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The Painted Lady and the Garlic

| Flower Roberts

I appreciate my gap-filling plants that keep the butterflies around all summer.

One of the butterfly favorites is garlic chives, Alium tuberosa.

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These lovely white bloom clusters are full of fliers in August.

I can count on getting photographs of something on them any time of day.

This morning I had the good fortune of finding a Painted Lady.

These have four eyespots with a cobweb pattern on the underside of their hindwings.

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The garlic chive plants keep them busy until the sedums bloom.

This plant is so hardy that a clump has survived out of the ground for over a year.

I cut the blooms as they mature because it will seed itself everywhere.

It is deer resistant and beautiful. The butterflies are an added bonus.

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Flower

A Darner Darning

| Flower Roberts

I learned something new today all by myself without books or the internet.

I was trying to get a photo of a giant dragon fly.

My daddy calls these “Snake Doctors” which makes no sense to me.

I thought I understood why they had the other name “Darner.”

I thought it was because they were big and straight like darning needles.

I was trying to get a photo of this dragon fly zooming by.

I put my camera on the action setting. I took dozens of blurred photos.

Then I paused to watch it fly back and forth, back and forth, over and over.

There was a pattern to its flight.

An epiphany occurred in the Flower’s brain.

It was not named for the shape of the needle.

It was named for the act of going back and forth like darning a hole in fabric.

Now that I knew this, I waited for it to fly back by.

Here is a  flyby photo of a darner darning.

I love my little life!

Flow

 

 

 

My Favorite Caterpillar

| Flower Roberts

I feel fortunate that I found these little Saddleback Caterpillars.

They were not in their usual place, the underside of leaves on the banana trees.

This year they are on my coffee tree.

I only found them because I was removing scale from the underside of the coffee leaves.

There are three. All are small.

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This one is not much bigger than those nasty scale.( brown dot on the left)

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They hide under the leaves and crawl along the stem to another leaf.

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Saddleback Caterpillar, Sabine stimulea

The spines of  the Sabine stimulea sting,  so I know not to touch them.

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Look but don’t touch!

Flower and Friends

Insect Stalking

| Flower Roberts

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.

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It saw me and quickly skittered to the underside of the leaf.

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I love watching their heads turn.

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I was happy to see this beneficial garden resident.

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Just another reason I do not use pesticides.  I cannot poison my friends!

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A Tiny Winner

| Flower Roberts

I planted this little wonder in one of the fairy gardens.

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It is tiny but mighty.

It has bloomed all summer.

It is especially lovely today in our 90 degree heat.

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The fairies must be taking good care it.

It is the prettiest little plant in the yard right now.

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Superbells Doublette ‘Love Swept’ is a Proven Winner Calibrachoa hybrid.

Flower

Timing is Everything

| Flower Roberts

I brought home a pod of butterfly weed seeds over two decades ago.

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I got it while on a trip with my sister and one of our college friends.

I planted the seeds along this bank.

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Danaus plexippus on Asclepias tuberosa

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.

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The Monarch(s) came two days ago.

As I pulled up my driveway yesterday.

I saw my dream.

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Monarch butterfly on Butterfly weed.

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.

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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.

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Ear Combo

| Flower Roberts

I planted Black Beauty Elephant Ear with Mojito Elephant Ear this year.

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I think the combination brings out the black patches in the Mojito’s leaves.

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These are planted beside one of the ponds and can be viewed from the deck above.

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I like this combo of ears.

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Flow

Saving the Melons

| Flower Roberts

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