Yard Update

A vibrant green weed started popping up under our elephant ears so Jim let them grow wild creating a luscious backdrop!

In the spring, he planted purple heart and wandering jew in the flower boxes on a our front porch. With the height of the purple heart, they became gigantic and are still thriving! The purple heart flowered the entire season.

Formosa lilies started blooming randomly throughout our yard. This plant throws it seeds all over the place so we let them grow wherever they show up.

This orange visitor stopped by.

A monarch visited! Since these beauties are endangered, I took a bunch of photos.

Jim captured this bee with buck teeth. 

This clip is a hummingbird moth buffeting on our butterfly bushes. This unique creature appears and acts like a hummingbird but is quite smaller. I actually thought I was filming a baby hummingbird until I zoomed in on the video. Seeing its back close up, it is definitely a moth!

A couple of days later we noticed 5 of its caterpillars on our tomato plant which they are known to devour. Normally we let nature do its thing but this was our tomatoes. They were removed from the plant and most likely became a juicy meal for hungry birds.

Have a marvelous day/evening (wherever you are on the clock)! ~Val

Yard Update

 Our plants continue to grow. The ruffled satin rose of sharon began blooming.

Here are her phases.

Then she really shows herself!

This rose of sharon below has the same colors but with different petal shapes started blooming too.

 

The burst of red in the center is marvelous!

We have received visits from various swallowtails.

I love the underside of the wings and how they appear like stained glass.

When chasing this tiger swallowtail down trying to get a good photo, it ended up right in front of my face!

 

 The bees are also enjoying the butterfly bushes.

 

The stunning canna lilies started opening!

Purple heart is a plant that grows from cuttings so Jim planted some along the foundation and they have been growing like crazy! It may end up being an evergreen. If not, it will come back again next year.

Some photos of the overall garden.

There are 5 butterfly bushes for the pollinators to buffet on.

Have a marvelous day/evening (wherever you are on the clock)! ~Val