Saw a lot of this out in the garden. Ever since an awful storm it seems like all my plants are playing limbo. This is the only Liatris ligulistylis (Meadow Blazing Star) that didn't fall over. It's also the only one that seems to be doing well. Other Blazing stars I have seemed to have faired better.
I planted some Blue Vervain, Verbena hastata, in front of the coneflowers. Somehow I didn't expect them to grow twice as tall, on well. These two plants are getting switched in the fall of course. As you can imagen though they've fallen over too and right onto the walk way. Unfortunately I couldn't get them to stand back up again and had to cut a few out of convenience. On the up side though I've found a great angle to view this plant. Overhead!
If I had a spot near our deck that was sunny and free this plant would be perfect there. Unfortunately That's where the milkweed patch is, and the other sides are to shady. From the side view (seen here) the plant isn't spectacular. It's just green shoots with very few flowers blooming. It's in desperate need of a companion and I just haven't found it yet.
Another casualty in this domino effect was the Helenium x Helbros "Mardi Gras," aka Sneezeweed. My neighbor has a tone of these (and she buys a lot of honey hehehe) and they are very pretty plants, everyone one should own some, (and buy more honey from me).
Normally I don't plant red flowers, which is what the flower start out as, but this one really caught my eye. My disliking of red in the pollinator garden has nothing to do with bees pollinating the flowers. Yes insects see red as black and they're not attracted to such colors, but plants frequently employ different methods of attracting pollinators. Purple Coneflowers (regardless of color) get way more attention than Black Eye'd Susans which are beaming yellow. Sunflowers in general come in a variety of colors and red is not overlooked. No, my reason for not liking red plants is because of what how attractive it is. I do a lot of macro photography and often I like to take advantage of the backgrounds. Example 1, Example 2, Example 3. Having a giant red dot glowing in the background creates an accent in the picture that changes the way one's eye might flow through image. Very annoying in my opinion.
Other plants that are so disastrous that I didn't bother to take their picture are the Joe Pye Weed, which is now shading out some Rudbekia, and Coneflowers now, and the perennial Sunflowers. Ohh that sunflower.... I don't understand how a perennial sunflower falls over and the annual varieties stand up firm.
The lesson here is buy supports.