Saturday, September 03, 2022

Flutterbies and bugs

Last year I planted petunias and verbenas in the annual garden by the kitchen window. It looked great, but I noticed that the butterflies and bees preferred the Zinnias further away from my house down in the veggie garden.

So this year I took seeds that I'd gathered last year and seeds from Aurora and tossed 4 O'clocks and Zinnias in my small annual garden.


You will notice some Marigolds mixed in and those were all leftover seeds from the year before. I picked up the seeds that had fallen on the ground and poked a few here and there.


What a surprise my willy nilly casting of seeds gave me this year.


I think the butterfly below is a Black Swallow Tail! I've learned patience this year. A LOT of patience!
To get a bright back lit photo of a butterfly takes a ton of patience and waiting. 
The butterflies like to hit up the flowers when it is warm and sunny, then all of the insects are going crazy in a sense.




I even planted 3 sunflowers within close proximity of the house. In years past, Rich would complain about the sunflowers blocking his view of the driveway. I made sure that he could see the driveway, but also see the sunflowers.

This year he stands at the kitchen sink window and gives me a commentary on what is happening in the flower garden.


I planted sunflowers over a few different weeks in hopes of having more blooming time. The insects and the Goldfinches have been having a hay day with those huge flowers.

And there are all sorts of secret things hiding in the Marigolds. Crab spiders love hiding between the petals of a Zinnia or Marigold to wait for an unsuspecting 'meal' to come along.


The bees, butterflies, and spiders are all having a blast in my tiny garden. 

I'm collecting seeds from the 'Wildflower' Garden I planted in another section of the yard. I recognize the Bachelor's Buttons, the Marigolds, and some of the others, but some flowers evade ID. I think they are pretty, so I am gathering their seeds to toss in another section of the yard that I mow [hubby won't mow it over then!] next year.


I'm fairly sure that I will surely miss this riot of color after the first frost this year.

The flowers have brought me a lot of joy this year, as well as practicing with my camera.


I planted Nasturtiums because my friend in Alabama says these were her absolutley MOST-est favorite flower when she resided in the North. She says they do not survive the intense heat of the far south.

They were not always my favorite flower, however, I am reconsidering them as they have added beautiful mounds of brilliant color around my porch where the ground cover was sparse.


Apparently they too, attract spiders!

The humming birds are still either here or passing through. They are all over the 4 O'clocks in the early morning and early evenings.


I'm pretty lucky to have all this activity just outside my door.


8 comments:

  1. What pretty photos! You did great with patience as you got some nice shots! My flowers are just not thriving this year...they all look sick. I hope you are having a good weekend! I am off to mow at my brothers because I hear it is supposed to get hot in a few days:(

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    1. NOOOO! Not hot! We are supposed to stay nice in the 60 and 50's at night and not quite 80 in the day. Perfect weather.

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  2. I can feel the joy in your photos! I hope to be able to do more next year, I miss having all those blooms.

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    1. The Zinnias were pretty easy to do. I just put in a lot of seeds and raked it over a few times. Most of the weeds were buried out because they are so thick.
      Hope you can too!

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  3. Wonderful use of light, nicely done! You captured so much detail!!

    The flower after the crab spider is a Cosmo. A wonderful airy annual, comes in tons of colors. Not sure about the following flower photo (9th pic). Possibly a Cornflower. I've never grown them. If I remember correctly they are great for drying.

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    1. The last one is a Bachelors Button, they are another one of my favorites that I've forgotten all about. I have orange cosmos, purple, blue, and multicolored cosmos in other spots. That pink was really something! I will collect its seeds!

      Thanks, it took a lot of patience for the butterflies on those hot days with a few shade breaks.

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  4. The butterfly photos are brilliant :-)

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    1. Thanks, they were fun to try to catch. They are so fast!

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