Happy 4^th of July! There’s plenty to see out in the gardens this weekend, with milkweeds, black-eyed Susans, and a host of other mid-summer favorites in bloom.

Cleveland Botanical Garden

The first standout at the gardens this week is the pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) in the Hershey Children’s Garden pond. This highly ornamental native aquatic plant can be found growing in the shallow, muddy waters of pond margins throughout Ohio and is easily identified by its elongated heart-shaped leaves. I observed a lot of bee activity in the Children’s Garden patch on a sunny morning this week and even captured a brown-belted bumblebee foraging on the flowers. A great diversion from frog-catching!

Next up at CBG is another violet-flowered beauty: Stokes’ aster (Stokesia laevis). You can find a cream-colored cultivar, ‘Mary Gregory’, along with the more typical violet ‘Peachie’s Pick’ in the Restorative Garden. There are also masses of Stokes’ aster planted in the Allée that should be blooming soon and contrasting nicely with the dwarf conifers on display for the Japanese Garden 50^th Anniversary Celebration.

Finally, you may not expect to see much in the way of flowers in the Woodland Garden during the middle of summer, but a stroll through the garden will reveal three white-flowered shrubs in full bloom right now: smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) and bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora). And yes, the bottlebrush buckeye is aptly named for its unique inflorescence which resembles the kind of brush you would use to clean out your water bottle! If you’re visiting the gardens, don’t skip them—the flowers are relatively short-lived.

Holden Arboretum

At the arboretum, the summer flower show is starting to heat up. In the Butterfly and Wildflower Gardens, you’re sure to spot the bright orange flowers of butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and golden cheery flowers of brown-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta). This is a good pairing for home butterfly gardens because these species bloom around the same time and are relatively short in stature. Add some neon-purple dense blazing star (Liatris spicata, which will be blooming soon) and you have a colorful, winning combination for even the smallest of pollinator gardens.

On your visit to the Butterfly Garden, look forthe red bee-balm, Monarda didyma ‘Gardenview Scarlet’. This bee-balm blooms a bit earlier than Monarda fistulosa, the lavender-flowered species that will be in full bloom later in July.

Finally, The Display Garden has some red-hot pokers coming into bloom. These aptly-named plants hail from the African continent and are in the same family as aloes. We have several varieties at the arboretum that bloom from July through August and are certainly one of the most intriguing inflorescences in the gardens. 

Enjoy the holiday weekend, and make sure to check out some summer blooms while the weather is beautiful!