BUTTERFLY EGGS AGAIN, OVERGROWN FERN & HUNGRY MR. CARDINAL

Right now, we're having a really good rain storm, again.  The sound of rumbling thunder sounds so good to me because of the horrible drout we've been in for several years.  Thank you, thank you for the rain!!

And, new butterfly eggs on my fennel.  There was only one large caterpillar left on the fennel, today, and I'm hoping the other ones scurried off to start becoming beautiful butterflies.  I've seen them leaving their host plant before, and they move really, really fast.  I followed one, one time, and it got under a clump of vines on a porch post and got very still.  I, finally,  stopped watching and when I went back to find it, it was very well camouflaged and I couldn't see it.

Can you grow ferns like this?  Normally, this fern freezes back in the winter and it didn't this year, so it's way, way overgrown.  It's really crowding my walk.  So, this weekend, I'm going to cut off all of the lower fronds and just leave the top.  I have it in that spot to hide my pond pump.

And, see green Mr. Cardinal.  My camera was on the wrong setting and I didn't know it.  But, when he saw me in the kitchen window, he came right up to the window and hopped back and forth on the trellis.  He was trying to get my attention because I always give him sunflower seeds.  When I went outside, he got in the tree just above my head and was chirping at me.  I gave him sunflower seeds.

Fri: FertilizerFriday,

MY GOLDFISH ARE FEELING FRISKY & I KNOW WHY!!

It's spring and the goldfish in my pond are getting frisky.  It's very obvious what is on their mind!  So, I try to prep the pond for the babies.

At Petco I got this aquarium plant and put it in the pond so the baby goldfish will have a place to hide. When they're tiny they are solid black so they can hide from predators.  Then, as they grow  you will see a bit of orange and then they're orange, orange and white with no black.  I'm looking forward to babies in my pond, again.

And, looky here!!  Those tiny, tiny caterpillars grew in just a few days.  They have plenty to eat.  Any hour, now, they will be heading off to become beautiful black swallowtail butterflies.  In my garden today, I saw three black swallowtail butterflies and not sure if they are newly hatched from their cocoons.  And, I saw a fritillary butterfly.  I do have a passion vine that I grow just for them.  But, it isn't big enough to support several caterpillars, yet.

    I've been suspicious and today I'm positive that there are little wrens nesting in this white birdhouse.  It's right outside my kitchen window.  It's so sweet to watch the process, but I'm concerned about Charlie and Punkin when the babies take first flight.  So, when I see the baby birds have hatched and the parents are feeding them I'll count the days.  Then, I'm going to put a fence of chicken wire around that area of my rock walk, hoping to give those babies more protection.  When they first come out of the nest they tend to fly down, not up.  I'm going to count the days of feeding and try to guess first flight day and will try to stay home from work to watch and protect.

I do take very seriously, nature and budding life in my garden.

That's what makes me happy!

COFFEE GROUNDS FOR THE GARDEN

     Something interesting about coffee grounds:  For my birthday, a friend sent some summer phlox and they were just roots and tiny greenery.  After I planted them, I noticed pill bugs all over them and they would have eaten all of the new foliage.  I have used coffee grounds to keep snails off of  plants and thought  I would try them with pill bugs and it worked.  It's been on the ground for several days and my tiny foliage is growing and no pill bugs or snails.  If you try this, I would like to tell you that if you put a lot at one time, after a few waterings, the coffee grounds will get packed down.  So, just break it up  and sprinkle more coffee grounds around the plants at risk.  I always pack it on, just not on top of the plants.

     Starbucks is very glad to give away bags of their used coffee grounds.  The two stores near me leave the bags of grounds outside the back door and anyone is welcome to them.  I don't drink coffee, I drink green tea, but it's worth the trip to pick up these coffee grounds.  They're so good for your garden.  I've been told that it isn't so much the coffee grounds, but the fungus that grows on the coffee grounds that is so beneficial.

  These black swallowtail caterpillars were very small yesterday.  They were still in their brown skin, but I could see a little of the yellow, black, white and green stripes.  Today, I went out to check on them and they were much larger than they were, yesterday.  It's like, when they shed that brown skin they exploded.  I've never noticed that before, and it was very interesting.  There are several and they're hanging out on the fennel and the parsley.

 I keep my Ezekiel bread in the freezer.  When I was taking the frozen slices out of the bag, the top part broke off and when I took them out of the toaster oven, they looked like doll blouses.

I SAW TINY FAWN TWINS TODAY

On Dreamland Dr, by the railroad tracks, I know to drive very carefully because it's a deer crossing area. Today, I saw the CUTEST tiny fawn twins. They were so cute, kicking up their heels. Mama had crossed right in front of me and somehow they knew not to follow her. Then, mama crossed behind me and her babies followed her back into the woods. I'm so glad I got to see those babies.  I pulled over to try to get a photo, but there was traffic headed toward me, and I was afraid I'd spook the babies.  I just can't forget how cute they were!

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT JEWELS OF OPHIR/OPAR ~ A GARDEN FLOWER

 Do you know about Jewels of Ophir/Opar?  It is the most wonderful bunch of tiny pink fragrant flowers that open in the late afternoon.  In the lower right corner, that's pentas.  The jewels of ophir flowers are on the thin long stems.  After the blooms drop, the tiny red seed will stay on the plant for a while and looks so pretty with the pink flowers opening up every day.

     A long time ago, when HGTV was showing amazing gardens of regular people, I watched all the time.  One of the gardeners talked about jewels of ophir and I ordered the seeds.
     It is invasive because it throws those tiny seeds everywhere.  It loves to grow and crowds other plants.  So, after it has dropped all it's seeds, I just pull it up and put it on my compost pile.  Sometimes, if it still has seeds on it, I will pull it up and just lay it in a flower bed so the seeds can fall there.  I just don't want to ever lose it.

     After being in a horrible drout, these recent rains have been just wonderful!!  But, all the rain and being spring has caused alllll my flowers and shrubbery to become overgrown.  That bright green foliage behind my fence is blue plumbago.  It's one of my very favorite plants.  But, it didn't freeze back last winter, so it already had a head start and after all of the rain, it was coming through my fence and over my fence.  You couldn't even see my fence.  So, this morning my go-to guy, Gus, came by and trimmed it for me and it looks so, so nice, again.

So, I'm off to a good head start on getting everything trimmmed and looking the way I want it before the horrible heat sets in.

Can you see the iron bird finials on my fence posts?  I love my picket fence!

FRI:FertilizerFriday,

TEENY TINY CATERPILLARS & MAMA MOCKINGBIRD MAKING BABY BIRD SOUNDS

     Today, there were some teeny tiny black swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel.  I could hardly see them, but counted five.  I will keep feeding the fennel and other herbs in that pot, so they'll have plenty to eat as they grow.  It's so interesting to watch them grow.  Every few days, they will shed one phase and are a different color from before.  Finally, they end up white, green, yellow and black and stay those colors until they wiggle off to hide and become a beautiful butterfly.
     And, the mama mockingbird is still right there on that branch making those detracting noises at my cats.  Every once in a while, I'll hear the babies in their nest and now, the mama has started "mocking" their baby sounds in between her other tweets/chirps to confuse my cats.  She's sooo smart!

FINALLY BUTTERFLY EGGS AGAIN & MAMA MOCKINGBIRD PROTECTING HER NEST

   Today, I have new butterfly eggs all over my fennel.  Those tiny cream colored balls are butterfly eggs.  Just like a bird or chicken egg, as the embryo matures, the egg will get darker because it's filling up with baby.  The mama butterfly does not lay her eggs in a nest.  She lays one here and one there, far enough apart that each little hatching caterpillar will  have plenty to eat and no competition for food as they grow.  In about a week, I'll have tiny baby caterpillars again, and I'm going to protect them from wasps and birds, if I can.
     This mama mockingbird has been staying very close to my front porch where my cats hang out.  She keeps making a warning sound.  I'm sure she's trying to distract all from her nest.  The nest is in a cedar elm tree very close by.  Today, I finally can hear the babies.  I love mockingbirds and they are our state bird.  (Mama mockingbird can rest easy about my cats.  If one of her babies hopped up to their mouth and jumped on their noses and chirped at them, I don't think they would know to grab it.  I think they would just be amused.)

     Anytime I turn on the camera, Charlie comes running and looks up at me.  So, I had to take a cutie pie photo of him.  Last time I had his teeth cleaned, he lost two front teeth so, now he's snaggletoothed.  But, still very, very cute!

       Today, I went to my favorite nursery, Shades of Green, to spend my birthday money. I love cosmos and pentas.  They are both butterfly flowers.  And, I got two of the old fashioned hot pink phlox.  I really love them and they are butterfly flowers, too.  I'll get these in the ground in the next few days.  Hopefully, before the heat sets in, again.  But, the recent rains have really cooled things off, for now.

MON:MosaicMonday,