Life in the Bushes -

Butterfly Bushes, That is

The butterfly bush, or Buddleia Davidii,

is a deciduous shrub that can grow to 15 feet.

They often do not reach these heights as winter

cold will often kill the plant back to the ground.

Not to worry:

simply prune and wait for the new growth to appear.

Butterfly bushes have silver/green foliage

and tend be a bit untidy in growth,

with stems arching out and downward.

As the name promised,

these shrubs attract butterflies.

Oh, do they.

Before we head out to the garden,

look at who visited the deck this morning.

This is a Luna Moth.

This beauty has a wing span of about 3-1/2 inches.

I would speculate,

based upon the heavy feathering of the antenna,

that this is a male.

Well, what do you know?

I have stargazer lilies blooming.

The deer usually eat the lilies before they have the

chance to bloom.

I had forgotten how much I dislike this flower's aroma.

Years ago I made the mistake of cutting one

and bringing it inside.

The thing was tossed out of the house in less than an hour.

All right, now we will go down to the garden.

The Foodie Boyfriend and I measured the tallest

shrub this morning and learned that it is 12 feet tall.

Welcome to the butterfly garden.

It is a busy place.

The lovely Tiger Swallowtail.






Even the underside of the wings are beautiful.


















And here once again are those elusive butterflies.










They just don't seem to like to have their pictures taken.

You can see why it is so difficult to get a good

photo of these butterflies.

They just don't seem to want to sit still.

I like the colorful under-wings.

Please come down here so I can get a better picture.








Shh.


One has heard my plea.

Beautiful.

In looking through my butterfly guides,

the closest I can guess,

is that this might be an Eastern Black Swallowtail.

Maybe.

But then again,

I'm no entomologist.

Thank you, lovely butterfly, for posing for me.

What's this?

A newcomer?

This is a Zebra Swallowtail.

This particular specimen has pale blue wings

with the black stripes.

A Red Admiral (on the left) and an unidentified butterfly.

Red Admirals tend to be a bit shy around the camera.

The Red Admiral.

A Painted Lady.

Again, I am not sure what this butterfly is.

This is some sort of Folded-Wing Skipper.

Butterflies at play?

As you can see, he keeps his wings folded to his body.

Butterfly bushes also attract other insects.

Here a honey bee visits.

Notice the pollen in her pollen baskets on her hind legs.

A bumble bee visits.

The Humming Bird Moth has returned.

This large moth is often mistaken for a hummingbird.

Thanks for coming out to the garden with me today.

Too bad you couldn't help me pull weeds

while I waited for the right photo ops.

Randomness Just Seems to Happen

You think your life is full of random moments? You're not alone. Come along and watch the fun.

There is a seasonal stream running through ours and our neighbor's yards. I know this because I happen to have a copy of an old geological survey of our county. The funny thing is that the deer use this depression as their trail into the neighborhood.

On a lark I planted some green beans in a pot on my deck. This is my first harvest. I'm so proud. I'd like to thank the academy, all the little people, my family and all the people I have ruthlessly stepped on over the years. Oops, wrong speech.

Moving right along...



I rather like this sunset. I should tell you that we had some violent storms by the next morning.

Minx likes shoes. Here he is investigating the Foodie Daughter's boyfriend's shoes.

These shoes are almost as big as Minx.

Recently my husband and I were traveling to Indianapolis for a picnic when I spotted this unusual sight. I urged my husband to drive faster so I could get a better picture of the truck.

Hm, a mattress and some other items apparently couldn't fit in this moving trailer. Remind me to never call this company.

I walked out in my garage the other day and got a surprise. Surprise! Get it? Surprise lilies? We had dug these up back in June before the construction crew came to put in the new deck, but have never gotten around to putting them back in the ground. I guess that didn't stop them from blooming though.

Admit it, you're surprised.

A red admiral butterfly landed on my storm door the other day, but I was unable to get a picture of it with its wings spread. But no matter; you can go here to see some nice pictures of this pretty butterfly.



We have had a very nice July here in Southern Indiana, with unseasonably cool weather and lots of rain. Unfortunately what we like, the tropical tomato plants hate.

They're not looking good.

Nope, not good at all. I ended up losing one tomato plant, but the Roma tomato plant might actually recover.

One of my parsley plants has really gone to town. Apparently, cool and wet weather makes Italian parsley very happy.

My rosemary plant has also recovered very nicely from its winter ordeal. I promise to try to remember to water it more often this next winter.

Isn't it a bit early for a harvest moon?

Well, I warned you this would be random.

Oh, and one last non-random thought...

Happy 26th Birthday to the Foodie Son!