lavender

I highly recommend a tomato called Chef's Pink. I don't know if is the weather or what but we got tomatoes this year that are bigger than anything we have ever grown. They are a beefsteak and I just weighed one at 1.7 pounds and it wasn't even the biggest one I've picked. They are perfect without a blemish. Also, not really pink but a dull red. All the tomatoes did well this year after the initial problem with the fungus. Also peppers are doing well. The ones Ted Lyons sold me are doing better than the ones I raised from seed. Hope he remembers what they were because I want more for next year. I usually can't grow full sized peppers but these are doing as well as the sweet bananas which are my staple. Going to be tons of butternut squash. Cucumbers were a total failure as was the corn. For anyone who likes greens the Russian red kale is good from early spring until the snow flies. It is a good fall back veggie when nothing else is ready. 

Tomato plants are loaded. Got a few cherry tomatoes and one larger one ripe. There is a cauliflower ready to be picked that is 8-10 inches across. It is he nicest of the year. The early rain did in a lot of my plants. 

Maybe I can help you out with that. 

It's amazing how many flowers look alike when taken out of context. So hard to tell from a picture. I thought I had Longwood Gardens baffled on one in their collection but the head of one of the sections recognized it from a picture that pstan took. Those folks are to commended for going above and beyond to be helpful. It turned out to be a new type of strawflower. 
I have a friend who transplants ironweed from the wild all the time. She stuck one up on the embankment bed last summer and it seems to be doing fine. All of mine have come in pots. One was dug from the wild, one I can't remember where it came from and the third came from Penn State Arboretum. That was the mislabeled one. It was supposed to be v. glauca but isn't. They seem to grow just about anywhere but do best in full sun. The one that does best is planted in an easterly direction and gets mostly morning sun and indirect afternoon sun.  The one that gets afternoon sun is in a wetter area and it blooms later and is less compact. It doesn't actually flop but it separates. The other is in fill and grows under a vine. It grows and blooms but not all that well. They may be different species but I doubt it. My soil is mostly clay but they don't seem to care. Good luck with it. It is a beautiful plant and the bees and butterflies love it. 

eThere are a number of different kinds of butterfly weed. The native one Asclepias tuberosa is the one you see on disturbed ground around here. For some reason it grows on old strip jobs. It is a member of the milkweed family and when it blooms like right now it is covered in butterflies. It has a long taproot and is supposedly hard to transplant but we do it regularly with few problems. The yellow one that someone gave me didn't survive so I'm guessing that it isn't quite as vigourous as the orange one. I've also grown the very pretty bicolored on but it isn't hardy around here. 
It likes full sun but will grow in semi-shade but may not flower. It doesn't need much in the way of water but prefers well drained soil. I think the one I had in the front of the house succumbed to too much water when the drainage from the roof gutters got changed. It produces seed pods with the fluffy seeds like milkweed. Sometimes it reseeds if it is happy but I've never had it happen. A friend does. The seeds need special treatment usually before they will germinate. No bugs, no diseases (at least the ones I have) and the deer don't eat it. 
That is about all I know except that if the thing gets really big it is spectacular. 

I was out in the yard today and the ironweed (Vernonia) was in full bloom.  Mine is a species that gets to be about 7 ft. tall but V. glauca is shorter. I've just never seen that one  grow wild around here. The flowers are very similar to your picture. It didn't occur to me at the time because the knapweed was in bloom and I don't think the ironweed was. It is hard to tell the difference from a picture! Ironweed is a more upright plant and the individual stems all come up from the bottom. Ironweed is a very desirable plant. I've got three of them that may or may not all be of the same species. I know one of them was mislabeled as it grew way too tall for what it was supposed to be. Here is ironweed. 
 

Tomato plants are loaded. Got a few cherry tomatoes and one larger one ripe. There is a cauliflower ready to be picked that is 8-10 inches across. It is he nicest of the year. The early rain did in a lot of my plants. 

Well, I went to the garden tonight and lo and behold hidden inside of a 4' plant, I found the first ripe tomato, hubby and I split it, delicious! We also have maybe 10-12 that are starting to ripen, yeah!!!!!

Looks like spotted knapweed ( Centaurea stoebe ) to me. Weed? It is considered invasive but I guess it depends on your perspective. You can check at the corner bed of the library for a positive id. I had to laugh. Nancy who does the bed for the Down to Earth Garden Club put it in as part of her wildflower area while I was contemplating pulling it our on the embankment across from Harley Davidson.
 
 

In the event that the Russians are hacking all missile systems are go and Herm has his finger on the button (or so I'm told).

I lost a lot of plants to a fungus that was rotting them at soil level. Too much rain, I guess. Once i figured out what the fungus was I sprayed and things settled down. Unfortunately, I had lost half of the cauliflower and broccoli, some of the cabbage a few peppers and tomatoes. Cucumbers died to a plant. I've got tons of beans, more than enough summer squash and lettuce that is as tall as I am. We let it go to seed and every year we get volunteers that are ready very early. Winter squash and onions look good and I have some purple tomatillos. Waiting to see what will happen with the peppers and eggplant. Most of the corn rotted before it germinated.

http://www.insectidentification.org/

If the sprays aren't working the next step is a physical barrier. We have a plastic netting that we throw over things. It came from Lowes. Chicken wire works as well. Most animals aren't smart enough to get around the flimsiest barriers.

Everyone of the peonies bloomed this year and I think I got pictures of all of them. Despite all of the rain they managed to keep it all together.
 

Hubby trims everything judiciously every year and our rhodies and all of the others come back great. Now as to azaleas  I know that I've planted at least 50 over the years, not one has survived and I babied them, followed all kinds of advice to no avail. Evidently they hate our soil. Pretty much like fruit trees. Our pear trees like our soil, apples are so so. Plums are a no go. I had two peach trees that lasted 20 years, only produced 7 times, but they were so good! They eventually gave up the good fight. I just had to admit and agree with hubby tonight that our best pear tree is also done for this year. I could cry, the very best pears that I've ever had from anywhere, but it's been slowly getting worse and worse. Hubby trims them each year and we've tried numerous things, but nothing is working. I thought about getting another like it, but we're getting older and by the time it would be ready to produce, I hope to be traveling? Yeah right, we'll be right here, who am I kidding.

Building on Sanibel's idea there are all sorts of azaleas. Some are evergreen and some are deciduous. These varieties are native to different climates and have different degrees of cold tolerance and heat tolerance.  Then there are the hybrids so it is difficult to know how hardy an azalea actually is unless you bought it with a tag. It is entirely possible that you hit close to the tolerance range of your azalea. Bon's suggestions are good ones and hopefully it will pull through.
All of my azaleas have survived the past winters except one miniature one. I recently picked up one on sale at Loew's but should have known better. It looked as though the frost had hit it. When I started to plant it I looked at the tag and it is only hardy to zone 6. I'm not expecting it to survive for many years. Maybe I'll get lucky and the roots will make it through.

Azaleas need special fertilizers formulated for acid loving plants. You could try mulching with wood chips and pruning after it blooms. Like many plants azaleas deteriorate with age. I have a yellow one that is probably 25 years old and it isn't what it once was. I keep trying to bring it back but I don't think that it is going to happen.

Azaleas need special fertilizers formulated for acid loving plants. You could try mulching with wood chips and pruning after it blooms. Like many plants azaleas deteriorate with age. I have a yellow one that is probably 25 years old and it isn't what it once was. I keep trying to bring it back but I don't think that it is going to happen.

Building on Sanibel's idea there are all sorts of azaleas. Some are evergreen and some are deciduous. These varieties are native to different climates and have different degrees of cold tolerance and heat tolerance.  Then there are the hybrids so it is difficult to know how hardy an azalea actually is unless you bought it with a tag. It is entirely possible that you hit close to the tolerance range of your azalea. Bon's suggestions are good ones and hopefully it will pull through.
All of my azaleas have survived the past winters except one miniature one. I recently picked up one on sale at Loew's but should have known better. It looked as though the frost had hit it. When I started to plant it I looked at the tag and it is only hardy to zone 6. I'm not expecting it to survive for many years. Maybe I'll get lucky and the roots will make it through.

You could try using long pine needles around the base of the bush as a mulch. The needles have everything that acid loving plants wants, just add water. Although this year you can pay off the watering somewhat.

Azaleas need special fertilizers formulated for acid loving plants. You could try mulching with wood chips and pruning after it blooms. Like many plants azaleas deteriorate with age. I have a yellow one that is probably 25 years old and it isn't what it once was. I keep trying to bring it back but I don't think that it is going to happen.

Groundhogs yes. Chipmunks are too teeny. Or is that what hubby refers to as "snakeshot?"

Tried to plant today and got my boot stuck. Went in up to my ankle. Thought it was going to require the tractor to pull me out.

Mourning cloak?

Try here
 
 
 
http://www.insectidentification.org/butterflies-and-moths.asp