Monarch and others in my garden

“May I a small house and large garden have;
And a few friends,
And many books, both true.”
― Abraham Cowley

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It has been a magical few days out in the summer ravaged garden.  Doing my usual morning visit, pulling weeds, moving pots and other messy leftovers to a better hiding place, I stopped, looked up and there were butterflies coming in in a frenzy of feeding.  Amazing!
I rushed in the house, dirty boots and all, to find my camera.  So afraid they would be gone before I got back.

Not to worry, these amazing creatures and numerous bees had come to stay the day, and told their friends.

I had just finished a post about the nonblooming butterfly weed plants.  They have plenty of buds, just not opening.  Too bad.  The Monarchs drifted in and chose to feed on what was there.

There were so many other species fluttering, flitting, lighting, landing.... I struggled to get the camera ready.  

Then, just settled down to capture what pictures I could as long as they were there.

“The master of the garden is the one who waters it, trims the branches, plants the seeds, and pulls the weeds. If you merely stroll through the garden, you are but an acolyte.”
―

 Sometimes, I catch myself with a
sore jaw from just grinning at the pure
joy of it!

 

 

Butterfly Weed

It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life. The rich colours of grass and earth were intensified by the mellow light of a sun almost warm enough for spring... ~P.D. James, A Taste for Death

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on picture to see
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Last year's butterfly weed

This year's butterfly weed

 We were gone from home for about 2 weeks, leaving plants unattended.  I fretted over this years butterfly weed the whole time.  It had lost all its leaves earlier in the year and with temperatures in the 90's and no rain the whole 2 weeks, I was concerned it would die.

Surprisingly, it is a beautiful plant and getting ready to bloom.
The flowers on this plant are all yellow.  Last year's plant is multi colored orange and yellow.

This is a good sign that it will make it through the winter.
This winter is forecast to be dry and not too cold.

Not good for wintering plants.

I have to comment again on the practicality of the black
pound in edging from Gardeners Supply catalog.  I have done this several times with this
edging. Making a sort of "pot" to hold water. Once it looks
settled, I will remove the edging.

I have another "pot" with a plant that I set out before we
left for our trip.  I forgot all about it.  Then, on closer
inspection, I remembered planting "something".
I watered it thoroughly and will watch for more leaves.
If we have a mild winter, I may actually figure out what
it is.

One last remark about the edging.  This picture
is of the only piece of edging to break. It still
comes in handy.

 

 I love garden surprises!  This is the Hyacinth Bean Vine.  I had attempted to grow this vine over my
metal arbor.  It never bloomed.  Plenty of leaves, no flowers.  I finally cut it all down.
Today, I was cleaning out this area and noticed the leaves first. Then the blossoms.  I don't even
remember planting seeds here.

Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons. ~Jim Bishop

Return from trip to Wyoming to Summer garden

Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers.”
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine 

Butterfly Weed remnant

Seeing plants in various stages of dying, this one actually is "promising".  I set this little plant out a week before I took off for Wyoming.  It had leaves and even flowers.  I choose to believe that a Monarch butterfly caterpillar had a feast.  There are other things that could have caused this, I am opting for the caterpillar. The hopeful sign is the sprout with leaves.  I will watch this plant and see how it does.

The 2 year old Butterfly Weed beside this plant is healthy.

Other plants that may look sad and hopeless to me are the promise of things to come.

This is a seedling zinnia from SPENT blossom that I dead headed several weeks ago

 “One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.”
― Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle

I had Four O'clock's many years
ago and thought I'd try again.
They may be my summer staple
if I continue fighting summer
heat.
They benefit from deadheading
and will likely bloom all heat
long.

 Summer has set in with its usual severity. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 Heat, ma’am! it was so dreadful here, that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones. ~Sydney Smith, Lady Holland’s Memoir

  I set out watermelon rinds a few weeks back for the butterflies. The seeds germinated and the vine(s) are huge.
I started cutting back and pulling out.
Then, I saw a bumblebee.

Plant stays!

Last but not least, 2 sweet potato vines.  These were set into the hole of concrete blocks.  Not a lot of soil, not much water....I have cut it back as it was creeping out to conquer the whole court yard.

In the end, hubby (not a gardener) would tell me when we talked on the phone that things looked so bad.
I said don't worry about it.
I came home to not a sad sight, a promise of fall and spring.