Frost and Seedpods

Monarda punctata

Frost flowers on verbesina virginica

Last year... The temps got down to 7°  and the frost flowers grew with each day that the temp was below freezing.

Dog fennel frost flowers

The frost flowers on the verbesina are well known and often posted all over the internet... These frost blooms on the dog fennel... seem to be less documented.

Blooms on the plum tree... They're calling for temps in the teens tonight, with chill index in the single digits... How is that going to affect my plums?

The cat has attitude....

This hardy lemon... doesn't seem especially hardy...

Monarda seed pods

Verbesina seed heads

Agalinis purpurea seed pods...

Dog fennel

I hope everybody stays warm in these record setting freezing temps... And... Here's hoping someone collects the bounty on that d... groundhog...coulda done without the 6 more weeks of winter...

Monarchs, Finally

They usually get here in August...
People have been talking about a poor showing this year due to the drought, and I guess that's right.
I've put out their faves though....

Monarch butterfly leaving surprises on butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa)

Monarch cats munching tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)

The blooms on the tropical milkweeds are pretty, but I'd rather have the cats...

Agalinas purpurea blooms

Buckeye butterfly leaving eggs

Kewt little baby buckeye cat

Buckeye butterfly

I spotted a chrysalis on a pear tree.... This is from the gulf fritillary.

Long-tailed skipper babies on desmodium.

Desmodium blooms... Yall might recognize this plant from it's seeds, the ones that stick to your jeans and socks... This plant is better known as tick-trefoil, and the seeds as 'beggar-lice'. I could actually see a case for "dead-heading" this particular plant... Although.... the seeds are supposed to be valuable wildlife food.

Blooms on cranberry hibiscus. First year growing this plant, I'm thrilled to finally see blooms forming. I still need to find some "strawberry chenopodium".

Seeds from the sandhill ironweed that I posted August 28.

Painted lady butterfly on lespedeeza

Gourd patch. I pulled up that massive patch of vines yesterday, I'll be tossing out some turnip and rutabaga seeds directly.

Bee visits white verbesina

Bees on yellow verbesina. Yall might recognize these verbesinas as tall ditch-weeds, I pulled up a coupla stems last year from a couple of patches that were being mowed. They transplanted without difficulty.

Monarda punctata

Yellow brugmansia

Hair-streak butterflies visit flowering chives

The moonflower vines have begun to bloom.

July blooms

When I first started gardening here, It seemed like the humming birds would look for humming bird feeders next to the structures, while ignoring the flowers that I was planting for them... They eventually figured it out...






The goldfinches had no problem finding the sunflowers...






I hate these 7 minute itch plants (Cnidoscolus stimulosus)
With all the butterflies pollinating them, I don't think I'll be rid of them any time soon.






These black grasshoppers are bigger than the plants they eat...






Wonder what the cat is hunting...







The verbesina is blooming.
I found this cool wildflower growing along the side of the road, being mowed. I pulled a coupla pieces, it came up like mint, and was as easy to transplant. The yellow variety hasn't started to bloom yet.




This is an interesting plant... The flowers resemble lavender. This guy is a natural sand-hill resident. I need to post it for identification at a plant forum.
I posted the flower, and got an immediate response... Field snakecotton
You really can't call something a weed when it only grows in sand where little else can grow.




Florida tasselflower (Emilia fosbergii) This plant showed up this year, I only have this one... Ima let it grow, in spite of it's close resemblance to a couple of rogue customers...






River oats are very pretty, but difficult to photograph.








Mint attracts some cool pollinators...
Meet the Double-banded Scoliid (Scolia bicinta).
When not pollinating mint, the double-banded scoliid catches beetle grubs for the next generation.

Tropical milkweed seeds.

As always, the pictures click for larger views.

Polar Vortex

Brrr....

Got down to 7° here, and all the schools closed...

Record setting cold, and y'all can keep it.... I garden here to get away from those winter freezes.

Picture of needle ice

The frost flowers on the  verbesina virginica  grew (larger) with two consecutive days of below freezing.
Interestingly, the yellow verbesina doesn't develop these.

One more pic of frost. I can appreciate the beauty in this stuff, as long as I don't see much of it...

That nasty cold ruined my flowers.... This hellebore was gorgeous... now just brown.

Also ruined the camellia blooms...

As far as our winter edibles... The raccoons have been keeping the beds dug up, I'm not having any luck (so far) getting cool season edibles to grow... never mind the record cold...