Kingston, NY Farmer's Market

Hello again. Sorry for the long silence on my part. We spent July and August settling into our new home. And then, at the end of August, my dear dad, Joel, passed away totally unexpectedly at the age of just 66. Here's a photo of the two of us at Rahm's and my wedding - one of the happiest days of my life. I'm so glad he was there to share it with me.

As you can imagine, life has gotten even busier and a whole lot more sad. I'm still trying to wrap my mind and heart around the idea that he is gone - it's pretty hard to fathom. I have not had much time to cook in the past few weeks, nor much of an appetite, so even if there had been time to blog, there would have been nothing to write about!

But as the shock of my dad's death begins to fade a little, I find that I am regaining some of my appetite for life (and food.) We're having Indian summer right now - the sky is a clear blue, the leaves are turning yellow, orange and red, and the weather is surprisingly warm. Yesterday morning, Rahm and I decided it would be a good day to stroll around the lovely Saturday farmers market in Kingston, NY's historic stockade district with our little Will. And I remembered to bring the camera.

Below is a slideshow of some of the photos I took of the fall bounty. Enjoy. And I hope to write more soon.

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Skippers, Gray Hairstreaks, their Friends, and Flowers they Like

I haven't posted since last Saturday.  I haven't been outside as much as I like this week, but was able to take a lot of critter photos to post for Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  The link is in my sidebar.

This must be a chrysalis on the vegetable garden fence.  I wonder what kind.

Here's a closer view of it.

I was surprised to see this swallowtail caterpillar on the mostly dry dill.  I hope it had enough to eat.

I think this is a male cabbage white.  My book says the females have 2 spots.

I saw a small bee going in and out of this hole.  It moved too fast for me to get a photo.  I wonder if it was a mason bee.  I've been wanting to get a mason bee house, but haven't done it.   This is in the vegetable garden, too.

Here are a bee and a nasty beetle sharing a hollyhock bloom.

I've been hearing birds, and seeing them high in the sky more than up close.  I have seen some cardinals when I don't have the camera out, and the blue jays and sparrows are still around.  The doves spend a lot of time on the wires above the street.  I haven't seen as many robins.  Also, I am sad, because I have not seen my friend, the robin with the damage on its breast ever since the day I saw a couple neighbor kids trying to catch a bird across the street.  I saw the boy the other day and asked if it was a robin, but he said he didn't know.  I don't think he wanted to talk about it, because I had chased them away, telling them to leave it alone.  Maybe it was old and ready to die.  I miss it.

A couple silver spotted silvers have found the lantana on the deck.  I just was able to get a photo of one of them.

A monarch came to have a taste while I was photographing, but didn't stay around long.

The next photos were taken today.   A few days ago, I counted 14 gray hairstreaks on the garlic chives, along with a number of bees and small insects I am not familiar with.  I didn't make it out to get photos that day, but a few insects finally came to the chives today, after the sun made its way to the area.  I love garlic chives and their blooms, but only grow them in pots, because they are invasive and don't stay out even when dug out.  They also reseed aggressively, so I deadhead them before the seedheads ripen, but still put them in the garbage, and not on the compost pile.

I like the details in this photo, so included it, too.

There were also a couple bees, and those small insects I'm not familiar with along with the soldier beetle and fly on the garlic chives.

Here's the brown butterfly that I couldn't get a clear shot of awhile back.  It does not stay in one spot long enough to focus on it.  This was an accidental focus.  I checked back, and Randy E. thought it may be a Horace Duskywing.  When I looked at that photo, I couldn't see the white on the end of the wings, like this one has.  This one looks like the Funereal Duskywing in my book, but we would be at the north fringe of where they are found.

I counted 15 skippers on the verbena "on a stick" in the vegetable garden.

The eupatorium 'Prairie Jewel' is just starting to open its buds.  This is a great late summer blooming plant insects like.  I sure have lots of gray hairstreaks this year!

The white blooming cypress vine sure is growing through other plants.  I have found that wasps like white blooming plants.  Those are boltonia blooms in the background.  They are covering up the Virginia mountain mint that I moved to that bed this spring.  It was blooming last I checked.  I'll have to see about uncovering it.  I like the legs of this wasp.

As always, there were a number of bees enjoying the veronica, 'Sunny Border Blue' along with the ailanthus moth.

The short toothed mountain mint had quite a crowd enjoying it today.  I'm not sure what the moths are with the soldier beetles.  There were also bees, and I'm thinking a wasp or two on the blooms.

A monarch landed on the butterfly bush just as I was going to see if any butterflies were on it.

The liatris 'Punctata' just started blooming a day or two ago, and I see a bee has found it.

I was able to get a nice variety of insects on the rough goldenrod.  Look how nicely they share!  I was even able to get close enough to use my macro setting.  One of these bees, the lower one, did fly up toward me and then back to the flower to let me know I was getting too close.  I showed respect by going to a different bloom, and not sticking around much longer.

Well, I ended up not seeing as many swallowtails as usual this summer, but this sure has been the year of gray hairstreaks, monarchs, painted ladies, bees and wasps as always, and soldier bugs galore!  I guess they eat insects as well as nectar.  I hope they aren't eating the caterpillars.

I'm not finished visiting the blogs of those who left comments last week.  It was cool having so many.   Thanks to those who helped identify some of the critters.

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Do You Deadhead your Butterfly Bushes?

I do.  I didn't get to them as soon as they faded like I usually do, but a couple days ago, decided to take some before and after photos.  If you look it up, there are detailed instructions on how to do this.  I just go fairly close to where a new stem starts, taking the stems back as far as the faded growth, or a little farther if I want to shape them a bit.

I sometimes tie up this bush so that the branches don't droop, but haven't done that this year.

Here's a close up view of the faded blooms.

You can see that the stems were cut at different lengths, depending on how far back the blooms were faded.

The after photos don't look as different from the before ones than the bush does in "person".  It's not perfectly shaped, but looks much better.

I took the next photo this evening, since I didn't have a close up to compare to the faded blooms one.

I am almost caught up with visiting those who left comments on my critter post a week ago, and ready to visit this past Saturday's commenters' blogs.  When I hear about hurricanes and fires, I think of and pray for the bloggers in those areas.

Work is going well, but I come home tired.  We have some new students who need lots of attention, and I work with one of them from 11:30 to 2:40 most days.  It's fun getting into a routine, and seeing him do more and more things independently. 

I have been helping my grown daughter clean her place, which she has gotten very far behind in due to depression.  I told her I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel, but she said she doesn't yet.  Any prayers would be appreciated.

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Doing it up for September 2010 GBBD

I can't believe it's the middle of September!  I am so not ready for fall.  I've mentioned I didn't make it out as much as I like, partly because of my jaw, and partly because of other things going on.  Saturday, Larry and our grandson helped me dig potatoes after KJ picked lots of grape tomatoes.  That made me feel better going into a new week.

I took photos for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, Monday after work while it was trying to rain.  It's a good thing I got done when I did, because we had quite the windy thunderstorm.  Our house was one of 25% of those in the city whose electricity went out.  It was out around an hour or so.  I was glad when it came back on, because I had been exporting my photos, and my  computer was down to 11% power.  LOL

Just a couple or 3 blooms on the lisianthus are opening at a time, but are adding much needed color to the new curb area.

The gomphrena took awhile to grow to a decent size.   I like it with the black eyed Susans.

The little sale rose in my new curb area has bloomed most of the season.

This is either 'Little Lemon' or another smaller goldenrod just beginning to bloom.  There are a couple sedums blooming in the background.

The threadleaf coreopsis has been blooming awhile.

Moving on to the more established part of the curb area, this goldenrod is another smaller variety.  The Jupiter's beard, to the right of the goldenrod, was big and bushy, and did well for a number of years, but needed to be cut back this summer due to some of the stems dying off.  There is a little green coming up, but I wonder if it will survive the winter.

I didn't realize some of the lavender was blooming again until I went out to take photos.

I can't decide which color of lisianthus I like better between the two I have.  

The pentas plants have lots of blooms.

I didn't realize a couple of the irises planted in the curb area are repeat bloomers.

The catmints have done fine this summer.

Rose moss:

I can't remember which blogger who told us one can plant autumn joy type sedums by sticking a stem into the ground.  I did that this spring, and this is one of the two plants I started.  It is blooming already.  Thanks, whoever gave us this information!

The perennial geraniums don't seem to have bloomed as much this summer.  A couple blooms are showing up, so maybe there will be more.

The next group was taken in the larger front bed.  The gauras have been full of blooms for a few weeks.

This agastache, either planted last year, or up from seeds from it, had some kind of mildew on the leaves early summer, but that sure didn't slow it down.

The nicotianas I planted here and there didn't get as tall as they usually do.

I'm not a big mum fan, but Larry is.  I just have this one kind, 'Debonair' that I like the color of.

The snap dragons live a few seasons in this bed.  I deadhead them, and they bloom all summer.

I'm thinking this salvia is a volunteer.  Originally, they got started by me placing seedheads around from a flower bed at church.

The 'Orange Perfection' phlox is on a second flush of blooms.

The rabbits ate the cypress vines down to the ground this spring, but they recovered, and are just starting to bloom.

The kiss me over the garden gate plants are not as tall as last year, but are getting taller and blooming at the same time.

I think they are one of my favorite annuals.  This beetle did not stay here for long.

Love lies bleeding is another favorite of mine.  This and the "kiss mes" are on the back of the bed.  I like them near each other like they are.

The clematis have a few more blooms.

Moving to the east side of the house, Mongolian Skies Skullcap has been blooming a few weeks.

Annual helenium:

The 'Pia' hydrangea is finished blooming, but is still looking pretty to me.  (It's back in the front yard bed.  I guess I had forgotten to take its picture.)

Rudbeckia 'Herbstonne' is blooming again after being deadheaded.

The blue mist spirea usually only live a few seasons in my yard.  This one is doing well so far.

This helenium is blooming later than the others.  I don't mind.  It looks nice with the other blooms, and soon, the asters on the left will add color to the area.

The blue agastache needs to be deadheaded.

The veronica, 'Sunny Border Blue' has bloomed all summer with deadheading.  It needs to be done again.   The bees still visit them, though.

The false sunflowers are still blooming next to the amsonia.

I like the way this black eyed Susan vine is growing up the ladder.

It looks to me like one can deadhead autumn joy sedum, as this one, in the iris/daylily bed by the curb in front of the vegetable garden has new buds growing on it.

The boltonia in front of the vegetable garden puts on a great show, but doesn't have as long a bloom time as I'd like it to.

Rose, from Prairie Rose posted a photo of a plant like this recently.  I thought it was this, Eupatorium, 'Prairie Jewel', but the leaves in the photo didn't look variegated.  Well, the variegation on mine is faded now that it's blooming.  I think this is what she had.

The costmary is just blooming.

The phlox, 'David' have been blooming awhile.

The sweet peas on the garden fence have been blooming all summer, and since I thinned them way back, they did not get a disease on the leaves that they had had for the last couple of summers.

The pass along day lily had one last bloom before being finished for the season.

I'd never seen this while blooming cypress vine before.  I hope it reseeds like the red ones do.

The moonflower plant needs to be deadheaded again, but is still doing well.

The volunteer sunflower must be from the birdseeds rather than the decorative hybrids I've had the last few years.

The blue morning glories are on a mission to take over the deck, but I didn't get a photo of them because they are finished blooming by the time I get home from work.  These on the herb garden fence, were almost finished, but still colorful.

This may be 'Wichita Mountains' goldenrod just opening up in the back yard.

My sweet autumn clematis died over the winter or after being cut back this spring.  I had been noticing a volunteer clematis in my hosta bed on the north side of the house, and now see that it has a few blooms.  Is this sweet autumn?  It will have to be moved this spring.

Doing this post showed me that I still have lots blooming.  I didn't even show everything, because the rain sent me in, and I didn't go back out because I knew I already had taken too many photos.  I wonder what October will bring.

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