Wednesday, June 25, 2014

HAPPY QUEEN'S CROWN FLOWERS & STARTING MY FAIRY GARDEN

Today it is raining again and I will always love and appreciate a rainy day.


This queen's crown is so happy with the rain.  As soon as it comes up in the spring, it starts blooming and will bloom until it freezes in the late fall.  It climbs about 30 ft. in each direction and has blooms allll over it.  The honey bees LOVE it and it makes me happy to see the bees buzzing all over the flowers.


This is the start of my Fairy Garden house.  I have a few tiny pieces of furniture and a tiny chandelier  I'll place around it, when I can finally decide where I want to make the tiny garden.  I found this blue fairy in my garden shed under a pile of garden things and she'll be somewhere around the fairy garden.  I think she's so pretty.


These small sunflowers have come up in one of my flower beds and the bright yellow looks so pretty from my kitchen window.  I guess I can thank the birds for planting them.
Hope you have a wonderful day!

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

THERE'S A COYOTE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD & OTHER BACKYARD NEWS

There's a coyote (at least one) in our neighborhood and three of the neighbors have seen it.  I needed to mow my easement this afternoon and I was a bit anxious because I was afraid the coyote might be hiding or sleeping down in the grass or behind the hackberry trees that come up from seeds.  But, I got brave and mowed and no coyote.  There's a small hole in the gate to my easement and I've wondered if the coyote has come in there, looking for food.  


Thank goodness I have high fences.  I've always had small dogs and always been afraid something would jump the fence and get them.  I think Charlie is safe from the coyote.
Remember that very large toad frog 
that has been around for a while and was hibernating in the leaves in my fish pond?  This morning I found him belly-up at the bottom of the pond.  Not sure what was going on, but I got my net and fished him out and laid him on the patio because he didn't look dead.  This afternoon when I got home, I went out to look and he was gone.  I can't imagine what would have been big enough to carry him off and I would like to think he woke up and is still around.  He was very interesting last summer.


Do you have crepe myrtles?  In the spring they shed their trunk's outer layers.  Just like a snake shedding it's skin.  After it's dried up a bit and loose, I like to just stand there and peel it off.  As it's shedding it's really messy, but it makes good mulch.
I hope your spring has been wet with lots of rain. 
 We've been lucky, so far, and hoping the wonderful rains continue from now to fall.
I can hear the little Carolina wren calling 
like they do just before they go into their roosting place at night.  Lots of times it's one of my birdhouses.  I'm going to go into my studio and try to see where it's roosting.  I've noticed that they call and call and call just to see if anybody/anything is watching and then they'll go into their house real fast, so as not to be seen.
I love nature!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

PINK PENTAS FLOWERS & NEWLY PLANTED VINE SEEDS COMING UP

These are pentas in my garden. 
 I have several different shades of pink and they're just sooo beautiful right now!! 
The black swallowtail butterflies just love them and
 I LOVE seeing the black butterflies on the pink flowers.


Here, the pentas will bloom until they freeze, maybe in December.  And, some of them will even come back in the same pot.


A couple of weeks ago, I planted lots of seeds.  I always plant a few more than I need because I'm never sure if they will all come up.  The extras I can give to my neighbors.  I planted three different vine seeds and a lot of seeds I got from my butterfly weed last summer.  I hope all of the butterfly weed plants come up and I will put them everywhere in my garden.  The monarch butterflies need them as they're passing through in the fall.
Already coming up is the purple hyacinth bean vine.  This morning I found another seed peeking out, but didn't look to see which one it was.  
~Butterflies are everywhere~
This is such a fun time of year!!