Yay – my favorite post of the week is here! I should just give it up and do a garden blog. 😀
Late July and August always seem to be good times in my garden. I know a lot gardens can look a bit tired at this time of year, but I have a lot of late bloomers and it keeps the color going. Not to mention all the rain we have had this year. I have only had to actually hand water the garden a couple times this summer!
This is the very last gasp of the old-fashioned daylilies. Tomorrow this bloom will be gone. I’ll have to be cutting down the stems now.
One surprising plant to me is the campanula. I had moved these over last year and have been rewarded with more blooms this year. I thought they were finished, but now there are new blooms on this plant.
I had no idea those would repeat bloom!
I have a couple gaillardias left in the garden. My BIL gave me some a few years ago and I have slowly lost them all, except for a couple.
I cut the seed heads off and leave them in the hopes that I will get new ones, but I guess they just aren’t in the right spot.
Butterfly bush. Now that there are lots of blooms, the butterflies have arrived!
Butterfly bush. Now that there are lots of blooms, the butterflies have arrived!
Last week was the sphinx moth. This week is the giant swallowtail:
He is really big:
And a new one this year! This is a White Admiral:
You can tell this is an old butterfly because of the ragged wing. At least he is getting in a good meal in the last part of his life! White Admirals are only seen in Canada and the northeast and a bit off the upper midwest. Cool!
It is really hard to get pictures of these butterflies, too, because they flutter around so much. This is the book I have handy at this time of year:
I have been known to run outside with this book in hand to figure out which butterfly it is 😀
More baby snaps. I have a lot of seedlings this year.
More blooms on my new rose bush.
I’m always a sucker for the flower with raindrops on it. 😀
One last bloom – my sweet potato vine. I have these in pots on the porch more for the foliage, but the blooms are really pretty when they have them.
It’s John’s birthday weekend, so we are going to party it up! It’s his choice all weekend 😀 I have a cake to bake, too.
Happy Birthday to John! Hope you guys have a great celebration. 🙂
As always, it’s nice to see your garden, and yes, out here, blooms are few and far between thanks to the heat. Although my bougainvillaea has developed one pink flower on it. Yes, ONE. LOL!
Picture!!
LOL at Shelley’s “Bloom of the Week.”
I look forward to your What’s Blooming post too. More this year than last! So fun to see all the butterflies arriving. And what great shots you got! I had one swallowtale flit through the yard a few weeks ago, and I swear he was as big as a bird!
I think I must have a lizard bush somewhere, from the amount and variety of lizard that I have seen in my yard this year. They are also hard to capture on camera LOL.
Happy Birthday John! I am still thinking about your birthday cake from a few years ago. I think it was some kind of caramel concoction.
Do you mean “the cake” with the praline icing? I had that a couple years ago as cupcakes. In fact, John requested ‘the cake’ for his birthday this year!
YES! That’s it! If you put a picture of it in the blog again, you are going to have to mail me a piece of that cake LOL.
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…..can’t wait to sample “the cake!” I love the photos of those butterflies, too!
Just love your gardening posts Lori. Always look forward to them……I know how hard it is to get good butterfly pics…In TX we always had the Monarchs coming thru each year and it was so hard to get a good pic. When they were resting in our pecan trees they fold up their wings and the underside is dull compared to the bright topside so you have to be quick , cause every once in a while they open their wings.
I might have to get a butterfly bush next summer thanks to you! 🙂 Happy, happy birthday to John!!! What a coinsidence i’m baking a cake this weekend to for no other reason than just because….mine is a chocolate Black Magic cake…whats yours??? Hugs! deb
Birthday blessings to John! Can’t wait to see what he chooses to eat over the weekend.
I enjoy your garden posts so much. You are right about butterflies being difficult to photograph as hard as I try I can’t get any good shots of the ones that visit my backyard!
Happy Birthday John! Hope you guys have a great weekend! And I too am a sucker for rain/dew on flowers – so pretty!
Oh my goodness, the garden is beautiful! I have a butterfly bush, too, and I look forward to fall when the Monarchs pass through Texas.
The dark red color of that rose is stunning!
Most of my flowers are dead now and I need to trim back and clean up the garden. Probably need to hunt around a bit and find some flowers that bloom further into the summer so I have more to look at.
Happy Birthday to John!!!
HAPPY BDAY TO JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lori – I LOVE YOUR BLOOMS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Lori,
I love your butterfly pictures! I live to your west, near Cortland and grew up in Central New York. I’ve never seen one of those moths you had in your garden – how awesome!