I have been out on an insect hunt this week.
I have been looking for newly emerged Cicadas, which I think are beautiful.
Thus far I have only found the split skins/shells
from their molting hanging on the underside of leaves.
I did stumble upon a Mantid in the garden.
It saw me and quickly skittered to the underside of the leaf.
I love watching their heads turn.
I was happy to see this beneficial garden resident.
Just another reason I do not use pesticides. I cannot poison my friends!
Flow
I planted this little wonder in one of the fairy gardens.
It is tiny but mighty.
It has bloomed all summer.
It is especially lovely today in our 90 degree heat.
The fairies must be taking good care it.
It is the prettiest little plant in the yard right now.
Superbells Doublette ‘Love Swept’ is a Proven Winner Calibrachoa hybrid.
Flower
I brought home a pod of butterfly weed seeds over two decades ago.
I got it while on a trip with my sister and one of our college friends.
I planted the seeds along this bank.
It has taken years for the plants to mature.
My dream was to see them covered in Monarchs.
Maybe some have come before while I was not watching.
This year most of my butterfly weed has finished blooming, except for this one plant.
The Monarch(s) came two days ago.
As I pulled up my driveway yesterday.
I saw my dream.
A lone Monarch on the one plant that was a late bloomer.
I ran for my camera.
After taking many photos, I stood and reveled in my good fortune.
The timing of the Butterfly weed still blooming, the Monarch visiting, my arriving home while it was there and getting my camera in time to capture it all.
Everything is a miracle.
Flow
I planted Black Beauty Elephant Ear with Mojito Elephant Ear this year.
I think the combination brings out the black patches in the Mojito’s leaves.
These are planted beside one of the ponds and can be viewed from the deck above.
I like this combo of ears.
Flow
Mr. Flower will be pleased.
Flow
Mr. Flower has his own garden.
I am given assignments where it is concerned.
My latest assignment is “Save the Melons.”
I have to admit that I failed at this last summer.
I put a little fence ring around the melon.
I put a cover over the ring and checked it for ripeness each afternoon.
Just before picking time,
I discovered that something had crawled down into the fence
and eaten the inside of the melon leaving only the peeling.
So this year I am trying a new approach.
I have put Mr. Flower’s melons in mesh bags.
I am hoping the varmint will not like getting his claws or teeth ensnared.
Let’s hope this works.
Mr. Flower take produce production seriously.
Flowduce
One of my garden mantras is “Never ever plant ivy.”
I may have to add another vine in there.
I love my Creeping Fig, Ficus pumila.
The first year here, it seemed to be sleeping.
Last year it began creeping over the wall.
This year it has leaped onto pots and statuary.
I took these two photos seven days apart.
I still love this vine, but too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.
Flow
I have been watching the water…and thinking.
It is still and smooth most of the time, with a ripple here and there.
Sometimes a line of waves forms and changes everything.
That’s how my life is right now.
Waves keep rolling across my smooth life.
I am in control of only my own buoyancy.
The water acts and I react.
Will I float? Will I swim with the waves or against them?
Will I rise and fall with the water
or let gravity win and go under?
I do not know what the water will do
but I know what I will do.
I will stay afloat
Because I am a survivor.
I choose to stay up
no matter the water.
Flow
Yesterday when the sun was high, I sought some shade in the banana forest.
Its giant leaves served as umbrellas.
The wind moved them like fans.
The banana forest was dancing around me.
An oasis away from the sun and heat.
I was surrounded by swaying green.
I pretended my cares were far away, not just across the driveway.
Everyone should have a banana forest to escape into.
Flower
floweralley 