Wednesday, September 30, 2015

A Second Look--September 30, 2015

Things have been very busy around here for the last couple of months (you may have noticed I haven't been posting as much), and that has made me kind of stressed. But my walk around the yard for a Second Look yesterday worked its magic. For a little while, I was focused on the outdoors and the stress I was feeling melted. Nature can do it every time for me.

Here are a few things I saw this week
 during a Second Look.

Monarch butterfly. Even though we have milkweed (the monarch host plant) and I've seen monarch caterpillars, this is the first time I've seen a monarch butterfly in several years. This one was hanging onto a twig and only opening its wings when the breeze got strong.



Geranium, Roxanne. The rain we had last week brought out a few blooms on summer flowers that were just about done for the season. 


One more Black-eyed Susan


Sedum, Autumn Joy. The sedum is a fall flower and is in full bloom now.


Blanket flower


Verbena. This annual looked dead most of the summer, however, the cooler temperatures seemed to have revived it. It's supposed to happy in warm weather, so I'm not sure what was going on.


Another "hidden" walnut.


The leaves are just starting to turn and fall. It will be leaf raking time soon.




10 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures again! I seem to scroll through them each week to pick out my favorite, This week the Black Eyed Susan photo wins! We were driving back from the lake Sunday and they were all along the roadside. I wanted to stop and pick a bunch to bring home but we were wearing flip flops and just don't tromp around in the brushy stuff wearing open toed shoes. Too many copperheads are out this time of year.
    I am also pasting the Kindle link

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/kcp-landing-page?ie=UTF8&ref_=sv_kstore_4

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    1. Ah, yes, copperheads. I know them well. However, I've never seen any in our yard but I'm sure there have been some. I'm hoping most of them are staying on the farm behind us near the creek. I had a friend who was bitten by a copperhead once and they are not something to be messed with. Smart move on your part.

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    2. Also, thanks for the link. I've started the process although I have to leave again before I can finish. Hopefully it will still be available when I get back.

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  2. I love this time of year--you have captured it well.

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    1. No, it's been unusually mild. I haven't even made soup yet. The temps are more seasonal as of today, so soon I will pull out my soup recipes. :)

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  3. Wow! I can't believe you still have so many flowers blooming - and the butterfly is just beautiful. I'm gonna have to go research milkweed and see if I can plant some!

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    Replies
    1. Many of these flowers are the only one or two that are blooming in their spot, so it's always a nice surprise to see them.

      As far as milkweed, I don't know about your climate, but here it is a wild, perennial that can takeover a spot. So be careful where you plant it. The milkweed I have is in the middle of a flower bed where I don't really want it. I pull some of it, but leave some for all the insects that like it.

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  4. You have really pretty flowers. I especially like the purple one.

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    1. Thanks for visiting, Danielle. The purple one is a Roxanne Geranium. They are delicate deep purple flowers that never photograph as dark as they are. I thought they were done blooming, but was happy to see a couple more.

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