Always A Trip, This Flower

All of a sudden, three foxglove plants sprang up not far from where I planted one four years ago. Volunteers!

Old Faithfuls

We have lots of different kinds of daylilies around here, thanks to the DH's old hobby, but over the years and the moving them around, I really don't know which one's which anymore. Anyhow, this is the first one blooming, and doesn't it cheer the joint up?

More Color To Rest The Eyes

Serene blue bellflower

Clematis

This vine hides in the dogwood tree; you have to work to see the blooms.

Finally! Something Pretty

Enough with the brown insects, empty nests, and grey sweaters. I'm tired of them too. Let's look at a flower every day instead, shall we? Here's what's blooming at the moment: this sweet pink tuft-flower-thing, whose proper name I've lost around here someplace.

Time For Another Insect Closeup

Look what I found on the tomato plants this evening! A tomato hornworm, parasitized by the cocoons of brachinid wasps. I've read about these, but this is the first time I've seen one in real life. He's a goner now; a luckier hornworm would have eaten all the tomatoes and tomato leaves he could hold, then metamorphosed into a sphinx moth. You can see from these photos that the tops of the little white cocoons are mostly all open, so I guess the wasps have emerged already, and all the excitement's over.

Recent Acquisitions

The Dee's Nursery in Oceanside holds a local-legendary 4th of July Sale annually, when everything-but-everything sells for 50% off list. It's mobbed, even at the 5:30 (a.m.!) opening.

I didn't go this year, and only went to the nursery this morning, more than a week later, to get some stakes for the tall stuff that was falling over. I was happily surprised to find that the half-price sale goes on for "a week or so," according to the cashier, and there were still a number of healthy, not-yet-potbound bargains. I scooped up a white dicentra (alba, a cultivar that blooms after the classic pink variety is done):

another coral bells called Plum Pudding for its purple leaves:

a clump of fescue 'Elijah Blue'

and two clematis plants: the dark-purple 'jackmanii' and a white sweet-autumn variety. They're not in bloom right now. But we half-price gardeners are patient. Oh, and I got another fern, a marginal shield fern:

...so named not for a dearth of the characteristics shared by shield ferns, but for the fact its sporia develop on the margins of its leaves.

Oh, and in an update on the habits of fireflies, I had occasion to observe this one for quite a few hours over the course of planting this afternoon, and my anecdotal scientific conclusion is that yes, they do in fact do nothing, and eat nothing, all day!

Ach, But The Scots Are A Hardy Bunch

Leave it to the Scotch Heath to be blooming in January. The blooms are white, so they just look like a dusting of snow. I really should get it a little witch hazel tree to keep it company.

Now Blooming

The giant digitalis (foxglove) I planted late last fall. Honestly, if you were a bee, could you resist this dreamy purple psychedelic tunnel? Doesn't it just look like the best nightclub ever in there?

and the spiny fireworks of nigella (love-in-a-mist.) This is an annual I planted years ago that reseeds itself and surprises me every time.

Get In Touch With Your Inner Crocus

Next week's feature: "Cleaning Pollen Off Your Lens"

Next Week: The Cabinets Under My Kitchen Sink!

Just kidding. But I do want to update you on the fridge contents: DH made vegetarian meatloaf, mashed potatoes and string beans for dinner last night, and above you'll see a shot of the bacon's ultimate fate, as French toast accompaniment this morning. Sorry that one's not quite in focus, but it was still before 9 a.m. on a Sunday. A beautiful Sunday, sunny and brisk and almost spring, as evidenced by this, the first one to bloom in the yard:

SnowCones For Everyone!

...courtesy of Mother Nature. We've got a good seven inches but it's wet and heavy and the air outside is warm, so this shouldn't last long. And don't worry, the library is open!

Fall Planting

Dee's nursery had their annual shrub sale today, where I picked up a painted fern, a (white) Bridal Veil astilbe, and these two butterfly bushes, a small, dark "Adonis Blue" and this yummy golden yellow variety called "Honeycomb." (I would have gotten a few more things, but the bushes were so large I couldn't see where I was going anymore.)

Oh, Sure....

...the first one's always pretty...

In For A Closer Look

A Love/Hate Thing

First sighting this summer!

I love mantids because they are so exceptional-looking, and as they stay in one spot or move slowly much of the time, they're an easy bug to watch. And, they don't try to fly in your mouth or skitter up yer leg, like so many other insects.

What I hate about them is their omniverous nature. They don't just eat aphids and mosquitos and pests like that, they also eat ladybugs, butterflies, spiders and other beneficials. (There

are pictures of them eating hummingbirds, but I can't find authority on that.)

(Sigh) It's a jungle out there.

Luscious

Almost makes you wish you were a butterfly.

Except for that 4-day lifespan thing....

Don't tell PETA...

...but I picked up a grand total of sixty-four of these %$!#$*(&!s

this morning. It was a massacree. They never knew what hit 'em.

No more holes in my foliage, thanks.