Sunflowerz n stuff

Hummingbird visiting tithonia... 

I hadn't been seeing these guys... was happy to spot this one yesterday.

helianthus angustifolius

Be sure to enlarge pic to see the depth of this planting! Will post additional pics as the blooms continue to open...

Planted this patch of sunflowers from seed (well... sunflower tops scattered across the top of the soil) last Autumn.

Fence post lizard...

Checkerspot sex

Really liking these bluestem flowers...

Nother bluestem flower.

These eupatorium flowers don't look like much, and most people pull them for weeds.... but they certainly attract the pollinators, and one more thing... They're scented!

Was tryinna get a decent pic of the wasps recently, and noticed an unexpected fragrance in the air... nothing to account for it... xcept for the eupatorium!

I'd totally bottle the scent... if I could do so without harming the flowerz...

Even the dawg fennel is scented... not as nice as the eupatorium serotinum... but scented all the same.

Thai basil

ageratina altissima
Not quite fully opened...

Tassel flower (Emilia fosbergii)
Not especially an autumn flower... has bloomed most of the summer.

tibouchina semidecandra
Marginally hardy here, but easy to propagate...

I brought out some stems last winter when I cut it back in another garden in Macon... Shoved the stems into the soil... and walked away. Pretty much the same way that I propagate the brugmansias...

hemiboea subcapitata

 I used to grow gloxinia in my previous personal garden, but they aren't winter hardy here in middle GA, and required replacing each year...
these hemiboea  need  protection from deer, but are otherwise perfectly suited to the climate.

gesneriads are some interesting plants, as seen here

Finally, how about a bit of autumn leaf colour?

 popcorn tree (Sapium sebiferum)

Autumn Naturals

It seems like people often complain about the lack of Autumn colour in their gardens... Prolly their own fault... kill the pretty flowers and plant turf... yuck!

 It's been my experience that I always have lots of Autumn colour in my Georgia gardens... That's when everything blooms and the monarchs show up...

Aureolaria pectinata, Southern Oak-leach

 

Heterotheca subaxillaris, camphorweed

Croptilon divaricatum, slender scratch daisy

Silk grass aster (pityopsis aspera)

Leaf detail

Chrysopsis gossypina, cottony goldenaster

licorice goldenrod, covered in luv-bugs...

clinopodium georgianum

cudweed (Gnaphalium sp.)

Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis)

Patch of goldenrod

Monarch visits solidago.

agalinis purpurea

With caterpillar...

Beauty berry (callicarpa americana)

salvia azurea

Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis)

I didn't think there was a need to mention this... But after Linda Furry Jones (southern rural route) posted about her allergies... I guess I better.

I suffer from hay fever too. The goldenrod is NOT the culprit!

Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia)

(click the pic for larger size)

This stuff is causing our distress!

Get rid of the ragweed, and keep the goldenrods.

Ragweed is wind pollinated, goldenrod is pollinated by insects.

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...

Where the wild things are

I have so many pictures this week, ima put a buncha caterpillar shots over on my tumblr.

The zebra longwing finally quit the nervous circling of the may-pop vines, and got down to business...

Look close, and you can see her depositing an egg...

egg!

The Hyssop-leaf thoroughwort (Eupatorium hyssopifolium) is never going to be a candidate for the flower bed... but seen in a certain light, has a certain attractiveness... Those layered platforms...

These little sweeties (top pic Five-banded Tiphiid Wasps), (bottom pic love bug), seem to be enjoying the eupatorium blooms...

Who could ever get tired of hummingbird pics?

While wandering around the garden drinking my morning coffee, I discovered this beauty hunting breakfast... Judging by where this dude was looking, I'd say that vole was definitely on the menu!

(click the pic to resize)

You go get those nasty voles!

The vernonia altissima is finally blooming... This is the locally native ironweed that grows in ditches around macon... 

Had a heck of a time getting it to grow out in the dry sand...

I'm not seeing any pollinators visiting... I wonder why the butterflies are giving it a miss...

This tiny spiderwort flower may be Commelinaceae, seems like the 3 flower petals = tradescantia, 2 petals = commelina isn't as definitive as we would like... If/when I find the definite name for this pretty, I'll have to come back and add it in...

The blue curls  (Trichostema dichotomum) aren't doing nearly as well with the rains this year... as they did last year in the heat and drought...

I don't like to keep posting the same critters or the same flowers... but this tyger on the tithonia surrounded by hyacinth bean flowers is a neat image...