Random Things and Sad Family Situation

I was a little concerned that I had not been seeing butterflies. After all, I've filled my gardens with butterfly loving plants including many host plants. A few days ago I went back through my blog archives and saw that it wasn't until July last year that I really began seeing the butterflies. Yesterday morning, while I was outside watering, I saw this butterfly on the parsley. I believe she was laying eggs. Parsley is a host plant for black swallowtail butterflies and I plant it in the butterfly garden just for this purpose.


I've always treated my parsley, as an annual, (it's a biennial), and I clean it out of the garden in the fall. However, last year I didn't get around to pulling it up and surprisingly it survived our winter. It is now in bloom and the insects love it. It seems to be the preferred bloom right now.

I'm not seeing the goldfinches too often anymore. It always delights me to see them. This almost dead maple tree is the favorite perching place for the birds. It's rather nice for me too because there are no leaves to obstruct the view.

I can't believe it this time of year again. I saw the first Japanese beetle yesterday. Today I found one on a purple coneflower at the mailbox. Now, I will have to spend time each morning hand picking these awful bugs off of my trees and plants.

The white hollyhock is simply gorgeous. I've decided that she is definitely a keeper so I'll let her drop seed and hopefully next year I'll have a few more of these beauties.


I walked to one of the neighborhood ponds a few days ago and was surprised at the number of dragonflies. I'm looking forward to going back one evening or on an overcast day and trying to get some better pictures. The sun was pretty bright when I took these.



A few weeks ago I went to a garage sale and found a purple bowling ball for $2.00. I don't think I have to worry about the high winds breaking this gazing ball. I'm not really sure that I like this particular arrangement. Knowing how heavy that thing is, I look at the little guy holding it up, and he just looks like he's straining under all that weight.

This moth was on the patio door.

I thought this was odd. This bee was flying around the patio yesterday, well, he was trying to fly, he was really weighted down and could barely carry his load. I thought it had something like an egg sack but when I downloaded the picture I saw that it was a leaf. Can anyone explain this behavior?

On a really sad note, my husband is now a victim of the bad economy. We were notified yesterday that his job was terminated. He has been in sales in the RV industry for about 20 years, with gas prices and the economy this particular industry is really suffering right now. So many people have lost their jobs and very few, if any, of the RV companies are hiring. For those of you who are inclined, please pray for our family, especially my husband.

Battered Butterfly, Beetles and Bees

I saw another tiger swallowtail this evening and was able to get a few pictures.
From this angle it looks beautiful, but the poor thing was missing a large portion of the other wing.

It was still able to fly, but not very well. At one point the breeze began to slightly blow and it really struggled to fly.

Of the many varieties of flowers I've planted to attract the butterflies they all seem to like the Verbena bonariensis the best. I have quite a bit of this because it was planted several years ago and reseeds well.The bees also love it. This bumble bee was quite large. I used to be so afraid of the bees and would run inside when I saw one because I've been stung several times. Once, at my home in Tuscaloosa, I must have stumbled across a bumble bee nest in the very back of the yard because a bumble bee came after me and chased me screaming into the house and persisted at flying into the window over and over. It was very angry with me for some reason and wanted a piece of me. I was afraid to go into the backyard for days after that happened. This year I've been able to get right up close to photograph them and they don't seem to be bothered by my presence.

Some garden bloggers have said that they aren't having problems with Japanese beetles this year. I wish I could say that, but I can't, they are pretty bad for me this year. I try to go out every evening and pick them off my plants and drop them in a large zip-lock baggie with soap and hot water. They are eating my miniature roses, impatiens, sweet potato vines, birches, Japanese maples, zinnias, and sadly they have made a mess of my new Karen azalea. Someone said that they like things close to the house. That has been the case here, because I had a purple crab apple tree in the front yard, close to the house, they always stripped the leaves off and it looked so unsightly that I didn't want it in a visible place. This spring I moved it to the very back of the back yard and it hasn't been eaten, yet.

In years past my clematis has been beautiful, but not this year. The blooms were sparse and didn't last very long at all. The picture above is a new one that was planted in the spring and it is just now beginning to bloom.

This has been a busy time for me getting ready for and having company, so I haven't been working in the yard too much, not that I even want to because it has just been too hot. We live so far from family and friends and it is very nice when they come here to see us. It seems to come in spurts for us sometimes in the summer; my husbands family was here last week and my parents are coming tomorrow to stay a week with us. So, I'm not sure how often I'll get to post in the next few days. I'm hoping to take my mom to Little Nashville in Brown County.

Pets, Petals, and Pests

H F Young Clematis

A few of the impatiens I grew from seed have buds.

It should be safe to plant the caladiums now.

The center of this Johnny Jump-up looks like a blond angel in a robe to me.

Speedwell Veronica

This is so frustrating. My rose bushes were covered with aphids today. I squished some by hand, then sprayed them with soapy water, then blasted them with the water hose.
Then I saw that something had eaten this bud. First the freeze gets the beautiful spring blossoms and then the bugs get these. The ground is so dry now from lack of rain, all I had time for today was watering my plants. If I didn't enjoy gardening so much and the rewards it brings, I would probably throw my hands up in frustration and quit, but quitting is not an option. I'll not whine about it any more (in this post any way), because nothing worth having comes easy. And these beautiful blossoms are worth the effort.

Dianthus

Peony buds

My kitty is an inside girl; often I will leave the door cracked open a little for her and she will play, turn flips and all sorts of funny antics. I often wonder what she would do if we let her out. We all love this little kitty and would be heartbroken if something should happen to her, so she only gets to look out for now.
I thought this was funny, the cat is wanting out and the dog is wanting in, or maybe they just wanted to be together. They really do get along well.