Welcome to the Garden

The garden is flourishing,

despite my neglect as I have had more pressing matters 

on my mind lately.

 The ever lovely Dr. Huey Rose. 

 Salvia.  I think.

Damn, I didn't label it.

Gertrude Jekyll.

I wish you could smell this rose.

The scent would take you back to your grandmother's garden.

Pincushion flower.

A rose carpet or something in bloom.  

Another genetic wonder of the rose world in  bloom in my garden.

Rainbow's End, with all the delightful colors on display at once.

As the flowers age, they go from yellow to orange to pink.

This is a miniature rose, in case you are interested.

Campanula or bell flower.  

And finally, meet my friend, Croakie.  

Just don't make any sudden movements.

He's a bit skittish.

The other day I went out onto the deck and opened the umbrella

only to find Croakie looking up at me as if to say,

"Hey, what are you doing here, invading my space?"

Never the less, we spent the next few hours in peaceful

cohabitation while I read and he sat in his cup.  

Finally I decided to call it a day and I enclosed Croakie back into his 

umbrella cocoon. 

Garden Denizens and then Some

I am for the most part fond of my animal neighbors.
There are a few I could do without*, but most are harmless
and even cute.

*Wasps, slugs, mosquitoes, gnats, flies, racoons, skunks,
to name just a few.
And I happen to like non-poisonous snakes, by the way.

After the first storm a couple of weeks ago,
we found a couple of gray tree frogs on both the
back and front doors.

Aren't they the cutest things?

Click on the picture to see the Eastern Bluebird.
This is a male.

I finally got around to putting the bluebird house
up on one of the deck posts and the bluebirds returned.

A male Goldfinch sits on the butterfly bush.
Click on the picture for a better look.

This weekend a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor came to town,
offering rides to interested people.
As usual, the plane (the plane!) flew over the neighborhood.
The cost of a plane ride is $50 for members and
$60 for non-members.

This plane was used in the movie "Public Enemies"
about John Dillinger with Johnny Depp.

I think I'll stay on the ground, thank you very much.

Last fall all of our fish succumbed to Ich, that dreaded
disease of the aquarium.

When our grandson asked where the fish had gone,
we told him that the fish had gone on vacation.

After several months of having an empty aquarium,
we cleaned everything well and allowed it to cycle
before adding three platies.

Two weeks later I changed out some water
and checked on the fish.

But what is that in the picture?

Click on it to see.

Platies are like tribbles.
Those things are born pregnant.

Now we have three baby fish.

Now, what we gonna do?

Those darn fish.

Life on the New Deck

We just love our new deck. Unfortunately for us, the weather has not been cooperating and our time out there is necessarily limited. If it isn't storming, it is unseasonably hot and humid. All in all, not the best weather to be out in unless you absolutely have to be.

Minx wants to know why he can't go out on the new deck.

Look who I found out in the garden (and brought up on the deck for the family to see*). It's Yertle. We hadn't seen Yertle the turtle in years. I guess the deck construction brought Yertle out of hiding. Yertle is an Eastern Box Turtle.

*Please do be careful when handling wildlife. And dear Yertle was returned to the garden after this photo op. No turtles were harmed in the creation of this post.

Our Gray Tree Frogs have already found the new table and umbrella. I love these guys.

Isn't he/she adorable?

The new seating area is set up. A couple of the chairs from the new dining set flank the old garden swing.

This is a nice dining set and umbrella. I'm glad to have that umbrella in place, though. That 13-foot umbrella is heavy!

Aha! I found a way around our hot and steamy weather. I got up at 7 am the other morning and sat outside with my cup of hot tea and a book.

Late in the day I again went back outside and plugged in some lights and lit some candles. Nice.

Very nice.

Josh, you and your crew did a great job! Thanks.

Garden Guests

I have had the privilege of documenting various garden guests this weekend. Sorry, but I didn't have my camera on hand when the deer went loping through the yard yesterday. That happens sometimes.

First off, the camera. Gee, do you think it is a bit hot and steamy outside? Given that my camera lens immediately fogged up when I stepped outside?

Well, this isn't exactly what I had in mind regarding garden guests, but I just had to share this plant with you. It is a blackberry lily (Belamcanda chinensis). Now, orange is not my color, but my husband loves orange, so natually I felt the need to incoporate this color into my garden.

Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my dill weed plant.

Couldn't you just hug them? But not too tightly, mind you.

Squee! And yet another of my Croakies. I love my gray tree frogs. Could you tell?

Tiger Swallowtail on a Butterfly Bush (Buddleia Davidii)

Black and Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies visit the Butterfly Bushes.

An Event Worth Waiting for

About this time every year I keep an eye out in my water garden in a pot (tm) for this year's 'crop'. And here it is.

Just look at all the tadpoles in my water garden pot. Let's see: I call all my
Gray Tree Frogs 'Croaky', so are these 'Croak-ettes'? or 'Croak-lets'? Eh, we could just call them cute.

And one day some of the tadpoles will become frogs, just like these three. Aren't they just too precious?