fruits of the season and other stuff

I'm not sure this is glass gem any more....

The deer berries (Vaccinium stamineum) are starting to ripen... good luck beating the birds to them, though... all the information online sez that they're only fit for the wildlife... but they're actually quite tasty... you have a window measured in minutes between ripeness and when the birds eat them.

Seashore mallow (Kosteletzkya virginica) first bloom of the summer.

Red spoted purple butterfly visits rudbeckia triloba.

I really like this combination of the white hibiscus and the snake cotton...

I'm getting watermelons from the new section of veggie garden...

Here's mixed group... rudbeckia and 2 hibiscus.

I finally got some ripe fruit from the dwarf paw paw tree... Ate the fruit and potted up the seed.

Sometimes I get lucky... Didn't bait the trap... just set it in the path. armadillo above, rabbit below.

Finally... a rose of sharon with blooms on bare branches... dry here... this tree dropped it's leaves back in June... blooming anyway... these things are tough.

garden critters in july

 Spicebush swallowtail nectaring at cnidoscolus

 Gulf fritillary starting a family...

The frit caterpillar...

silver spotted skipper also visiting cnidoscolus

Wheel barrow full of smilax tubers... one clump... now, if there were any decent recipes!

Fence post lizard

 The dreaded squash vine borer moth

Very attractive bug for being so unloved...

The SVB grub...

Another pest...

Gopher tortoise in the new section of the garden... chomping horse turds!

Isn't this funny! I've been attracting butterflies with truckloads of horse poop ever since I got here... didn't know that the turtles also liked it...

Truckloads of poop... each pile represents an entire truckload... The idea is that after setting on top of the ground for a couple weeks, the sand softens up... makes digging out roots easier... Of course... as dry as it is... seems almost hopeless... 

Rose of sharon....  I'm considering grouping some of my white flowers... call it a white garden...

White flowered cleome... 

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

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.

  I posted at length about penstemon may 2013

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.