The Garden in Distress

This year had started out so promising:

lots of rain and just the right amount of sun.

And then the rains stopped.

Just like that.

Never in all of my years of gardening have I ever experienced a spring drought.

This is not good.  Especially since many of our plants are still trying to recover from the severe drought we had two years ago.

 Even the native echinacea are wilted.*

*Disclaimer: I only water plants in pots in normal years and trees in drought years.

A plant has to be tough to survive in my garden.  I don't pamper any of my plants.  They survive or they're out of here.  Given the fact that my main garden lies on a severe southern facing slope that consists of very shallow soil (read a thin dusting of soil over limestone), any rain that does fall, either runs off immediately or doesn't stay around long.  

The best I can do is to build up the soil, but that takes time.

There is no magic bullet in gardening, folks.

Since I do have such adverse growing conditions in my garden, I have made a conscious effort to grow more native plants that are naturally suited to this climate and its quirks.

That certainly doesn't exempt them from feeling the pain in extreme weather, though.

 The dreaded Japanese beetles have hit with a vengeance.

They have practically denuded some of my roses.

 The goose neck loosestrife is severely wilted.

 It's looking sad.

 No, this isn't snow, this is grass.  It's dead grass.

Just a couple of days into summer.

 Pitiful.

At least we won't need to mow.

Hey, do you know how bad a drought is?

When even the weeds stop growing!

Yep, we're there.

 The butterfly bush out front is very unhappy.

 All right, I admit it.  We've been watering the hydrangea.

But with blooms this pretty, do you blame me?

As I said, we have been watering the pots.

The bush beans have been doing well and we got our first harvest this week.

Haricot verts.  Or young green beans.

Very tasty.

I planted four tomato plants in two large pots this year and we are being overrun with tomatoes.
We have already harvested our first tomatoes of the season.

Oh, and that greenhouse window to the right of the tomato plants?
I bought that off a neighbor at a garage sale for $5.  I plan to use it for a greenhouse for my potted herb plants to extend the growing season.

 But even in these darkest of times, there is life in the garden.

 A tiger swallowtail has been busy feeding on the butterfly bushes.

 As has a bumblebee.

 This guy proved a bit more elusive to photograph.

The Eastern black swallowtail.

Please remember when you water your gardens to also leave out sources of water for the insects and the birds, especially in times of drought. 

It's Too Darn Hot,

It's Too Darn Hot...

Ugh, it's 9 pm and it's still a heat index of 93 degrees outside.

No fun at all.

But still I brave the heat and go out to seek out nature's visitors.*

Go figure.

*Obviously, not all seeking was done at this moment in time.

Some was done a few days earlier,

when it was only slightly cooler.

Can anyone tell me what this fine fellow is?

My guess is that it is a moth, as it was supine during the day.

At first glance, it appeared to be leathery.

My reference books yielded no clues as to this beauty's identity.

Edit:

Zzzadig wrote in a comment that it appears to be

a newly hatched Sphinx moth.

The exact variety is unknown,

but these moths, commonly known as

hawk moths, are among the fastest flying moths.

Hummingbird moths are members of this family.

Thank you, Zzzadig, for taking the time to find

the information for me!

A monarch butterfly graced us with its presence.

A Black Swallowtail.







A Tiger Swallowtail.




Note that there are differences between butterflies

of the same species.





Is that fog?



No,

that's just my camera fogging over because of the

high humidity outside.



The same thing happens to my glasses each time I go outside.

A male goldfinch visits the butterfly bushes now that

they are going to seed.

Goldfinches only eat seeds.

The deer have been remiss this year.

They have let many plants bloom this year that haven't in years.

Another Black Swallowtail.

These butterflies are more difficult to photograph

as they don't like to remain still for long.

Beautiful.

Black Swallowtail.

Black Swallowtail.

Butterfly bushes.

Queen Anne's Lace.

This may be considered a weed in this country,

but in England it is often purposely planted in the garden.

I didn't plant it, but it's blooming,

so I guess I'll live with it...

for now.

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.