Oh, so pretty Kathy and Cinda. I will take the invasiveness, and wish my MG's were that invasive.

a little be-hind
with some cooler weather I have been rather busy in the garden
this mornings sun hitting the north entrance




the lab lab doing well and I just discovered it makes a great cutting flower , rather looks like sweet pea in an arrangement.

I really like this color combo

Yes, I like it as well!

the obedient plant and hardy hibiscus are in full bloom.

the garlic chives starting to bloom

Cinda
I love the hyascent vine sweet-pea-like flowers, too. But I don't cut & gather them in the flower stage because the purple seed pods are even more beautiful. I let the pods dry on the vine, to be collected at maturity for next years garden.

I am not cutting them all just a few for the house they seem to be very prolific this year
I think the pods are very pretty also

making pods



narrow leaf ironweed





golden color has dominated the gardens

I like this combo, the hummers really appreciate the black and blue salvia, the orange yellow Bananas BBQ Ligularia not so much, guessing to much work, but they try it every day.

I really like the blue salvias too they seem to bloom all season with no real care
Wish they were perennials here I would have many more.

Cinda, love those Zinnia's, but love all your photos and RJ I love that Black & Blue Salvia. I used to have that in my garden and I loved the scent. I also love the chartreuse color of the leaves with that blue. Thanks so much to both of you for posting those pics.

there were 4 butterflies in the zinnia patch today

I am going to tag the flowers I like ,to collect seeds for next year ....may have a large patch out in the pasture just for the butterflies in the fall.

Cinda ~ Beautiful!

Love those Zinnia's! Yes, I saw so many butterflies this year on my Zinnia's. Isn't it wonderful?

Save all the seed heads after frost ! Just separate & label your favorites.
This gal is getting saved. Too funny.

blue mist flower in full bloom.

katesflowers said: Save all the seed heads after frost ! Just separate & label your favorites.
This gal is getting saved. Too funny.

Kathy, can you collect any of the flower heads before frost? I'm going to collect mine this year for the first time to save myself some money on seeds. My zinnias are out of control with an abundance of blooms I can harvest from! Wondering what signs to look for though so I know if they're ready to be collected or not. Or if I should just tag my favorites and wait a few weeks? Here was one of my first bouquets of the season. :)

Beautiful flowers and nice colors

I am not sure what others do but I wait till the petals go brown before collecting for seeds
unfortunately some times the birds beat me to the best seeds

Thanks Cinda! That's really helpful. I think I'm on the right track then 👍🏼 I loved seeing your garden through the seasons in this thread. You have some beautiful ephemerals I'd love to add to my garden one day!!

Thank you for the complement .
Are you new to gardening or just this site?

I lived in Michigan for 20 years and still visit often
a good gardening state if you don't live too far north