Sunday's Shots........

The red admiral fails to have any red on it when viewing the inside parts of the wings.  Maybe there is a red dot on the outside of the wings.  I haven't seen many butterflies but at least there are a few out there.

It is sad to see leaves are starting to fall from some of the trees.  This one landed on the coneflower making a sad statement of our future weather.  The coming fall brings winter.

I shared this butterfly on my Photo a Day blog hoping someone will know what kind that it is.  He was so nervous and would land for such a short time and move on to another location.  I shot with my zoom as quickly as possible and only netted two pictures.  I am glad they both did turn out good.

The aronia berry bush seems to give me red leaves once the fruit starts to  ripen.  I have to deal with the idea that I might have to make jelly out of the fruit.  It is a not so sweet berry but can be put into jelly with enough lemon juice and lots of sugar.  I am putting off making the decision on the jelly making when I am feeling more ambitious.

My first zinnia bloom is still not into full bloom.  The little yellow flowers at the center have only a few opened and the petals are still trying to unroll more. The orange flowers seem to be the first to bloom as that is all the colors that I have so far.  They have grown a lot in height this past week and more buds are forming.  The lack of sunshine is slowing down the process but they will be in full bloom all over soon.

I put mulch on the path going back to the fish tank.  It still has weeds growing in it but the mud was picking up on the dogs feet and I guess my shoes also. The bee balm is a great plant to see but it is a spotty type of blooming plant. They have spread in this area to the right and do bloom for a long time. The phlox continues to spread all over the garden.

The small apples keep falling daily but the larger ones are still on the branches.  The frost took out a lot of blooms this year and I don't know the reason for all the small apples that I have falling.  I do have certain sections of the tree that actually have normal sized apples and I do think there will be apple pie in our future. It will take a step ladder to reach these and a big ladder to get the ones at the top of the  tree. I tasted one of the fallen ones yesterday and they are very green right now.  I am pleased to see that they were insect free and the peel is pretty much clear and clean.

It is a good looking Sunday day so far out there. We will have rain in the afternoon but it doesn't seem to look like we will have much to measure.  It is nice to see the sun again as overcast with no rain is not fun.  I didn't finish my mowing yesterday but Monday is coming.

I treated for iris bores yesterday and created an emergency room planting area to try to save some of them.  I don't like losing iris but it looks like I may loose a half or more of the plants.  I moved iris away from an entire growing area hoping to give them a chance to start over and grow.  I can move them again next year if I can get them to start up in my makeshift planting area.  I treated all the soil areas both in the sick plants zone and in the newer planted area. Good rains makes for great foliage for the moths to eat and then drop their eggs to the ground to eat my iris.

Sunday is a good day to rest so we do try not to plan anything too much to do.  Sunday school classes and a sandwich are the standard things we do and maybe a stop at a store or two on our way home.  I hope everyone is doing good out there and thank you for stopping by today.