.

My poor raspberries; I've done the best I can do with them for now. They've given me the most satisfaction from we'ing yet. And it looks pathetic there. Maybe if they take off and the pile can be kept neater and under control, it will look better. That whole area needs mulched for raspberries. The leaf mold under all that recent junk from former years should make them happy I would think. I had a terrible time getting the chicken wire cage pried out; when they took down the tree, it mashed the wire all around.

That pink rose is vicious; maybe I've let it go too long badly sited for a vigorous climber that the jury is out whether canes survive in our zone. The only ones that survive for me are ones that hug the ground. It's a pretty one and blooms all summer; actually there are a pair of them in there, grew them from bands I ordered on the web which was all I could get of that one. One lady in Kentucky and DH built the most gorgeous deck with pergola, and then have this rose climbing two stories. They were so beautiful at the top of that pergola. Somewhere else in the south, they let one climb a tree, it went up 30' high or more. Weird.

Your aster looks like New England Aster to me. The shape is exactly like mine. The stem is thin and scraggly, and the top branches out and threatens to topple over. I'll bet yours are not something you planted, but are volunteers blown in from a neighbors yard or a nearby field.

Martha

docmom, sorry didn't see your response. I'm sure it (the bright pink and purple as well) are New England. No, those I didn't plant. I planted 3 Purple Dome, can't find one, but the other two got crowded by the Rudbeckias and are shorter than usual but the nice top with blooms like they're supposed to be. But they're not on the tip of the hill that gets weed whacked.

Do you think enough got whacked it caused them to grow like that, it's chemical (didn't use any this year), or just bad form? I just stuck in the Wood's Blue near them and hope it survives the winter. I got 3 and they sat in the cell packs all summer (too hot and humid to dig) but I did go out and water them faithfully usually in the evening, finally got everything planted.

I had just written and posted that last bit and since it's cool, sunny and not dark yet, thought I'd go out while my long lens is still on and get a shot of a few pink blooms fully open.

Well, imagine my delight when I spotted this Monarch fluttering about, the first I've seen in about four years, I was amazed and announced to some passers by who ignored it and me lol. It seems to love these asters. First worked the pink one (bet it's Pink Dome or a variant), then made a lot of visits to the purple one next to it. Just those two. Not the shorter purple domes that have the right form. I got over 100 shots, a lot of duds but a lot more keepers than with the Tiger Swallowtail a few weeks back. It's the sun that does it, gets me faster shutter speeds. Several had bumblebees and another bug on them, very busy out there. They must know time is short until frost.

I'm excited to finally get one to photograph again! Also will stick in Rozanne today; in the shade makes the colors look deeper and richer. I love that lens. It's clunky, heavy to hold up and have to be an exact distance away for it to focus, but it's very sharp. My yard gets a lot of ugly stuff in the background, and if I think of it, I pull a weed or grass or try to set up the shot nicer but sometimes forget. Anyway, the sun was in the west, and it's the street in the background that is gray. Not a good color, but with the bokeh that lens and setting give me in the right conditions, it blurs out the asphalt so it doesn't look quite so unattractive.

So thanks for the comments which seem to brought me a small bit of good fortune today.

{{gwi:435896}}

{{gwi:435898}}

Congratulations, Aliska!! Two beauties to brighten my day, which has been very cool (we lit a fire tonight), rainy, and generally overcast. Two of my favourite things. I wish I could get a plant of that Rozanne to survive. I tried WSing a couple of times, but no luck. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, the Monarch especially, not that I haven't seen a lot of fine photos of them. Just that this is all mine :-).

I think Rozanne is patented and I shouldn't be posting one I purchased that wasn't winter sown. I bought it from Bluestone, and their current photo doesn't do it justice. It bloomed all summer long once it started but much more true purple and lighter until it starts cooling down. I'm always happy when I see that it is up and running in the spring.

I didn't have anything blooming that I winter sowed and sorry I made it so picture heavy at the top. Hopefully I'll have more that is winter sown. I have had several in the past but have lost my alyssum, the purple poppies are long since done, but they self seed from ws'ing, and my crazy daisies. The raspberries I ws'ed. That is a pathetic place to start them, hope I can move them if I need to; I'm really fond of the little things though just as they are.

Why don't you buy a Rozanne or is there no Canadian vendor or American one who will ship to Canada? It seems quite hardy nestled in with some yellow daylilies on either side; maybe mulch it in the winter if there's doubt? Maybe you need seeds from a different plant, like two separate ones as it could be sterile like red poppies (P. rhoeas sp?) to self pollinate.

I just stood and watched it, was delighted to see it again even though I'd glanced out the window and didn't see any movement out there. Minute I got there with my watering can and some old tea bags I wanted to throw around there, there it was. They're not too afraid to come in close to you if you don't move suddenly. The interesting thing is that it sampled a portion of the main purple plant growing properly but a little too short (crowded) and soon was back at the pink one. It also revisited the gangly purple stem, also may be a portion of the main plant but kept going back to the pink, definitely prefers that one. I've got it marked for seed later.

What I watered was a Woods' Bluebird Aster I set out there a week or so ago, but I'll be surprised if it's not purplish, has a very small bud on it that looks lavender but may not open.

The other purple domes are almost in their prime not quite. They're really pretty, hope we have enough good days before the first frost.

Very nice picture of the butterfly,Aliska,this one you could take to kinkos and have blown up and hung on the wall as art.Very good job with your camera..

Rozanne is wonderful here. Great Monarch pic. Almost certainly, the Purple Dome produced a variety of seedlings.

tomva and mantis_oh, thank you. I've not had any large prints made for a long time. Since I had to crop down on that one and my camera is 8 mp, I won't get an 16X20 poster out of it but do have one sized for 8X10 of a Tiger Swallowtail I took in August to pair it with.

I took them in landscape mode and cropped to landscape proportions so poster prints won't work too well. I'll figure out what to do with them. I'm kind of out of the loop on prints lately. I was spending too much money on 8X10's and a few custom sizes from a reasonable photo finisher in the St. Paul, MN area. Now I rarely even get 4X6 prints at Walgreens.

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, been working hard (for me) with fall cleanup, dragging a sprinkling can around because i didn't feel like dragging the hoses out of the basement this past spring. Got by without them. They kink up on me and have to be careful what I buy.

I don't know why those asters grew the way they did, they don't look as deformed in fuller bloom, but I looked carefully when I had the watering can out there, and there are two stalks close together, so don't know what to make of it. So I gave them a drink, but they seem to handle drought well. They no longer have to compete with tree roots for moisture which could be why, but the one kind of Rudbeckias sure didn't last long in the heat.

Yes, I can't say enough good things about Rozanne. Before I got crazy into this gardening, I'd roam around town and take photos of peoples flowers. I'd see Rozanne and think it was such a cute little flower, didn't know what it was until I read a discussion on a forum here about it.