In My Garden

This is why they call it butterfly weed...

The yellow hostas have a strange pale flower that I like very much.

Coreopsis verticillata blooms all summer, if you deadhead it... I need to do that about a week ago...

Bee balm, also known as monarda and bergamot, is what gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive flavor.

 I love all these perennials...

Hostas, coleus, and ferns in my shade garden.

The echinachea seems especially vibrant this year...

The bees seem to think so, too.

One of the orange turk's cap lilies is dying, but has produced these humongous seeds, unlike the lily's usual seeds. Anyone know why?

Here you can see the regular seeds that appear on the stem.

I chased this tiger swallowtail butterfly around for probably half an hour,

trying to get a decent shot...

                                                                It was pretty camera-shy...

...but I finally managed to get a few good ones.

I hope you enjoyed my little garden stroll. Have a great week, everyone!

A Small Taste of Summer

I've been stuck inside most of the summer, but I still managed to catch a snippet of it here and there, and thought I'd share a few tasty bits of my summer with you.

azalea after the rain 

 Well, okay, I had to throw in a little slice of Spring, too; I wouldn't want you to miss anything.  We had a very early warm spell in March, and everything bloomed at least a month early.

By the time I photographed the magnolia, the blossoms were already losing their petals.

cherry blossoms

Have you ever seen a dogwood so full of blooms?

Geese- everywhere I go, still! What do you suppose it means?

Our big excitement this year was that my husband got bees!  

They're already making honey- what amazing creatures!  They pollinate our fruits and vegetables, so we need them, if we want to eat.  And I, for one, like to eat...

 ... especially when the food comes from our backyard garden.

In recent years, I've seen no honeybees at all in this area, and the lack of honeybees is a global concern.  To read a short article on Colony Collapse Disorder, click here.

The rest of the summer so far has been HOT- just humid, steamy, sweaty, nasty, and uncomfortable...

... which makes it seem like not such a bad thing to be stuck inside!  I hope you are all having a great summer.  I'm going to get back to work now, so I can show you the progress on the Book of Dreams.