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| Porch basket |
My porch baskets full of Pretty Grand petunias, which were lovely when I left, were barely alive when I returned from Peru. I managed to save a few petunias in this one, the other basket had to be re-planted with other flowers--whatever was available this late at a local store.
We're in the Dog Days now, when flowers are generally wilting and fading in the heat of August. Yesterday I found some surprising blooms in my garden: these tiny pink Cyclamen that I planted last fall and totally forgot about--I spotted two of these beauties peeking out of my woodland garden east of the house when I was watering.
Looks like more buds are sprouting, hopefully they'll make a nice display in about a week. I believe they're the fall-blooming Cyclamen coum, and I'm wondering when the foliage will emerge. It's the first time I've grown them, and it's always fun to see the development of a plant new to me.
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| Cyclamen flowers coming up |
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| Cyclamen |
A tomato hornworm has been decimating my cherry tomatoes, but I haven't been able to find it--hopefully parasitic wasps will make short order of it soon if they haven't already. A few days ago I did find a black swallowtail caterpillar eating my dill, a 5th or 6th instar it looks like. It has now disappeared, which means it's likely attached itself somewhere to spin its cocoon. I'll be looking for it somewhere near by, though the chrysalis are difficult to spot.
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Black Swallowtail caterpillar |
Herb's bed is splendid with the Agastaches and Ageratums in bloom. The butterfly bush in the Little Indians bed behind recovered and is blooming too.
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| Agastaches in Herb's bed |
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| Buddleia with Queen Anne's lace |
Lots of butterfly action in my garden last week when these flowers were still in bloom: the Monarch butterflies love the Prairie Blazing Meadowstar (Liatris ligulistylis). A gorgeous male Tiger Swallowtail on the Buckeye Bottlebrush, and a Silver-potted Skipper and a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on my Anise Hyssop. The flowers have faded now, and new plants are blooming, apprently not as attractive to the butterflies, although I did spot a Red-spotted Purple Admiral a few days ago while I was watering. It flew by too quickly to get a shot of it.
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| Monarch butterfly on Prairie Blazing Meadowstar |
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| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (male) on Bottlebrush Buckeye |
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| Silver-spotted Skipper and a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on Anise Hyssop |
Recently I've been more focused on butterflies because I took a workshop in colored pencils dealing with incorporating insects and butterflies into botanical paintings, and had chosen to do an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (female) on Joe Pye week, based on a photograph I took last year. It took me about two weeks and a lot of layers of colored pencils of many shades to finish it. Below is a photo of the finished piece.
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Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, colored pencils on Bristol 300 Vellum finish, 9" x 12" |
My next artwork will probably be the Monarch butterfly on the Prairie Blazing Meadow Star, but in watercolor, just to see if a different medium is faster and/or better for this type of work.
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My heather is full of flowers after a severe pruning in the spring, and the "Baby Joe" Joe-pye weed is about to open.
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| Heather in bloom |
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| "Baby Joe' Joe-pye weed |
The plants along m front walk are presenting some nice flowers. This year I grew some Eucomis for the first time. The double Tuberose has some lovely scented flowers. And I've got my favorite tropical Salvias like 'Black and Blue' and 'Faye Chapel' as well as two new ones, 'Brazilian Blue' and Salvia Gentian 'Cambridge Blue'.
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| Eucomis |
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| Double Tuberose |
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| Variegated cotton and double Tuberose |
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| Tropical Salvias in pots along the front walk |
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| Salvia Gentian 'Cambridge Blue' |
A Red Dahlia I couldn't resist buying is starting to bloom. Canna 'Tropicana' hasn't bloomed yet, it's in its second year, and I'm still hoping to see its flowers, but the leaves are so gorgeous anyway, it's fine.
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| Red Dahlia |
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| Canna 'Tropicana' with red 'Double Knockout' rose |
I have no idea what I'll have in bloom for the coming August Bloom Day next Saturday the 15th.
