Friday, July 15, 2011

July in the Garden

Spring rains have given way to hot, dry summer
weather in southern Indiana. 


A couple of weeks ago a wild turkey paid
an unexpected visit to our neighbor's yard.


One day when I went out to pick some Italian parsley
for a dish, I found this black swallowtail caterpillar
on the plant.

One of these pretty guys can strip
a parsley plant in just a couple of days.
I didn't want to kill the caterpillar, 
but I did need to find a new host plant for it.

Black swallowtail caterpillars feed off 
plants in the parsley family.
This includes parsley, carrots and Queen Anne's lace.
I eventually found a Queen Anne's lace plant
that I had not pulled out of the garden
and put the caterpillar next to that plant.


Daylily blooming.

Bee on Echinacea.

Bee on Liatris.


The garden is growing.


The butterfly bushes are beginning to bloom.


This is a volunteer in my garden.
It is a thimbleweed or Tall Anemone.
This plant is in the buttercup family.


Dill plant in bloom growing a pot with Magellanica.


The volunteer onion getting ready to bloom.


Sweet potato vine in bloom.
The flowers close at dusk and open again in the morning.


Yesterday I went to my favorite antique store in town
and purchased this lovely old water pump for $45.

I will be building a base for it,
either out of wood or concrete block,
so it sits about three feet tall.


I love the open spout.

I haven't decided if I will leave it in its rusted state
or if I will clean it up and paint it.

The Foodie Daughter has even suggested 
turning it into a fountain.
I will have to think about that.

5 comments:

Rosie Hawthorne said...

The caterpillars go through huge parsley plants within hours in my garden. Then they settle on the fennel as a last hurrah.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Lovely, as always.

Love the pump.

Marilyn said...

Now you know you can leave some Queen Anne's lace in your garden and when you find one of these caterpillars, just move them over to the Queen Anne's lace. They've got to eat and you want to save your parsley and fennel.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Queen Anne's Lace is gone by the time the caterpillars get here.

Marilyn said...

My research has found that black swallowtail caterpillars also like rue, but be aware that some people are very sensitive to this plant, hence the name.