Glaring Sunlight

 A painted lady butterfly came to my zinnia patch for a photo shoot. I found in research that it is one mostly scattered over the world. It didn't spook from the camera as most butterflies do. 

 This shot makes it look like it is a part of the flower. It flitted from one flower to the other sometimes landing right close to my face.

 After a morning full of rainfall the skippers were welcoming all that hot sun in the afternoon. It did feel good to be out in bright sun. We traveled to and back in a rain storm this morning for an appointment. We got an inch and 65 hundreds of rain this morning. 

 This variety of tomato must be tasty for the chipmunks as both of them have been chewed on unfortunately. The munks did have the ability to eat on the as they were close to the ground. 

 The front raised bed is looking water weary as the rain does damage hardy geraniums. I don't have to water the bed though as it keeps raining.

 

The camera actually doesn't like the strong sunlight and it struggles to focus. I had my eyes dilated this morning and myself and the camera struggled not knowing what was a good shot. It helped to download the photos and work on the computer manipulating the values.  Yet, the computer screen is somewhat glaring to me yet this afternoon. Tomorrow with a good nights sleep my eyes should be back to normal. 

Thanks for checking in today.
 

Middle of the Week

Thinking I would find a monarch out there that I had seen earlier, I instead discovered this very hungry eastern tiger swallowtail. It stayed for so long time giving me a chance to take way too many photos,

I like planting zinnias specifically for the draw of butterflies but the hummingbirds are a good draw too.  I seee a lot of skippers during the summer but rarely get a shot of one of them. 

 I have been trimming back sunflower leaves to let the tomatoes get more sunshine. I think things are too crowded but I don't see me taking away anything that is growing there

 I found the marker of this tomato and it is called Champion. It seems to be my best producer right now. I think I planted my tomatoes too late but I will get a harves until frost if they stay growing at the same pace. 

They seem to be more solid and less watery substance.What is really great is that they taste so good.

We are having rain this morning, It isn't going to amount too much but it keeps me from mowing my backyard.  I have four large bags of garden soil to lift up and out of my car trunk. That I can do while I am waiting for the grass to dry. I can wheel barrow them down the hill one bag at a time. I do think we will be less hot today than yesterday.  The rain will be good for me to get my plastic geese washed down a bit.  You can see here the grass is very long. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Things of the Now

 

 

 

I need to return and pick this for a vase inside. The blooms come right when I thought they were never going to bloom anymore. 

 

 

 The work zone is at rest right now as I covered up the soil with black plastic to cook the roots of the grass. At 91 degrees F. and direct sun I am hoping that I can clear out the grass in a few days. I have iris waiting for their new garden area but it needs to cool down before I can work out there. I bought four bags of commercially bagged dirt to put in there once it is ready to go. I loaded the four bags today and tomorrow I will unload the dirt from the trunk of the car. I didn't mention the high humidity that was there at the very first in the morning. Working outside has to be difficult for road work crews and people who are shingling houses. 

I have a doctors appointment on Thursday so I will lose a day of work. I guess all in all my body will appreciate.the tie off. Thanks for stopping by today.  

 

Project Day

 

I worked in the garden again this morning clearing out an iris bed. They will be replanted in the same space but there will be grass totally removed and the growing space will be doubled. I have a set of five re-blooming iris ready to be planted but noting goes into the ground until all grass has been cleared. I will clear and apply new bags of soil from the hardware to fortify the clay soil that is there. It will grow in clay but I would like the black dirt to be the higher concentration of growing material. 

I worked in the high humidity and high temps until I could not stand it anymore. I cleared old iris, placed my landscape planks in position and cleaned and clipped the iris. I sat down in the shade with two buckets of water to clean and trim everything. I am going to leave them lay there until things are ready to go. I did find one rhizome that had grubs working on it so I will get out my grub granules for that for the rest of the iris all over the garden.  The planks are not  completely buried in place but they seem to be pretty right in and ready to go. 

Thanks for stopping b y today.  

Sunday, Aug. 9

 

We had a short rain storm in the night. We didn't get a lot of rain but it was totally not predicted. We did warm up to the high 80s again today. We are headed into hot weather for our State Fair season. Schools start after thet Fair is over and the fall season sort of just starts up again. We have a busy week ahead.

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Saturday's Stuff

 

 

The morning glories are living on the sunflower stalks. I keep pulling some of them. I cut back leaves of the sunflowers to keep them from shading my four tomato plants and I definitely yank the morning glories away from the tomatoes. I think the tomatoes are slow in ripening this year but I probably didn't get them in the ground early enough. 

 

My hardy geranium isn't hardy. I did see the humming birds eating from it when it was downstairs so I brought it up and put it on the bench. I think it reminds me of a bonsai that was intentionally grown that way. I am hoping water and hot sun will revive it. I am hoping to get shots of the hummers workining the red flowers. 

 I have the count of four at once trying to fight to be at the feeders.  I like that they can learn to get along somewhat.

 

I worked in the yard today with a pretty mild temperature. The problem was the sun was so hot and I had to keep taking breaks. I am developing a new flower bed that will be made to encourage flowers and not weeds. I am developing the project as I go and will need to go buy dirt on Monday. I have five new iris to plant and I want to do it so only the iris grow and the plastic and rocks keep everything else out of there.  I will show visuals as it looks a little bit more presentable. It is more work that I imagined. 

Thanks for stopping by today. 

Friday's Finds

 

 

From soft colors to strong colors the zinnia puts out a variety for all to see. They weather seems to be good for them as they keep putting out lots of blooms.

 The phlox are fading but they still have good colors. The blending of the two plants with them and zinnias seems to work great. The humming birds are hitting on both flowers often. 

 When I look down from our bedroom window I keep catching glimpses of goldfinches in the sunflowers but I can't get the camera there at the same time. The goldfinch are not working on my sock of thistle seed that I just bought for them special.  I did see one goldfinch fly form the sunflowers down to the zinnias which may be they are finding insects on them.

 I mowed the front yard this morning after mowing the back yesterday. I noticed the sedums are doing so well. There are two different varieties in that group. Our temperatures are great today as I mowed with a light t-shirt on today. We are looking for storms this evening which helping us to keep up on our moisture. I am out shopping for a new mailbox today as our older one has been hit too many times from garbage trucks, mail trucks or even snow removal persons. I have some new iris to plant and that project is going to require me to build a new flower bed situation. I want to pick up some landscape ltimbers and dirt to start off new growing conditions.  I won't get that done for a few days but one does have to start get the supplies all together.. 

Thanks for stopping by today.  

 

Middle of the Week

We have a lot of bees of all kinds this year. The bumble bees are larger so we see them more often. The honey bees are out there but being smaller I just don't notice them. The buzzing of a bumble bee around your head does give one a better idea of their activities. 

 We have had more rain in the night. They water from above is hard on the flowers and makes them wilted looking. The geranium flowers are being destroyed and they will have to rebloom.

 The white geranium hasn't been a strong bloomer for me this season. My whole circle of flowers in the front circle are needing to regroup with all the rains forces against them. 

 My front yard locust tree is drooping right now but when it dries out the limbs do lift up. I sort of like the feeling of the southern plantation feel as one looks through under the branches. 

 

The dinner plate hibiscus likes lots of water but it can soak up some of its blooms. I still have lots of buds so it will bloom for a long time. 

 I needed to mow my back yard a couple of days ago but it will not happen until tomorrow. I have my front and back yards on different schedules. It works as the fence keeps everyone not knowing that they aren't in sync. I didn't get outside all day but this late afternoon I may go shoot some photos. I don't do well when I am stuck inside all day so maybe I will be a little better more cheery after the walk. Our temps are low today but we are predicted to warm up for sure. I had to turn on the heat in the morning. 

I am getting a full load of humming bird shots as we have four birds out there fighting over the two feeders. Sometimes they get along and realize they can sit opposite each other and drink in peace.  Their is no way that I can share all the shots so I will have to selectively dump some. The humming bird is good at knocking off the focus as they move continuously. 

 Thanks for stopping by today.

 

Harvest Day

This is a ruby throat hummingbird. It has its back to the sunlight so he has a black band that should be reflecting bright red. I guess I need to move the feeder but it makes it more difficult for me to photograph. Its too high in the window. At certain times of the day the red shows up as he turns to fly away.

The female ruby throat has dots on its underneath of its chin.  I have three or four of these out there now and sometimes two of them will drink at the same time.

 The volunteer morning glories do take over things. I get aggressive and clip a lot of them every few days.

 I picked some tomatoes today. It was very hot out there and the tomatoes do love hot weather. I have cut back some of the sunflower leaves at the bottom to help get more light on the tomato plants I worked out in the garden this morning until I got too down in the back using the grass trimmer. It also was getting too hot to be out there and my dark blue shirt was a poor choice for working out there today. thanks for checking in today.