The Spiderwort is one of my favorite purple wild flowers... They close up when the sun comes out, so I took pictures early in the morning.
The robins are in and out of the yard feeding their young in various places. A young robin prefers the smaller bird bath....While an adult takes a sip from the bigger antique that once belonged to my paternal grandmother.
This photo does not show the true color of the roses on the front gate, it's a deep velvety shade of red that I have not seen else where in my area..It was transplanted from my paternal grandmother's yard.
Daisies and Ivy share a corner near the wooden fence.
A close up of my intoxicating citrusy scented Mock orange flowers
( Philadephus coronaruis aureus) The poor thing is assaulted unmercifully every year by ants and aphids who suck it dry! I would like to find an organic insecticide that will keep them away from this plant...Thank you for sharing any tips you have that may help..
I really love the funnel shaped flowers and colors of the shrub Weigela, they are beautiful flowering shrubs that also attract hummingbirds." Eva Rathke" is a gorgeous reddish purple..it and Pink florida weigela
( Not shown ) was planted by previous owners ages ago.
" Red Prince ( in container ) I just purchased last week.
Another pass-along from my grandparents..is a sedum called Wall pepper ( crassulaceae) It will grow any where that pieces of it may fall.. they are all over in various places of my yard in cracks, between stones and rocks on the ground.. but I don't worry when I spot these run always, for the roots are very shallow making them very easy to remove.
Houdini Panini caught in the Act!.. girlfriend discovered where the handle is on the back door... I caught her reaching for it with my camera and she dashed away under the bed disgusted that I found out how she was getting out last week! ... She reaches for it and than leaps..putting all her weight on the handle until the door springs open...I'm on to you Missy!
A critter that's most likely a squirrel had several of my nice ripened strawberries for breakfast, Panini would love to catch one of these Villains and I'm almost tempted to let her ( Not!) for she would also make a bee-line straight to where Mom and Poppa Cardinal's nest site that lay in what I think is a Dutseia scrabra shrub....I would also feel guilty if one those square toothed vermin's should happen to bite her in the head, the squirrels around here aren't afraid of No cats" and would make Panini's fore-head appear just like the bitten berry in the photo.
My pink roses on the side of the house are looking healthier than last year when they too" like the Mock orange were attack by ants and aphids...So far there are none on these.." whew!
These are the scenes of May from my garden. I hope you enjoyed them, may you and yours have a wonderful Memorial Day..
First, I love your kitty! Her face is so cute with the different coloring!
ReplyDeleteI love the pictures of the birds. Crazy what the squirrels are doing to your strawberries!
My fiance is an entomologist. I passed your ant/aphid question to him. We've had aphids on some of our plants, and usually a hard spray with soap works, but for the more delicate leaves and flowers, he sometimes just gets rid of them by squishing them. Luckily he can identify which are the aphid predators, and he'll leave them alone to attack the aphids. We haven't had ants though.
Are the ants and aphids on the leaves together? The ants' presence may scare off any natural aphid predators. You can send me an email and we can chat more, if you want to send more details or pics. bumblelush@yahoo.com
Thank you bumblelush for passing this on to your fiance who is an expert on bugs! Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteYes, the ants and aphids are on them at the same time...in-fact I believe it's the aunts who are placing them there!..
So many things to luv about this post. I didn't know that spiderwort flowers closed up with the sunshine. You have your grandmother's bird bath? How cool is that. I have a cheap plastic one from Stein's. lol And you have the gorgeous sedum from your grandparents. It's so pretty. Your Houdini Pannin story is funny. Our neighbor's cat opens the door and lets the dog escape. I've rescued that dog many times. Your strawberry photo is the best photo I've every seen of a strawberry. I am NOT a fan of squirrels. The ones in our yard don't seem to be frightened by anyone or anything.
ReplyDeleteVetsy, I enjoyed all of your garden photos.
donna
The cat letting the Dog out! "Oh that is just too funny! Thank you for stopping by and sharing I'm glad you enjoyed the photos.
ReplyDeleteYour cat is very smart! Too bad for her you caught her in the act :)
ReplyDeleteMay in your garden is very pretty. I love all the Weigelas. We released ladybugs that we bought at a nursery near us and the cleaned up the aphids on the roses in my yard.
Catherine thank you for stopping by and leaving that tip and the nice comment...I'm going to try that one too" it's always fun to get our friends in nature to help us fight the bad bugs as well"
ReplyDeleteWish I knew how to mail lady bugs. My sister has a permanent infestation of them at her house. She has a very high ceiling in her main room and the lady bugs gather along the rafters. When they drop, or light elsewhere she scoops them up and places them in her garden. Some visitors are not sure what to think, but hey...
ReplyDeleteA permanent infestation of Lady bugs?... Mya, I can't get over that comment" I never heard, seen or thought about an infestation of Lady bugs!
ReplyDeleteNature never fails to excite, surprise and baffle me" and blogging with all of you who blog with me is really becoming educational, interesting, fun, and exciting!
Thanks for stopping by and sharing..