butterflies – Fine for Friday

Petals At The Corner June 4

The grand ball continues. We are advancing steadily now. The colors are vibrant and the dancing is becoming more lively. The dance floor is filling up so that there is a sense it soon will be crowded.

The lighting is on for more hours per day now and the activity of the dance is creating more heat. It will get hotter soon but it is tolerable now. The warmer nighttime air and the adequate hydration is leading to a faster pace.

The pollinators are active. I am noticing several host plants this week.

I hope to post to Six on Saturday again this week. Several gardens post regularly. It is fun to see the gardens from different parts of the world. Here is the link https://gardenruminations.co.uk. Our host is Jim Stephens.

The Caladium on the left is Florida fantasy with its candy red shade. I buy caladium bulbs every year and plant them in containers when the ground temperature reaches 65 F. I have not had much luck saving them over the winter after the season is over.

The Hydrangea quercifolia on the right is a favorite. The blooms start out bright white but then develop this reddish shade as summer approaches.

Here are two bizarre photos for you to see. First, the one on the left is the seedpods of butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). This is the host plant for the Monarch butterfly. As the pods mature, they will dry and twist and open before releasing the seeds which will be attached to a feathery parachute.

The right photo is Yellow passionflower (Passiflora lutea). It is a host plant for the gulf fritillary which is very common in my yard. I will post a photo of the butterfly as my featured image.

These are two dahlias that I started from seed several years ago. They can be seen from the bathroom windows. The plant stem can get very high but I cut it back to keep it no more than 3 to 4 feet high.

I hope you are enjoying the grand ball. Happy gardening!!

Petals At The Corner 15 March

The big dance has begun with the appearance of coneflowers and daylilies. They are the debutantes in the ball gowns. Bright vibrant colors are their most notable feature. Accompanying them are the gang of pollinators. They travel from bloom to bloom in search of nectar. They do not listen to the current din about high carbohydrate diets. For the butterflies, that is their whole diet. The buzz is becoming noticeable.

The garden tasks now are water and weeds. The debutantes demand water if they are to perform. The weeds are popping up easily now because they are weeds.

As usual, I hope to join the Six On Saturday meme this week. Here is the link

The daylily is the first deb today. It is a rich rusty red color. It shall remain nameless since I have no name tag.

The purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a native deb. Its a rich reddish color is a winner. The pollinators visit this one with great energy.

The bumble bees really love this Stachys sp. It is near the fountain and it is a steady bloomer throughout the late spring and early summer.

The Salvia on the right is also a bee attractor. This ‘Meadow Sage’ type does very well in the dry summer weather that we are about to experience.

Another perennial popular with the pollinators is the Coreopsis grandiflora native. It does get a little messy looking but it can be forgiven because of the bright yellow flowers.

The Rose campion does spread around the garden but the bright cheery flowers make up for its unruly behavior. I may have featured it earlier this year but if so, it deserves an encore performance.

The featured image today will be the glorious Monarch. I visited the butterfly house at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens last week where they were releasing Monarchs. It was a magnificent display.

Hope you enjoyed the ball! Happy Gardening!

Thinking about Fall 23 Aug 2024

We returned from our cool getaway in the North Carolina Mountains. We are back to the heat and the dry conditions. I have begun fall planning.

It has been very warm here during the afternoons but the mornings are marked by the faintest sense of cool. There is also relief given by light breezes. Watering has been necessary both by hand and by irrigation. I favor the irrigation when possible because that is recorded by a separate meter and is not subject to the horrific county sewer charges.

I also have begun some consideration of fall cleanup and assessing my hydrangea project.

Those who follow this blog know that I will be joining the Six on Saturday crown hosted by Jim Stephens tomorrow. It’s easy to join. Take six photos. Follow the rules for joining that you will find on the website. Here it is. https://gardenruminations.co.uk

If you don’t have 6 photos to post, just come join us and follow the gardening exploits of gardeners from around the world.

Although, these two plants have almost finished blooming, a few more blooms may appear. I am leaving the seed heads for the goldfinches which fly to forage from their favorite place across the street.

The bold red Texas star is blooming again. It is a very showy flower.

The Ruby Slippers hydrangea is losing that red tint and the flower heads are becoming bronzy like their plain pale relatives.

The pollinators have been really busy. This photo was taken in a shaded area which leads to the muted color. This butterfly is really a brilliant orange

Here is an update on the Limelight Hydrangea product.

The cuttings seem well established. With the approaching fall weather, they should begin establishing more robust root structure. I hope they will be ready for planting next spring.

Hope your garden is giving you pleasure. Happy gardening!

Hot Summer Days 21 July 2023

The last few days have been hot and humid here in the American South. Average daily highs in the mid 90’s and 50 % plus humidity tax a gardener’s physical strength. The formula, of course, is to start out early, drink plenty of water and seek the shade as much as possible.

A few mid summer bloomers have appeared and there are a couple of interesting visitors that I have to show you today. The perennials are blooming at their peak. The rainfall has been sufficient and well spaced. They are certainly enjoying this weather.

Coleus Kong Lime Sprite with
Wizard Scarlet Swallowtail

I started six different coleus from seed this spring and have them in containers. They are loving a shady spot on the deck which receives morning sun. I am glad that I went to the effort.

The caladium is from bulbs that I saved from last year. I kept them dry and dark over the winter. I planted them this spring once the ground temp was above 60 degrees. They just emerged 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately, I managed to merge them into one grouping and lost the name. They look wonderful in this shady bed alongside the Southern shield ferns.

I started the Rudbeckia triloba from seed this year. It is an Alabama native and it is just beginning to flower this week. It seems to be thriving in an afternoon sun area.

The Coral honeysuckle is also and Alabama native that I bought from a local native plant nursery. It is gorgeous and well loved by the hummingbirds.

The purple coneflowers, another Alabama native, have been prolific this summer. This one is being also enjoyed by this bumble bee. I leave the seedbeds on the plants throughout the winter for the finches which seem to thrive on them.

One of my Shasta daisies is being enjoyed by a pearl crescent. It is a medium sized butterfly and it was feasting on the nectar. Its host plant are the Asters.

Every Saturday morning come join us on Six on Saturday. This group of gardeners from around the world are hosted by Jim Stephens at this link https://gardenruminations.co.uk.

Happy Gardening!

It is summer 2 June 2023.

Here in the lower Southeastern US, the weather is definitely turned summer like. We will be in the 90’s this weekend. The night time lows are upper 50’s. The humidity is rising as the plant life become more abundant and larger while putting off all that water vapor.

Unfortunately, that is also accompanied by less frequent rainfall so watering becomes a more frequent task. The mulch that has been put down and attention to weeding this spring has successfully decreased the amount of weeding.

I have been harvesting some vegetables this week including white and yellow onion, potatoes and a good crop of blueberries from the 3 bushes that I have.

The red potatoes are a Norland variety. They have been served as a potato salad which was very tasty. The middle plant is a hardy begonia whose name has been lost. The clematis is large and showy but it too shall remain nameless.

The Sega palm on the left is a surprise. We are located a little too far north to have this one in the ground but we did. Each spring it appeared done for but always revived and spread its feathery branches. After the dreadful cold snap of December, it surely seemed this was dead. We dug it up and placed 4 sections in containers like this one. To our surprise, three of the four have sent up shoots and are very much alive. The plan is to move the containers indoors whenever there is freezing cold weather.

The hydrangeas were grown from cuttings. Of 24 cuttings that we planted, we have 5 thriving survivors. Success!

The final photo is a butterfly on the milkweed. That is another great success.

Hope you are enjoying your garden.

Join us tomorrow for Six on Saturday. Many fellow gardeners are sharing their gardens on this site https://gardenruminations.co.uk/ hosted by Jim Stephens.