Despite the Drought*, Life Goes On

I went out on to my deck this evening and I counted 

eight Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my volunteer dill plants. 

As I am not crazy about dill, 

the caterpillars are more than welcome to the plants.

Bon appetit.

       *If any of you knows a good rain dance, 

I'd appreciate it about now.  

Who's ever heard of brown grass in June?

In a few weeks each of these caterpillars will grow up to be

this beautiful butterfly.

Here is a picture of one of their relatives that I took a couple of years ago:

Now if we could only get some rain!

That's not asking for much, is it?

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.

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.