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Thursday, June 9, 2016

butterflies and stuff

I don't remember seeing monarchs last year... unfortunately this one didn't linger...


And, another fan of the stokesia.

canna

Elderberry flowers... 

garlic scapes

Talinum paniculatum

Broadhead skink

moth (unidentified)

Wasp visits asclepias amplexicaulis

zebra swallowtail
gopher tortoise

anole in corn patch


 

Thursday, May 5, 2016

American Lady

It's a spectacular year for cudweed / rabbit tobacco.... It's so prolific that I'm finding myself actually pulling it out of the vegetable beds! Normally I leave it be... gotta have host plants.... if you are gonna have butterflies....
When I spotted an American Painted Lady laying eggs... I went running for a camera... 
Naturally, the butterfly was long gone by the time I got back... so... I carried the camera around hoping for another chance....



And... when I found another lady... I took lots of photos...

 And... A Buckeye had to inspect the garden soil while I planted the glass gem corn....

 The penstemons are blooming.
Check the bug....

 Some final bloom on the wild amsonia.
Speaking of bumper crops.... The 7 minute itch is everywhere... and can't hand pull this stuff... 

Farkleberry  bloom. (vaccinium arboreum)

 Smallanthus Uvedalia AKA Bear's Foot Flower

 Tephrosia Virginiana AKA Goat's Rue 
I tried planting the seed of this beauty one year... miserable luck... First... there were a ton of weevils inside the pods... and when I actually found a few seeds... the voles got the babies.
Solution? Grow in pots... which sucks.

Verbena bonaris... I brought this in from a garden in town.

Tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) 
Haven't seen the Cinnabar Moth yet... But... Ima keep my eyes peeled...
Don't let the smallanthus leaf fool you... Had to use it to get a clear picture of the bloom.

 

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

April Flowers

Native crossvine


Natural coral honeysuckle
Ok, Native plants aficionados... Can you explain the difference between a native, a locally native, and a natural?
Red buckeye; Also a native...

And since I'm not strictly about growing native plants.... here's an exotic azalea... 



Poppies are blooming... Here's a time lapse of the same patch... the patch starts out red... and eventually turns mostly purple...
As gorgeous as these are... I'm kicking myself for not having planted more... But... Pictures just don't do them justice, and I forget how much I like them when October planting time rolls around...

Bearded iris in foreground.... Louisiana iris in background....

Found my black rat snake coachwhip snake... tied up in bird netting ... cut it loose
Maybe y'all remember the king snake from 2013?
You'd think I'd quit trying to use bird netting in a nature garden... But... I was trying to protect my baby carrots... sure is hard on my valuable snakes, though...
I'm using window screens over the seedlings in pots... I'm going to have to start using the screen out in the beds...

 

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

It's definitely Spring



Bloodroot... I potted these babies last Spring, when I noticed that the voles were eating them in the garden...

Redbud tree in early bloom... one of the seedlings that I rescued from town....

chenopodium giganteum... gonna be ready to cook soon...

Zebra swallowtail.... came to help me spread horse poop.... I always get a kick out of that... spread manure, the butterflies show up....

 Ladybug on elderberry...
Cluster of aphids... the reason for the ladybugs on the shrub...

cutworm

 The eastern columbines are attracting butterflies...
 Tiger swallowtail
 Black swallowtail...

Kitty

Hmmm... Didn't think to get a pic of the toad that I dug up yesterday when I was spreading manure... :(

 How about some bird pics?
Robins

Woodpecker

And finally... How about this rainbow I captured one day as I left the library?

 


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