Gardens-In-The-Sand

Bugs n butterflies... again!

Mating rituals in the lantana

Gulf frit joins the party...

Gulf fritillary luv

Aw man!

Can't get a bit of privacy around here...

Now, this is just crazy...

The verbesina virginica is popular....
Monarch and red-spotted purple share a nectar source.

Red-banded Hairstreak visits the yellow.

The butterflies took a while, but they're visiting the ironweed...

I'm thinking spice bush swallow-tail... but those dark form tiger swallowtails are practically indistinguishable from the spice bush... so... still looking for an easy way to tell them apart.

Blooms on the physostegia virginiana ...

Carnivore luv... wheel bugs (Arilus cristatus)
Looks as dangerous as falling in love with a black widow or a prayin' mantis...

Eupatorium serotinum

I'm using a pic I shot in Macon... my eupatorium serotinum has vitis on it, and didn't make a nice picture...

But... I got wasp pics from mine...

Double trouble...

Finally, for your viewing pleasure... Check the saddle-back I spotted on the sassafras...

There were a pair of them... but getting widely spaced multiple caterpillars in the shot is even more difficult than multiple butterflies...

Autumn Gold

I'm getting these pics posted a bit late... Last year I posted the golden asters at the end of September...

Camphorweed (Heterotheca subaxillaris)

Slender scratch daisy (Croptilon divaricatum)

Goldenasters (Chrysopsis gossypina)

Helianthus angustifolius

Mexican sunflower (tithonia rotundifolia)

solidago rugosa

Yellow Wingstem (verbesina)

Ok... Not gold, but autumn is when the tibouchina shine...

Unfortunately, tibouchina doesn't seem to be attractive to the pollinators... And while that purple bloom was a show stopper the first time I saw it... over the years... it's kinda lost some appeal...

Tibouchina is easy to propagate, I shoved some cuttings in the sand one year... and it seems to thrive in my garden... that cold spell last winter didn't faze it at all.

Got 2 inches of rain, and autumn temps.

TV for cats...

Yall know that's a tomato... don't cha?

Frost flowers!

When people mention frost flowers, they usually mean verbesina virginica (pictured above).
This is as profound an ice bloom as I can remember... I theorize that the recent rain may have something to do with the amount of ice squeezed out of the plant this morning...

At my house the salvia coccinea Also produces frost blooms... Unfortunately... I can't say for sure whether it's also represented in this group of pics...