Tuesday's Things.......

The rains have been hard on some of the plants.  The geraniums were reaching a point where they needed to put out new sets of flowers but the rains sure demolished the older blooms.  All have new buds and will return soon to full flower.

A different variety of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was feeding in my garden yesterday.  I was able to get to the house and back to capture two photos.  There had been three of them there at one time but I didn't have a camera in hand.  I shared the large photo of two of them on my Larry's Photo a Day blog today.  I researched and discover my two cheap poplar trees have slick leaves and they like to lay their eggs on them.

The other variety of swallowtail looks like this from the side.  It is a plain version of the butterfly as it has neither blue or orange on it inside or out.  This is my pet swallowtail that seems to have become a pet on our property.  I can see him flying up in the trees while I am in the dining room window and he and another friend will feed while I am around ignoring my existence. My wife and I were out to see the garden yesterday afternoon and the put on a show for her fluttering from one flower to the other.  I am still waiting for the zinnias to come more into full bloom as they attract a lot of monarchs and smaller butterflies.

My wife's dianthus have revived from total collapse from the rainy days.  I didn't think they would stand back up again but here they are showing off their colors.

Just leaves to see on the hardy geranium seems to erase the thoughts of the  winter past. I really like the shape of the leaves on this one as they seem more maple leaf shaped that the standard hardy geranium.  I am having to water the potted plants again as it is a few days now away from the last natural watering.

I will finish today with this shot of a painted lady butterfly.  They and the red admirals are becoming more in number again.  They love zinnias so I am looking for more of them to show.  I have a lot of kinds of bees this time of year.  The honey bees, which my friend across town has three hives, are visiting often and gathering quickly.  Smaller bees and also bumblebees are all out and about.  This means I need to stop writing and get out and about myself.

It is cold out there again this morning. Unusual for Iowa but we will take it.  I moved plants yesterday and it helps out that they have cool weather.  Iris rhizomes were moved, fernleaf peonies were divided  and so were a couple of yucca plants.  All moved to new parts of the property.  If it were hot and dry I would probably not succeed at this time of the year. I thank you for stopping by today.  I hope all is well with you.