The weather has been very hot and humid recently with a thunderstorm every afternoon/evening. I feel like I'm living back in New Orleans where we had months of this kind of weather. Actually since I started to write this post, it has began to storm and the electricity has bumped off twice. Let's hope it remains on.
When I took a walk around the yard this morning, I found that the deer had been enjoying themselves. In one bed, every single coneflower bud had been eaten and in another every hosta bud was gone. Add eaten day lilies and black-eyed-susan and I started to wonder if I would have anything to take pictures of except stems. However, they did leave a few things here and there. I think I appreciate the blooms I do find even more because of this.
It is definitely mating season in the bird world as I usually see pairs of birds together visiting the feeder. The bluebird nest has two eggs in it with probably more to come. The new wren's nest looks complete, but there are no eggs in it yet. Those wren's are tricky with their decoy nests, so we'll see what happens.
Here are a few things I saw this week
during a Second Look.
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| Coreopsis. This is one of the few things the deer have left alone in our yard. I don't know if they don't like it or they like the day lilies and coneflowers next to it better. Okay. I just looked up coreopsis to see if it is supposed to be deer resistant and it is. However, coneflowers were listed right along with it as being deer resistant. That has been far from my experience. They seem to love them at my house. |
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| Day lily |
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| Geranium, "Rozanne" |
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| Day lily |
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| Lamb's ear |
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Assassin bug--nymph (l), adult (r)
I had no idea that the spider looking bug I saw yesterday on the astilbe was really the nymph form of the insect I saw last fall. Apparently, their bite (both forms) can be quite painful. I'm glad I didn't try to handle it, but I did watch it for awhile as it used it's feelers to navigate almost like it was blind. |
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| Balloon flower |
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| Cardinal and house finch |
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| Pollen covered bee in day lily |
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| Bluebird eggs |
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| Goldfinch |
I didn't know finches made decoy nests! That may explain the unused nest on my front door wreath. This is the first year in many when we haven't had nesting birds there. I miss them, although my door and porch stay cleaner!
ReplyDeleteAn elderly lady at church gave Lamb's Ear to my daughter (she likes to touch the soft leaves). This is the first year I've seen it bloom. It's a fun plant.
Finches don't do decoy nests. I meant to say wrens. Thanks for the heads up.
DeleteLambs ear grows well in shade. That's why I got it. Also, it spreads easily, but not wildly and many plant it because it provides a nice color and textural contrast to other plants. And most importantly, it is fun to touch as your daughter knows.
Beautiful pictures, as always. I have been trying (failing) to get a good close up of a dragonfly. Mid-morning and late evening I have tons in the backyard. I can get them to rest on my fingertip but am having a difficult time with the focus using just one hand. Maybe I need a little help, but if I don't get it soon they will be gone for the summer.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to camera problems. My camera has some glitches in it so that when I take a picture, it takes many seconds (seems like minutes) to be ready to take another picture. So when trying to take a picture of something that is moving, I often can't get it.
DeleteWe don't have dragon flies in our yard, but I have tried to take a picture of one when I've been on a hike and so far I've not been successful. I'm going to be very impressed if you can take a picture with one hand while the dragon fly is on the other.
Deer they make gardening such a challenge don't they? From the pictures it seems they did leave you plenty left to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of the bee, you got so much detail to come through. That's what I love about visiting your second looks.
My grandchildren tell me the lambs ears I planted last year came up and have filled in the section I set aside for them nicely. Speaking of the Little Cove I thought you might like the news I just heard. Management just gave the okay for a composter and rain barrels to be added for the community gardens we created so things are going strong even with my absence. :-)
That is good news about the Cove. The composter is the best. Wouldn't it be great if you could get most of the tenets to add their kitchen waste?
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