Have to add this. The height goes about to my chest. I am 5’6”

Wow. I gave my Muticum away. I didn't really give them a chance to get tall like yours. I'm glad I have mountain mint again. Mine is Virginianum. Mountain mint should be in every yard.

Good problem to have, Iris. Your garden looks good and it should get even better as the year goes on.

My garden is really bursting with all of the rain we have received. I need to plant something like a dozen seedlings that are growing out of their small pots.

The mint is flowering. Most popular plant in my yard right now, without question.

Wow, that is huge. Does it get much use by butterflies? Hummingbirds? You live somewhere in South Carolina, Iris?

It doesn’t seem to be a favorite with the butterflies but the hummingbirds love it. Yes, in the Upstate of South Carolina.

Looked this up and it is also called "monarda" or "bee balm." Apparently, it doesn't do well in Florida, but is sure looks like a winner for you, Iris. Are you seeing many hummingbirds? I've been quite happy seeing three or four regularly. That's pretty much the most I ever see at one time.

The most I have seen at once this year was 5 at my feeder. There usually are a lot of them in late Summer, I have a picture of at least 15 of them zooming around the feeder from 5 years back. I have the feeling there were less in the last 2-3 years though.

Tom, can you tell if a hummingbird is still young and learning? Working in the garden right now, there are two that seem not as shy and a bit clumsy. Nothing wrong with their ability to fly though. They are also sitting on the Zinnias to eat instead of hovering. Usually I just see them sitting if they are at the feeder. I will try if I can get a picture. Hope the lens doesn’t fog up.

There are physical characteristics of young Ruby-throateds, but I can't describe them. The only physical characteristic is, of course, that they don't have any ruby color under the beak. The young ones do tend to fly around in an unorganized way. Funny thing, I just left my computer desk to chase off a lizard that was parked on my feeder and two hummers started chasing each other right above my head. They really didn't seem serious about challenging each other, more like they were into irritating the other one. This is indicative of recent nest mates.

I am familiar with young mockingbirds, wrens and such. Not really with hummingbirds. There are speckles on the throat. As I said, not very shy. Took the pictures without putting an extra lens on the camera.

Also the butterflies tried to prove me wrong about saying they don’t like the wild bergamot.

Excellent pics, Iris. Regarding the first four pics of the hummers--I think the last three are of the same hummer and he looks like a Juvie male to me. Can't really see the first one clearly. It seems like you had a very good day with the hummers and butterflies. A very good way to celebrate the 4th.

I guess I'll say is that I only plant stuff I don't have to take care of a ton. Also the grass used here is very high maintenance because in the wild it lives in moist woodlands AKA not the average lawn. So basically everything I plant is less weekly maintenance and instead just seasonal maintenance. I'm also very liberal with my pinebark mulch (byproduct so I prefer it over the environmentally-unfriendly cypress mulch people use here) to suppress weeds. If you can find a local seller of mulch by the pickup truckload it's pretty economical, like 20 bucks for a truckload which is very worth it.

Lastly, my yard is pretty sunny but almost everywhere is within reach of shifting shade. I'm very grateful for the trees I have and have added a few understory ones. This is the better way to garden in the Deep South. Almost nothing here prefers all day sun over at least an hour or two of relief in my experience.

Jay, thanks for the info about the Monarda punctata. I have tried other monardas without much success. I will have to give this one a try. I just ordered some seeds.

Jay, I totally get you about reducing lawn space. I would really love to do more, but my husband is traveling a lot, so other than cutting the grass it is all mine. I have planted a lot of trees over the years (on the picture some of the babies just show up as mulch freckles), so dragging 300 feet of water hose around is not that easy. Maybe I should hire one of the neighborhood teenagers. Seems over the Summer they don’t have anything other to do than riding their four wheelers.

Looks like you have a lot of yard, Iris. Plenty of room to knock yourself out. Have you looked into extending the water system out into different places of your yard? It isn't very expensive to do; they just put in pipes where you want it. I have done this over the years myself. I put in pipes and sprinklers and then run a hose out to them.

I think at this time of year our weather is very similar--hot and humid. I can only work for short times during the day. The best time for me is late afternoon, hopefully after a rain. I exercise early in the day, so I usually don't do much in the mornings.

It’s 5 acres. We have been talking about running some water lines. Problem is that my husband loves to do these kind of projects. So it will be a while....I don’t really mind the heat as much, by late afternoon the mosquitos are coming out in full force. We did have a thunderstorm with an inch of rain 2 days ago, so at least the little trees should be good for a week. Having to water them I am noticing the cool stuff though.