Water Primrose and Dragonflies

Primrose is rapidly taking over one of our neighborhood ponds. It is just beginning to bloom and is actually quite pretty. I did a little research on the primrose and found that it is harmful to aquatic life, because it is extremely invasive and eventually covers the pond it causes the PH balance and the water quality to be affected. From what I've read from different sources, it is more harmful than helpful.

Our neighborhood will soon be spraying to kill it. It's hard to know sometimes what the more prudent thing to do is. Especially when you see the surface creatures benefiting from it.

I had never seen mating dragonflies before.

The dragonflies seem to be very abundant this year. Hundreds of them, all over the primrose.

I hope the spray won't harm them.

I had read that primrose is great to put in the compost pile. I actually took my rake and a plastic container thinking that I could pull some out. I was surprised by how much it had spread and grown since my last pond visit. There was no way I could pull a chunk of that mass out of the water with my rake.

I'm sure algae would be great for the compost pile too.

Leaf Cutter Bee

Jan, from Always Growing, identified this leaf cutter bee for me. Thank you, Jan!

Here are a few interesting facts about the leaf cutter bee. It cuts circles or ovals from leaves and uses them to build nest cells. It then fills the cells with pollen and nectar, lays the eggs and then closes the cell with another leaf. It is a non-aggressive bee with just a mild sting. Rather than being a part of a colony, the leaf cutter is a solitary bee.

I'm really glad that it isn't aggressive since it is obviously nesting in the patio wall.

A New Camera and a BIG Thank you!

I wanted start off by thanking you all for your kind words, your thoughts and especially your prayers regarding my husband's job loss. The initial shock has worn off and a deep sense of sadness has taken its place. We are trying to have faith and not give in to fear. A little fear is good, however, because it tends to make us very proactive.



My husband traveled frequently and always put expenses on his Rewards card. He graciously let me use the reward points on my photography hobby. Last year I used them for a 75-300mm lens for my Sony Alpha 100. My beloved Sony F717 was not performing very well anymore and I wanted a new camera to replace it. I recently purchased a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 and it was delivered right about the time that we found out about the job loss. Needless to say, my enthusiasm about the new camera was dampened.





This afternoon I tried to nap but soon became restless. Instead, I went outside with my new camera and sat in the swing. There is something very satisfying to me about holding a camera in my hands. I love the way it feels. Taking pictures is far more restful and refreshing to me than a nap. I'm sure that may sound strange to some people, and I can't explain it myself. Hopefully I'm not totally crazy and there are a few others who love photography who might understand. Anyway, I sat there swinging and watching for anything that might catch my eyes. There really wasn't much going on. Just a few bumblebees and a brief glimpse of an American painted lady.

This bumblebee was huge!

I took a few pictures of the flowers. I marveled at how different and interesting the flowers on the echinacea looked.

This is my favorite container planting.

The highlight of the afternoon was seeing this large dragonfly land on the 'Veronica' speedwell. It flew around the garden several times and would light on this every time. I wonder if it was the color, the stalk, or something else that attracted him to this particular plant.

I'm still learning the camera and it has been so windy that it has been difficult to get good, clearly focused pictures, but so far, I think I'm going to enjoy it. It has a 15x optical zoom lens which is equivalent to 465mm. This will come in handy for capturing pictures of birds. Now I'm getting antsy for a field trip!

I hope you all have a marvelous Monday!

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.

The Yoke's On Me

I've always been partial to pink and purple flowers and this pink mallow is such a delight. I just read the seed packet and this is 'Pink Beauty' mallow. I also just noticed that it isn't recommended to start these indoors as they can be difficult to transplant. I'm very glad that these have survived my ignorance.

I've never been partial to white flowers and was so disappointed that the one and only hollyhock that survived from last year's planting was white. It's very pretty in the evening by the light of the full moon. I really don't want more white hollyhocks though, and will pull this one up before it goes to seed.

My one and only real rose bush, ( I have several Carpet roses and Knockout roses). It produces a few red roses each year, but isn't really thriving. It does look healthier this year than in years past. So far, no black spots or pests, the aphids aren't even bothering it this year.

While I was outside, I had the pleasure of seeing a hummingbird. For some reason they are scarce this year and I'm not seeing them frequent the feeder.

I've spotted my first preying mantis. I was watering and almost missed seeing this little guy.

Our house was egged for the second time last night. This is so frustrating and maddening. This area gets morning sun and by the time we saw it and the police came to file the report, the eggs were baked on. We had to spend the morning cleaning the siding and the patio.

The maddening thing is that they had to be right at the patio to do this. This is not a harmless prank, it is vandalism. It permanently damages the siding. We never did get it all off of the side of the house last time, even though we cleaned it up right after it happened, at 1:00 AM.