It's Time for Critters!

I ended up with a huge number of photos for Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  The link is in my sidebar.  The link to her blog will be in one of the Camera Critters' links.  She wasn't first last week, like I said she normally is.  If you know what any of these insects are, and I either didn't say, or got them wrong, please let me know in a comment.  Thanks!

I am at my parents' house working on my post while they play with their great grandson.  It's been fun, and they have been in and out of the room I'm working in.   At one point, KJ opened the door to where I am, and said, "I found you!"  He's such a sweetie! 

The first photos are from Monday, July 5th.

The bees have been enjoying the liatrises.

The big black wasps are back, even though there is less Virginia mountain mint for them to flock to.  I'm not sure if the wasp to the right is a different sex from the black, or just another kind of wasp.

I noticed this locust from inside the kitchen, and took a few photos before going outside to get some.

I always start from a distance, using the zoom, then get closer and closer until the insect or other critter gets scared or tired of being where it is and goes away.  When this one zipped away, I was startled, too.

I was tickled to see 4 swallowtail of some kind caterpillars on the dill in my herb garden.  I used to take caterpillars off here and put them on the dill I am growing for them in the veggie garden, which I rarely see them on, but I decided to just let them hang out here if that's where they prefer.  Oh, and there's a fly hanging out, too.

I missed one of the caterpillar's photos, but each of these is a different one, and they are different sizes.

I went to check my rue to see if there were any caterpillars there.  This is a younger instar of a swallowtail.

I don't believe I've seen this kind of insect before.  Do you know what it is?  I can't remember what it was on, maybe a tomato or potato plant.

I checked the bronze fennel across the street, and found no caterpillars, but there was a ladybug.  There haven't been as many ladybugs here as last year.

The next photos are from Tuesday the 6th.  I heard a distressed sounding call, and saw it was from a locust being eaten by this robin.

I'm not the only one who heard that cry.   The other 2 birds were too late, though.

The bees are also enjoying the globe thistle.

There have been a number of the black wasps on the drumstick alliums.  I just checked back, and saw that the other photo of the wasp was on the same kind of plant, but I'm including both, because the first one showed 2 wasps, and because I like the following photo.

 I always like to see more than one insect sharing a bloom.  I know critters, like people, are not always peaceful with each other, but it always makes me feel good, as the mother of the garden, to see them co-exist well.  The rattlesnake master is a popular place for the insects to feed.
 

These are from Wednesday, the 7th.

I'm not sure if this is a wasp, or what on the milkweed.  I wonder if it's looking for a caterpillar to lay eggs in.

Here are a honey and bumble bee sharing a meal.

The next photos were taken later in the day, when I thought I was going out for a brief look at the flowers.  I ran back in for my camera when I saw what I think, was a black swallowtail butterfly on a double pom pom daylily.

It didn't want to pose for me, but I was able to get a couple photos of parts of it, anyway.

When I went across the street to take photos of the bed I have there, I found another photo of insects being near each other on the rudbeckias, I believe, 'Prairie Sun'.

While there, a squirrel was watching me from the walnut tree.

This wasp is kind of cool looking.  I have gotten close to them, and at times, they have flown toward me to get me out of their space, but I've never felt afraid of being stung.  I'm not sure if that's a bee of some kind, or what next to it on the allium.

Even later in the day, I went out and saw my third or fourth monarch of the season.  I'm assuming there have been more, but I have not been out often when it's sunniest, which is when they like to be out and about.  This is the prettiest time for the liatris.  I sure am enjoying the different kinds I have.

The monarch seemed to enjoy them, too, flitting around from stem to stem.

I think this is a lightning bug with the fly on the rattlesnake master.

Last, but not least, I'm still seeing some katydids on the daylilies.  Last week, I said that I need to do a search to see if katydids will harm the plants.  I was concerned because I've been seeing more of them this year.  Well, silly me!  My search led me to the Cottage Garden Forum, where, in the last posting in the thread, I said I'd found a book that said they rarely cause noticeable injuries.  (You can see where this one has been eating, on the lower petal.  The blooms only last a day, so I'm glad those are the kind of flowers they like.)

Wow, the photos were slower loading than at home.  As they were loading, I spent time cleaning out my mailbox, as I received an email recently telling me my box was 70% or something like that full, and I should be deleting messages or buying more room for them.

I had to finish the post at home, because KJ was ready for a nap.  He fell asleep in the car, and after getting a warning ticket for not putting my tags on my license plate, we got home, and he is still sleeping.  Next week, expect some shorter posts!  I've made some good progress, but have a ways to go in getting rid of the clutter in my "parlor", which is what Larry calls it.  He has space in the basement he made a "man cave" sign for, before we started hearing that term used a lot.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and check out some other Camera Critter posts.

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Blooms in the Front Yard Bed for Bloomin' Tuesday

I am just loving this time of year, even though I am behind in everything I do.  Heidi and I are outside for the final session of writing this post.  The birds are chirping up a storm, and the neighborhood dogs are barking at the mailman.  I'm not seeing my robin friend, but a couple others have come close to see what I am doing.  I better get this posted and go link in to Jean's Bloomin' Tuesday post.  The link to her blog is in my sidebar.

This is the third season for the front yard bed, that I call the "Bed of Many Colors".  It's still not as full as I want it to be, but I've been adding plants from other spots in the yard, as well as more watering cans and pots.

The drumstick alliums have color now. 

The three plants along the fence, to the right of the Joe Pye weed are kiss me over the garden gate.  Some have done searches of what the young plants look like.  I had one that had grown larger than these, but critter of some kind knocked it down.

The Gateway Joe Pye weed in the corner is in bud.  I wonder if I should cut them back so they don't bloom yet.  Some of the late summer, fall bloomers are trying to bloom early this year.

I think this daylily is 'Gentle Shepherd'.  It's one I got on sale last summer when putting in the new curb planting area.  I sure like it.

I've mentioned going out each morning to see what new daylilies have opened.  I'm noticing that some "wake up" sooner than others.  I think I'm going to start taking some photos in the evening to get the blooms fully opened.

These alliums have more foliage around them than the ones on the other side of the bed.

I included some photos taken from different spots inside the bed, for some different views of plants.  I tipped over the pot to prevent mosquitoes from developing in the rain water.  We're finally having some days without rain, so I could put it back upright.  The 'Octopus' bellflower  is about finished with its first flush of blooms.  I am pulling little plants from the edges to keep it in check.

This is either 'Petite Delight' or 'Marshall's Delight' bee balm.

I have a couple of these coreopsis that I forgot I'd planted.  I put a pink threadleaf one nearby.  Hopefully they won't clash, not that that's stopped me from some other mish mash combinations.

The 'Paprika' yarrow has different colors at different times of the bloom.  It's quite pretty.  I clipped back the foxglove that was finished blooming. The 'September Charm' anemone is getting tall.  I'm not sure if you can clip it back like you do other fall bloomers.  Do you know? 

The snapdragons from last year are on their second flush of blooms.  A salvia has come up very close to one of them.  There are some self sown coneflowers coming up in this area.

I'm not sure what the name of this pink yarrow is, but it looks nice in the garden.

Here's another different view taken from inside the flower bed.  I need to look up how to take care of the repeat blooming irises this time of year.  I'm thinking they need to be thinned out a bit.

This is the view to the other direction from the above photo.  The coneflowers and poppy seedheads are bedraggled, but still provide color and some height.

Turning a bit to the west, this is the spot where I'm hoping the annuals, some planted from seeds start growing faster.

Nigella is one of my favorite flowers, and the seedheads are lovely, too.  I bring some in to dry, but there aren't very many growing this year, so I'm not picking many.  I'm hoping more come up next year from this year's seeds.

The clematis, 'Purperea Plena  Elegans' blooms are starting to fade.  I'm thinking they had a second flush of blooms last year.  I'll have to check.

I'm not liking this part of the bed.  I think I'm going to change some things around.

I had high hopes for this lupine I bought at the farmer's market.  The leaves were nice and full, and I thought it may bloom this year.  The rabbits thought I planted it for their delight.  They can probably get inside this little structure, but at least, I'm putting a bit of an obstacle in their way.

This is the daylily that's in the photo before the last one.

I almost went to the day before photo of these plants.  The 'Wally' daylilies had more blooms open.  I hope the helenium blooms all summer, since it's blooming early this year.  I've never had that many blooms on the red hot poker plant.  I'm tickled about those!

Here's a close up of Wally.  This is the one I mentioned falling in love with on the Cottage Garden Forum, and ordering it online.  This is its second summer here.

I had way too many forget me nots in this area, and replaced them with a cleome I dug up because it was too close to my baby asparagus patch.  I placed the pot right next to the clump of cut back yellow blooming yarrow that I started to just give a trim to to allow more light to get to the red hot poker plant that is not blooming.  It was leggy at the middle, so I ended up cutting it to the ground.  Hopefully, it will regrow.  Another cleome, I moved out of the veggie garden, is in the ground.  The little plant by the stake is a zebrina mallow I moved from another spot in this bed. 

Here's the daylily in the above photo.

The little violas I put here by the daisies are doing well.  I hope they come back next year.

I cut the daisies back after they finished blooming.  Here's the lovely hydrangea, 'Pia' that only had one clump of blooms the first two seasons in the garden.  Oh, and there are the little newly planted cleome and mallow.

The cleome didn't like being moved, but I cut the main stem back some, and now it's getting ready to bloom.

Here's another angle I don't usually take a photo from.  I posted it because I like how it shows the edge of the bed, the curb daylilies, the fire hydrant, and the intersection.  People go too fast down that gravel street and stir up dust.  One of these days, I want to do a post about the neighbor who lives down the street, and carves wood sculptures with a chainsaw.  Some of the trellises I have were made by him and his mother-in-law when he first started making things with wood.  We also have a piece of his on our deck.  The rattlesnake master is not as tall as last year, but it seems content in its corner.  The campanula of some kind is almost finished blooming.  It's another one I'm not allowing to spread like it wants to.

This hibiscus is taller than it is supposed to get.  Soon, those buds will be opening to nice sized blooms.

I am pleased that this swamp milkweed is growing so nicely alongside the hibiscus, drumstick alliums, iris, and agastache that came up from last year.  It seems like the agastache had a woman's name.  They have mildew or something on them, but seem to be blooming fine.

Well, we made it around the bed.  I had trouble figuring out which of the way more photos than this I wanted to post.  I've told myself that I need to spend less time blogging, and one way of doing that is to post fewer photos.  As it is, this post has been done in a number of sessions, and I am determined to use better self control next time.

After I posted these photos, which were taken Monday,  I looked outside and saw that more daylilies were blooming, so I went out and took their photos.

This one was in the bargain bin, in water, no soil, a number of years ago when we had a lily farm a few miles from my city.

The one behind it in the above photo is this one, named after a woman I don't remember, was a $22.00 splurge the same day.  I just divided it this spring, and this is the clump I dug out of the original clump.  Both are blooming, so all is well.

This  'Double Pom Pom' was purchased along with 'Wally' and a few others from Daylilies by the Pond. 

While out there, I took a photo of the bud that I noticed today on the little Queen Anne's lace plant that I figured wouldn't bloom until next year.

I realized I didn't have a photo of the dianthus blooming again after being cut back, and one of the strawflowers that I have been popping blooms off of to dry.

I also noticed that there are new flower stems on the foxglove.  This is my favorite, and I was going to allow it to go to seed, but I better cut the larger stalks off and let these go to seed.

I hope you are enjoying your summer!  Thanks Jean, for hosting Bloomin' Tuesday.

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