Back-Yard Gardens:
Various vignettes:
The butterflies LOVE the tall garden phlox! It's a Native plant, as well...what's not to love?!
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| Spicebush Swallowtail (side view) |
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| Spicebush Swallowtail (top view) |
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| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail |
This is the first year ever that I've found Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars on my Milkweed!!! I.m raising them in an enclosed screened in area and will blog about them later ;)
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| Native Asclepias tuberosa |
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| A lone Impatiens growing at the base of a tree, must have reseeded from plants I had in pots last year. I didn't plant any this year! |
Lobelia (red and blue varieties) along with Chelone line the pond
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| Natives Lobelia cardinalis (red) and Lobelia siphilitica (blue) |
Lobelia siphilitica (Blue Lobelia)...close-up:
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| Native Lobelia |
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| Native Turtlehead |
Hummers LOVE the red cardinal flower!
Back-Yard, Rear Wild Garden:
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| Native ''Three- lobed Coneflower" (Rudbeckia triloba) |
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| Native Sweet Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum) with Eastern Tiger Swallowtail |
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| Natives Little Joe aka: Dwarf Joe PyeWeed (Eupatorium purpureum) and Sweet Joe Pye--they look very much alike but Little Joe is a smaller cultivar, you can see it just behind the taller variety. |
Views through the hammock...
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Looking through the swing...Agastache combined with the Rudbeckia and Joe Pye has brought in all the butterflies in Virginia :)
Front-Yard Gardens:
Asclepias tuberosa, Salvia greggii, and Russian Sage are some of the perennials in the corner gardens along the road and driveway.
Agastache 'Purple Pygmy' adds a nice touch here, as well
The Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) has spread itself around and is loved by all the pollenators:
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| A. tubersosa with Eastern Tiger Swallowtail |
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| Bee visiting A. tuberosa |
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| A wasp is having a field day here, too |
Native Coneflower (Echiniacea purpurea) is a also a bee magnet!
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| Bees enjoy the Veronica Speedwell, 'Icicle' |
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| Bees seem to love the Zinnia's! |
Front-Yard Side Gardens:
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| Near the basketball hoop and next to the garage is a pollinator's delight, although a bit messy this time of year... |
Mixed up mess of Beebalm, Phlox and Rudbecka:
Japanese Anenome with a bee...bee-utiful ;)
Catmint "Walker's Low" with a visitor, a Cabbage White butterfly.
Verbenia bonariensis with Gray Hairstreak butterfly:
Cut-leaved Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata):
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| Crepe Myrtle blooms |
Hummingbirds at the Feeders:
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| About 5 females have been flitting around the yard, between the lobelia, beebalm and 3 feeders. |
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| Was happy to finally see a male! |
Although I could not get a shot of the babies, they were making a racket inside the birdhouse while mom and dad were frantically flying to and from them feeding them bugs!
Garden Spiders have been all over shrubs! These are pretty small, but I often see the much larger garden spider variety, as well.
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| Yellow Squash Blossoms...still producing (but we haven't actually seen squash-- the squirrels have been beating us to it!) |
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| Banana Peppers! (There are about 5 that the squirrels have missed!) |
I'm sharing this post at Carol's May Dreams Gardens blog, for her monthly Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day get-together, where gardeners the world over share what's blooming in their gardens. I've been lax about posting my monthly blooms, but made it in time to participate this month. Go on over and take a look!
What gifts have you discovered today? Thanks for stopping by, and until next time,
Words and photos ©Thanks for today.™, by Jan Huston Doble @ http://www.thanksfor2day.blogspot.com/
Not to be reproduced or re-blogged without express permission of the author.
Your GBBD post was a feast for the eyes, and obviously the blooms in your garden are a feast for bees, birds and butterflies. It was a delight stopping by and enjoying all your gorgeous flowers.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bernie...so glad you still find time to stop by! I am certainly getting my fill of bees, birds and butterflies. Never tire of it, either ;)
DeleteYes I've been a bit hit-and-miss with visiting blogs lately. There never seems to be enough time for it, but I was so pleased that I found the time for your GBBD post. I scrolled up and down several times enjoying every little vignette.
DeleteSuch beautify I'm speechless!
ReplyDeleteHappy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie
Thanks Lea...I appreciate you stopping by:)
DeleteYou should definitely write more posts! You have so many beautiful flowers, and wonderful pollinators. That shot of all the tiger swallowtails is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alison! I need to figure out how to blog more often. I end up posting everything to FB and then never put the latest happenings on the blog. I also need to get around to commenting on your blog more often. It comes in my email and I read every post...just don't comment. Trying to decide how to spend less time on FB and more time blogging.
DeleteJan, you have so much more blooming color in your garden than I do in mine right now. This is that time of the gardening season where my garden starts to wane a bit and makes me a little sad. I still have some bits of color here and there, but so much is past its prime now. Cindy Dyer (couldn't get my OpenID verified so I have to post as anonymous for some rason!
ReplyDeleteThank you Cindy! My garden 'waxes and wanes' too. I can't seem to figure out when I'm happiest with it. Usually by now it's looking floppy and dead everywhere, but maybe because it's been a cooler, wetter summer things are still doing ok. Thanks for visiting...I need to get over to your blog. You have the most beautiful photos.
DeleteYour garden is stunning, Jan! I can see why the butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators love it! Hasn't it been a wonderful summer!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Beth :) You are such a nice blog visitor. I want to commit to popping over to yours more often. Somehow I want to get back to blogging more and visiting more. I have not been on a regular schedule of doing that and I need to develop a new method. I used to have my favorite blogs in my sidebar but since I took them off and I don't go to Blotanical now, I rarely see any of them. Something needs to change!!
DeleteWell, Jan, I didn't count them, but I had a number of interruptions while attempting to read your post today! We're not going to watch our grandsons tomorrow, like we usually do, so the latest 2 were Facetiming with them. I'm glad I finally got to sit down and start over.
ReplyDeleteI love your vignettes, close-ups, and especially the photos with the butterflies and bees! I'd come over if I was a critter! Your hammock shots are cool, too. I think I learned the name of my red Salvia. We have number of plants in common. Hey, it looks like you have a rain chain. One of these days, I want to find one, and figure out where to put it. I think I have that cut leaf coneflower, too. I don't remember planting it, but I very well could have. I'm still trying to figure out what some of the seedlings are that have come up.
I love all the plants you have in your garden Sue, and I've noticed that we do share many of the same ;) I think you probably have more, though! I have more shade than sun so I have to add my native sun-lovers carefully, where I think they'll do the best with limited sunny areas. THanks so much for commenting, I'll stop over to your blog and see what's going on. My rain chain isn't actually serving a purpose other than decorative, as I dont' have anything under it to catch the water...but I love looking at it. I have a rain barrel so I figure it's ok to let it just be beauty to the eye instead of helping to save water; I like watching the water pour down through it ;)
DeleteI enjoyed seeing all the vignettes of your garden--so many lovely blooms! But what I especially enjoyed were all the butterflies and bees--and of course, the hummers! We've had so few butterflies this summer, that it's such a treat to see them here. And congratulations on the Monarch caterpillars! My dill was covered with swallowtail catts, and then the next time I looked, they were all gone. I need to check into protecting them from the birds, too.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your Facebook posts, Jan, with great interest, though I haven't taken time to comment. I hope you won't give up blogging! Facebook is a quick way to connect with people, but I enjoy seeing more in-depth views of the garden like you have here. And this is the best way to share all your fantastic photos!
Thank you, Rose! Sadly no monarchs survived :( I shared that on FB which you may have seen...I plan to write a blog post about my exciting but sad adventure. I do appreciate your perspective on FB vs blogging. I've decided since they aren't the same thing, I'll hang on to both. FB is quick and reaches a lot of people easily, blogging takes longer and doesn't reach as many...but that's ok since it keeps a record for me and kind of serves as a journal, so I'll definitely keep blogging. I am just way behind on updating to the blog. I should go through all my facebook updates and make blog posts about them since that's where I've mainly been sharing daily happenings. I really want to keep an ongoing journal here but it takes discipline and I seem to be lacking in that! I am happy to be connected with you in both places though :)
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