What the Phlox?

It's been so hot and humid it's hard to believe that autumn is just around the corner. While the days may be getting shorter, the crickets and cicadas are definitely getting louder. At least, they are a welcome distraction from the sad reality of the news. My thoughts are with all those affected by the wildfires, the hurricane, Covid-19 and yet again, more heartless shootings that end young lives and change their families forever. Hopefully, in the coming election, we can have an effect on future disasters, maybe even avoid some of them. Things can change if we vote. 

Thank goodness for Mother Nature and the butterfly migration! I'm always amazed by how tough these fragile creatures are. During the day it's mostly Monarchs, Admirals and Yellow Swallowtails. 

At dusk it's the moths, a lot of the ones that look like hummingbirds show up. A few actual hummingbirds are around too, but even if I'm lucky enough to have a camera handy, I still only get blurry photos!

Awhile ago, I started to notice that there were quite a few butterflies in our garden and that they really liked the phlox. Thanks to my neglect this spring, they have taken over. Since they are one of the butterflies favorite treats, does that qualify as a silver lining? Somewhere, among all these phlox are about a dozen peony and hydrangea plants, hopefully they will survive.

It wasn't always this bad. There were a couple medium sized clumps in the backyard when we moved in. I have tried replacing them with fancy hybrids from the garden center. They were dainty little plants with bi-colored flowers and ruffly edges. Unfortunately, they rarely lasted more than a season and what came up in their place was a whole different story. At least they're not the invasive variety. Some of this season's crop is definitely going to be removed and those remaining will be carefully deadheaded. There will still be plenty left for the butterflies, of course.  

They really came up everywhere. 

Even between bricks and cement.

Always photobombing pictures of other flowers.

Yet still attracting the butterflies. Sometimes too much of a good thing is really a good thing.

After all this heat, these cooler summer nights are wonderful!

Now I need to open a new page and donate to the Red Cross and Black Lives Matter.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely summer evening.

Be Careful What You Wish For

It's Crabapple Season! Can you tell?

In May I was bemoaning the fact that due to the extreme temperature swings of this spring, our magnolia tree wasn't the mass of flowers it has been in previous years. Then a few weeks later, at the very opposite end of the garden, our crazy pink and white crabapple started to bloom.    

Like it had never bloomed before!

It rained petals for days.

To be fair, it was a very good year for crabapples all around our area, check out that one across the street! Our lilacs put on a pretty good show, too.

Eventually, all those pretty white flowers became light green crabapples.

While every last one of the fuchsia blooms turned into orange and yellow ones. Now we have lots and lots of crabapples everywhere, in the trees, all over the ground and regularly hitting us on the head!

Incoming! Look out, Burt!

 Ooooh, right between the eyes!

Wow, it got a great bounce off his skull!

Currently, we are focused on getting them out of the tomato bed.

 At this rate, it's going to take awhile.

(Looks like we have a bit of a Creeping Charlie problem to deal with too.)

These crabapples have met a fitting end in the always creepy compost bin. They were beautiful flowers but they came with a price. The cleanup has only just begun and we're probably going to need a shovel. 

Hope everyone had a safe weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Few Lights and Some Critters

Since the days are getting noticeably shorter, Ivy decided it was time to string the lights through the pine trees next to the patio. Last year I forgot to take them down and they stayed up through Christmas. So far, it appears they're still working! 

These two trees are inhabited by a bossy family of squirrels who have been doing their best to be annoying ever since we moved in. Usually, they stick to the regular squirrel stuff, like digging around in the planters and raiding the bird feeders but lately they've upped their game. Currently they are feasting on the acorns in the oak trees by the garage. The incredibly loud noise they make while eating and their constant chattering isn't so bad but the mess they make rivals a tropical storm. Just how much they actually consume became painfully apparent when I thoughtlessly walked across the driveway barefooted.

Speaking of noisy!

(This is totally off the topic but doesn't this cicada look a like a pug?)

Fortunately, there are a lot of other critters in the garden that aren't so annoying. The butterflies have begun to migrate so Yellow Swallowtails and Monarchs pass through daily. They're very energetic this early in the season, His Madness got this photo with his phone, in a lucky moment. They're almost as hard to photograph as the hummingbirds! 

There's usually lots of dragonflies around thanks to our overabundance of mosquitoes. From a couple of feet away, the markings on this one's wings made it look like a little black butterfly. All the better for sneaking up on those pesky little blood suckers.

In early June, I was walking past this pot I'd recently planted with petunias and thunbergia and noticed these little yellow specks, 

Upon closer inspection it turned out to be hundreds of minuscule spiders! Eeek!

Could one of them have grown up to spin this giant web?

Getting back to cute and fuzzy, I can't forget the bees! 

Then there are the plastic critters. What garden is complete without fake flamingoes?

They always put a smile on everyone's face.

Okay, maybe not everyone's face. The squirrels always make Spenser grumpy.

Happy Humpday!

Take care of yourselves and thanks for stopping by.