iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by gardening_kristi

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Join us on Thursday at noon Eastern, right here on the internet, for a virtual rally to learn about the latest on the academy of natural sciences fiasco, and what YOU can do about it. We've got a killer lineup of speakers and more coming soon. Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

a poster for a virutal rally to save the academy of natural sciences. There's a stag beetle in a headseat, on a zoom call with Alie ward who is a praying mantis, Kory Evans who is a splended garden eel, Jessica Ware who is a white shark, Allison Tumarkin-Deratzian who is a weevil, Isa betancourt who is a snail, and Tykee James who is a green boa. The stag beetle is saying "learn about actions you can take" and a bluejay is saying "Join us Thurs Oct 15th, Noon-1pm ET"

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Late summer harvests, 2026, from a very neglected garden. The plants grow themselves. 🌱 #vegetablegarden

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I put Fordhook Gem Melon seeds in the ground late, in August, and I wasn't sure if I'd get a crop. I've had five ripe melons so far. They're delicious, sweet, and just the right size for one or two people to enjoy. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

Cubed Fordhook Gem melons sit in a Tupperware dish on a kitchen counter. The melons have green flesh and taste like cantaloupe.

The rind of the Fordhook Gem melon is netted like any other musk melon. The green flesh is highlighted in this photo.

A whole melon as well as the cubed melon are shown next to each other.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I sowed seeds for four cucumber plants in August, wondering if I would get a crop. Two plants survived. I got six quarts of pickles. Not bad! Other food preservation projects this week include blanching and freezing green beans and burning and freezing eggplant. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

Six quarts of pickles are displayed on a kitchen counter.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Beautiful, flavorful, fragrant, fruity, savory, tomato-like, and hot enough to make you cry. I could write a sonnet about Wiri Wiri Peppers! 🌱 #vegetablegardening

Short pepper plants filled with ripening round peppers, the size of small cherries or large blueberries, fills a garden bed.

Ripe, red, tiny round peppers are harvested into a steel bowl next to the plants from which they came.

Ripe, red, tiny Wiri Wiri Peppers are shown washed in a kitchen, next to other vegetables to show their scale.

A closeup of tiny red Wiri Wiri Peppers in a kitchen after they have been washed.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Raise your hand, graduate degree holding professional women if you have also buried the corpse of a baby bunny, without its head, on your lunch break? I saw the bird of prey perched on the fence this morning, with crows all around, and I just knew. Sigh. The photo is from a couple of weeks ago.

A baby bunny ventures out of hiding onto the patio.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Recent harvest photos and a scene that tickled my fancy. The late cucumbers are starting to produce. The Fordhook Gem Melons are ripening. 🌱 #vegetablegarden

Thyme for the dehydrator is washed and drying on cotton towels. There is a mountain of washed chard behind the thyme.

Eggplant, peppers, beans, tomatoes, and chard, freshly harvested and washed, drying in the kitchen.

Pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, and a melon, freshly washed, drying in the kitchen.

A horse and cart are tied to a large crane in my hometown.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Here's a perfect Barbie Pink dahlia. Remember, "Barbie has a great day every day, but Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him.” - The Movie Barbie 🌱 #bloomscrolling

A magenta dahlia, grown from seed, blooms beautifully next to the shed.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Do you have a brush pile and a rock pile in your garden for wildlife? Every time I prune trees, I add to my brush pile. Every time I dig up more lawn, I add to my rock pile. #nativeplants I hope that snakes, salamanders, insects, and other small critters can make homes here.

A brush pile is situated under an evergreen tree in a suburban front lawn.

A rock pile is situated under an evergreen tree in a suburban front lawn.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

An Eastern Carpenter Bee, a male, rests on the leaf of a phlox plant. 🌱 #bugsky

A black and yellow bee, a large one, rests on the leaf of a plant with pink flowers.

A large black and yellow bee, with a yellow square on his face, rests on the leaf of a plant with pink flowers.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

My poor little field strip of annual flowers I plant in the vegetable bed area has suffered this season. Borage, cosmos, scabiosa, and sunflowers were all knocked down by storms. Many zinnia were, too. This photo shows what is left, some zinnia and some seed grown dahlia. Rain comes with a price. 🌱

Vermillion zinnia are shown in the foreground. Pink zinnia and pink and red Dahlia as well as yellow goldenrod bloom in the background.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The patio bed is a hot mess. August brought a few storms with way too much rain all at once and high winds. The plants sort of toppled down like dominoes. The insects don't seem to mind. It's just the gardener that's a bit annoyed. 🌱 #nativeplants

Smooth Asters, Rough Blazingstar, and Garden Phlox plants bloom in shades of blue, purple, and violet. The plants are mostly horizontal due to weather events.

A view of a garden with various flowering plants that have blown almost sideways from rain and wind. The plants bloom in shades of gold, blue, and violet.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

A Hummingbird Moth nectars on Jeana Garden Phlox. This variety of Phlox is highly preferred by all Lepidoptera. Jeana Phlox is to butterflies as Mountain Mint is to bees and wasps. It's a 6 second video. Volume up for the SEPTA train horn, if you like that sound. #nativeplants 🌱

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

A harvest to celebrate: sweet corn, tomatoes, eggplant, beans, and peppers. #vegetablegardening 🌱

Bicolor sweet corn, freshly harvested and peeled of the husk, sit in a large harvest bowl by the corn plants from whence they came.

Corn, tomatoes, beans, eggplant, and bell peppers, freshly washed, are drying on cotton towels on the kitchen counter.

A closeup photo of greasy beans, freshly washed, sitting on cotton towels to dry on the kitchen counter.

Ripe red bell peppers, freshly washed, sit on the kitchen counter.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Dear Appalachian Gardeners, please help! I'm growing Greasy Beans for the first time and they've started to produce. These seem a little too early to harvest, given what I've read. Please provide advice on when to harvest. Thank you! 🌱 #gardening #vegetablegardening

A closeup photo of a bean on a plant. Everything is wet from rain.

A closeup photo of a bean on a plant with a hand.

A closeup photo of a lot of beans on a plant. It rained, so everything is wet.

A photo of bean trellises against a gray sky.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Goldenrod is always an insect favorite. I saw several pairs of Goldenrod Soldier Beetles, lots of Bumble Bees, and many more insects taking advantage of the buffet this weekend. 🌱 #bugsky #nativeplants

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The baby bunny made an appearance on the patio. The baby groundhog made another appearance too. Rod Huggins was hiding in the plants near the shed during a supervised outing with our cat and drama ensued. No cat was harmed. My husband says we should charge admission, like a zoo. 🌱

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Finding a Camouflaged Looper, the caterpillar of an Emerald Moth, always feels lucky. I found two this week. 🌱 #bugsky

A caterpillar feeds on a pink flower and wears flower material as a disguise. The caterpillar is near the center of the flower.

A caterpillar feeds near the center of a coral colored flower and wears flower material as a disguise.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Solidago nemoralis, Gray Goldenrod or Field Goldenrod is hitting its stride in the Fruit Tree Bed. I love how it looks with the faded Spotted Bee Balm, the seed setting Partridge Peas, the blown over Pearly Everlasting, and the copper Little Bluestem. 🌱 #nativeplants

Yellow Gray Goldenrod flowers bloom under small fruit trees with other faded perennials. There's a shed in the background.

Yellow Gray Goldenrod flowers bloom in yellow. There's a vegetable garden in the background.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Lots of mammalian wildlife in the garden over the last three days. This morning, Rod Huggins (our name for him), a neighborhood cat who is our cats sworn nemesis, was in the garden. Yesterday a baby groundhog was here. The day before that, a rabbit was here. 🌱

An orange striped cat with a white chest and green eyes sits near the strawberries.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Someone left me a painted rock with a message on it in the garden bed next to the sidewalk. It was a nice surprise to find. 🌱

A rain garden with a basin to hold water and a curvy garden bed are situated next to the sidewalk in a suburban town. The garden beds have trees, shrubs, ferns, reeds, grasses, and flowering plants. We've had a lot of rain lately so the grass is green.

Someone in the neighborhood left a painted rock in my garden that says, "all you need is love and plants." The rock is blue. There are flowers painted on it. The message is in white paint.

This is the garden bed where the rock was left. It's close to the sidewalk. The street is in the background.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Lots of food in the kitchen and in the garden. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I harvested the first handful of Mascotte Bush Beans from two plants in the old strawberry tower. This is a variety suited for container growing. #vegetablegardening 🌱

A gardener holds a handful of green beans.

Green beans, scallions, alyssum, nasturtium, and beets grow in a white strawberry tower.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Photo highlights from cleaning the cured onion and shallot harvest for long term storage. Good crop this year! 🌱 #vegetablegardening More info in ALT.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

End of season flowers are starting to bloom in my garden this morning, after a little more than 2 inches/52 mm of rain fell yesterday and overnight. The rain was much needed. 🌱 #nativeplants

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Sunflowers support so much life. There are pollen specialist bees. There are seed eating birds. There are flower stealing squirrels. Choose pollen bearing varieties. Leave spent plants to stand. Ignore the squirrels. Prosper in the joy of observing it all. 🌱 #gardening

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Work is closed today for a holiday. I spent the morning managing the strawberry runners. Good grief! There are only 25 mother plants. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

An overflowing cart of strawberry runners is shown in front of a garden bed. The contents of the cart were added to the compost pile.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Daily variations on a theme. Harvest. Preserve. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

A washed harvest from the garden dries on cotton kitchen towels. There are eggplant, tomatoes, and beans. There is a slow cooker in the background cooking tomatoes into sauce. The setting is a kitchen.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Crop updates: I'm trying container sized beans and nasturtiums as well as beets and scallions in the strawberry tower. The various runner beans and the melons I sowed after the peas are climbing. A rabbit has tried to dig a nest under a melon plant. The corn is growing. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

I've tried container sized bush beans and nasturtiums in this strawberry tower. I'm also trying beets, shallots, and alyssum and they all seem to be doing well. A vegetable garden is in the background.

Scarlet Runner Beans, Greasy Back Beans, and Fordhook Gem Melon are starting to climb the trellises. Peas were sown and harvested from this bed earlier in the season.

A rabbit has dug a deep hole under a melon plant and lined it with grass. I removed the grass and filled in the hole. It's surprising to see a rabbit in my neighborhood. There are a lot of birds of prey, foxes, feral cats, and coyotes.

The large corn plants were down after I harvested garlic. The small corn plants in the foreground were sown after I harvested onions.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The Dahlias I grew from seed this year are starting to flower. I'm very excited to see what the flowers will look like! I've never grown Dahlias before because I wasn't interested in the dinner plate tuber Dahlia look. The seed grown flowers are exactly my speed and it's a surprise every time! 🌱

A yellow Dahlia blooms in front of a shed. There are orange flowers in the background.

A magenta Dahlia blooms with purple flowers in the background.

A magenta flower, on a different plant than the other magenta flower in this post, blooms with a Bumble Bee visiting it.

A Bishop's Children Dahlia with dark foliage and a coral colored flower blooms with pink flowers in the background.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day! My girl's name is Rude Becky. 🤣😅🌱 As much as I want to be in denial about how quickly the growing season is passing, the calendar says August and the Rudbeckia are showing off.

A golden Rudbeckia flower blooms in closeup.

A bank of golden Rudbeckia flowers bloom in a group in a garden.

A stand of Rudbeckia flowers blooms in cheerful gold with pink phlox and a shed in the background.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

This year's Tulsi supply for my cold brew tisane habit is due to these volunteers that sprouted in between vegetable beds. I didn't pull the plants to dry the leaves, I cut them, so I hope to get a second harvest in a few weeks. Collaboration with volunteers is an overlooked gardening technique. 🌱

Tulsi volunteers grow between vegetable garden beds.

The Tulsi harvested from volunteer plants has been washed and is drying in the kitchen. I've since filled up the dehydrator completely and hung two large bundles from the screws in the shed rafters to dry.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

More Mellisodes agilis or Mellisodes trinodis spam. I love my Longhorn Bee Boys sleeping in flowers. 🌱 #inverts

Little bees with long antennae sleep in groups in sunflower like flowers.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

This morning I harvested these Blue Gold potatoes from three plants and the first handful of Slenderette green beans. The Slenderette green beans haven't done well. I chose Tenderbush for the next planting.

A steel bowl of potatoes with dark skin is pictured next to potato plants in a garden bed.

A gardener holds a handful of green beans. The background of the photo is a garden with yellow and pink flowers.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

The tomato harvest started as a trickle. Now I have a 3 gallon bowl. The eggplant keep coming. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

Tomatoes in a steel bowl as well as several eggplant are piled on a patio table with a garden in the background.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

The Longhorn Bee Boys are trying out a new, efficient, apartment. I suppose the large sunflower was too much upkeep. 🌱 #inverts #bugsky

Two male longhorn bees rest in a pink cosmos flower.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

This week I saw a female Tiger Swallowtail in the dark form on Jeana Garden Phlox. Earlier this summer I saw a male on Dense Blazingstar and a yellow female on Garden Phlox. The females can be yellow or dark. The males are always yellow. 🌱 #nativeplants #inverts

A Tiger Swallowtail (dark morph) butterfly visits Jeana Garden Phlox in full pink bloom.

A male Tiger Swallowtail visits Liatris spicata in purple bloom. The male butterfly has no blue on his wings.

A yellow Tiger Swallowtail female visits Garden Phlox.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Last evening I harvested the yellow onions and shallots. There were 36 yellow onions to cure and 102 shallots. From 36 sqft. of garden space, I grew 106 onions and 102 shallots for long term storage in the basement and many more for fresh eating as they were harvested. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

36 yellow onions are bundled with twine to cure.

102 shallots are bundled with twine and ready to cure.

Onions and shallots hang from screws in the shed rafters to cure.

Yellow onions and shallots that were not ready to cure were cleaned and washed. They are on cotton towels drying before storage in the fridge.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

We enjoyed the first ripe tomatoes, German Johnsons this year, on 7/22/2026. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

A tomato sandwich on toast is shown on a ceramic plate in a kitchen. The tomato is juicy and red.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

A Rattlesnake Master appreciation post. This is the first year I'm getting a decent flowering and I'm enchanted. It's also supposedly deer resistant. I've only tried it behind the deer fence so far. Does anyone else with deer in their gardens daily have experience to share? 🌱 #nativeplants

Rattlesnake Master blooms with white, round flowers in a garden with lots of other flowers in a suburban backyard.

Rattlesnake Master blooms in a suburban backyard.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Worry and joy in abundance. After severe weather caused lots of damage in my neighborhood on Saturday, we're likely going to get more today. On the joy side, the eggplant keeps rolling in, the storm decimated field strip is emptier since Saturday, but still pretty. One sunflower still stands. 🌱

Five eggplant rest on the side of a garden bed, just harvested.

A strip of annual flowers planted next to vegetable garden beds blooms in shades of pink and yellow.

A deep red pincushion flower blooms in closeup.

One sunflower remains standing against a gray sky. Her neighboring sunflowers were uprooted by a storm on Saturday.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

A Monarch visits Meadow Blazingstar. 🌱 #nativeplants A big, bad storm ripped through the neighborhood on Saturday. Lots of garden damage here, but I can't complain. My neighbors had trees come down, smash fences, smash through windows, etc. Rain always comes with a price now.

An orange and black Monarch Butterfly visits a tall purple flower for nectar.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Growing potatoes feels like magic, all the wonderful multiplication that occurs out of sight. Pulling up one plant, grown from a piece of a potato, three months later, to see dozens of potatoes is a giddy activity. Giggling like a fool. Dirty hands. Counting potatoes. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

Amarosa fingerling potatoes from one plant fill 1/3 of a stainless steel bowl.

Clean potatoes, eggplant, beets, tomatoes, and mint await storage on a kitchen counter.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

I harvested 70 red and white onions for long term storage. The yellow onions and shallots weren't ready yet. I've been harvesting onions and shallots for immediate kitchen use for a month. More info in ALT and in the comments thread. 🌱 #vegetablegardening

40 red onions and 30 white onions are tied with twine in bundles of 10. The onions are laid out on a grassy strip between the garden area and a fence. The onions are ready to cure for long term storage.

Onions are ready to harvest for long term storage when the tops are knocked down in the garden bed AND the necks are broken and limp. If the neck isn't soft and limp, the onion isn't likely to cure and store long term. In this photo, a red onion is shown with a soft, broken neck draped over the gardener's finger like a piece of limp fabric.

You can harvest onions to eat fresh at any time. You can harvest them at green onion phase, any bulbing phase, etc. The white onion in this photo is large. I've harvested it for use in the kitchen right away. You can see that the neck of the onion is stiff. It's not soft. This onion will not cure well.

The 70 red and white onions were taken to the shed to hang in bundles of 10 to the screws in the rafters. They will cure here until the tops are completely dry and crisp and the paper and roots are dry and crisp. Then I will clean them and take them to the basement for storage.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Pics from the sidewalk: Spotted Bee Balm, Best Bee Balm. I am growing 8' tall Big Bluestem in the front yard. The Hummingbird Mint isn't native to my Northern Piedmont ecoregion, but it's one of my favorite plants, and the hummingbirds don't know about ecoregions. Garden for joy. 🌱 #nativeplants

A patch of Spotted Bee Balm shines with its pink bracts right next to the pedestrian sidewalk. Hummingbird Mint, with its silvery foliage blooms with red tubular flowers behind it.

Big Bluestem blooms 8'tall in the garden bed next to the driveway and sidewalk.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I took these photos of a beautiful Tiger Swallowtail visiting Dense Blazingstar a couple of days ago, before the wildfire smoke reached the Philly Burbs and took away the sun and breathable air. 🌱 #inverts #nativeplants

A male Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly visits Dense Blazingstar. The setting is a garden. There are fruit trees and a shed in the background.

A male Tiger Swallowtail visiting Dense Blazingstar in a garden. There are garden beds with vegetables in the background.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Recently, in the garden, I harvested the first eggplants. I captured two favorite insects in decent photos. I admired the beautiful Spotted Bee Balm flowers. 🌱 #inverts #vegetablegardening #nativeplants

Eggplant and beets harvested from the garden are shown in a steel harvest bowl on a patio table.

Milkweed Beetles, red with black spots and long antennae, mate on Common Milkweed.

A Green Lacewing rests on the underside of a leaf.

Spotted Bee Balm blooms with yellow flowers with brown spots, in layers, between showy pink bracts.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I cleaned the cured garlic. I cut off the roots and stem, leaving a couple of inches to protect the bulb, and removed the outer layer of dirty paper. I placed the garlic in flat cardboard trays in a single layer. I marked the best bulbs for planting this fall. I stored the harvest in the basement. 🌱

Cured garlic is ready to clean. I'm sitting on a grassy hill in the shade to clean it. It's a messy job and best done outside.

The cleaned garlic is organized into cardboard trays in a single layer. These trays can be picked up at warehouse stores like Costco for free.

The biggest, best looking, bulbs are marked for planting.

I store the garlic in a cool, dark place, the basement, with the rest of the preserved food.

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Bumble Bees love Partridge Peas, and I love to hear them buzz pollinate en masse. Partridge Peas are a native, annual plant that self-sows easily. If you plant them once, you have them forever. They're also a host plant for Sulphur Butterflies. 🌱 #nativeplants Sound up to hear the buzz!

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gardening_kristi @gardeningkristi.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Pink Tickseed and Anise Hyssop are blooming in the Driveway Garden. The Big Bluestem is starting to bloom, too. You can see the grass behind the Anise Hyssop. 🌱 #nativeplants

Tiny pink flowers planted in a patch near a driveway in a suburban garden.

A closeup of tiny pink flowers in a suburban garden.

Purple flowers and tall grass bloom near a driveway in a suburban garden.

Purple flowers and tall grass bloom in a suburban garden.

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