Busy Bumblebee

It's not so much how busy you are,

but WHY you are busy.

The bee is praised.

The mosquito is swatted.

~ Mary Flannery O'Connor ~

More Blooms From the Gardens

A few of the many blooms I've enjoyed this year...

First Angel Trumpet Blooms

My Aunt Joyce surprised me with a truckload of newly propagated Angel Trumpet trees.  She had them unloaded and lined up in my front yard before I knew what was going on.  I was all the more grateful for these passed down treasures from her collection of pink and yellow trumpets.  

For the time being, they're lined along my back porch in full sun and doing well.  The first pink blooms appeared a few days ago...

I love the way the long blooms dangle from the branches and sway in the breeze.  I'm looking forward to seeing these beauties grow into mature trees.

Tiger Lilies

I've admired the gorgeous tiger lilies which have recently bloomed in my garden. I planted these from tuberous roots last spring and they produced a few blooms on about 3 ft stems. This year, the stems reached approximately 4 feet tall and produced several beautiful, large blooms. Aren't they pretty?

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Drift Coral Carpet Roses

I've been mostly posting photos of my flowers lately because I haven't taken many wildlife or bird photos.  Due to back problems, I haven't been traveling or outdoors as much as usual. However, I'm grateful that I can sit on my back porch and watch our resident birds in action. The flowers and birds are soul therapy, especially during my recent confinement.  

The Drift Coral Carpet Roses I planted a couple of months ago have become so full and vigorous. The first photo was taken when there were just a few blooms present, but within the last 2 weeks, colorful roses have popped out everywhere.  The new blooms are a bright coral and fade to a pale pink as they age.  I've been really pleased with them so far.  I may add more carpet roses to my back yard next spring if these continue to perform well.  

Have a great end to this week, thanks for dropping in!

Coneflowers

Pretty blooms from my garden...

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Mimosa Trees

FREE:  Mimosa Trees.  U-DIG & U-HAUL.

I seriously doubt that I could give these trees away, but it was worth the thought.  Several of them have invaded my back yard and though I like the fluffy pink and white blooms, I hate the ugly brown seed pods that are all over the place in the fall.  

Steve Bender wrote an article for the Daily South, which stated "Mimosa adapts to almost any well-drained soil, laughs at heat and drought, and does not mind if you spray-paint the trunk white, hang tires from the branches, or park your pickup on top of its roots. In short, we called it a “pioneer species,” because if you disturb the land, remove native vegetation, and open the tree canopy to light, it’s one of the first trees to appear. That’s why you see it growing along just about every highway and country road in the South. Northerners be glad it doesn’t like your cold winters, but with global warming, who knows how much longer you’ll be free?".  Yes, that pretty much sums it up, Mr. Bender.  

Besides the pretty blooms, the only other good thing I have to say about these trees is that they attract plenty of butterflies and hummingbirds.  

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great weekend!

Daylily Shopping

Yesterday my husband and I visited a plant nursery which was highly recommended by a friend.  My goal was to come home with several beautiful daylilies- and that's just what I did! The choices weren't easy though.  There were rows and rows of huge, colorful gorgeous blooms.  With the price at only $4.00 per plant for over 10 items purchased, I could have gone crazy. What a great value! I wanted to bring home one (or two) of each, but I had to chose the ones I liked best as there was limited space in the transportation van.  

Here are most of my choices:  

Gorgeous, aren't they?  Now I face the task of getting them all planted-

At this very moment, raised wooden planter boxes are being made for me :)  I'm so excited!

I'm going to really enjoy these lovely flowers for many years to come!

Coneflowers

One of my favorite and most hardy late summer plants is the Coneflower.   These have survived the stifling heat wave that gripped the south a couple weeks ago.  Fortunately we've had some relief with frequent rain showers the past few days.  

I hope your weekend is a good one.  I'm off work this weekend, so I plan to get caught up on some much needed house cleaning.  Thank you for visiting ;)

Brief Season of Liatris Spicata

For a few weeks the lavender colored blooms of Liatris spicata attracted all sorts of insects to my back yard garden.  Butterflies and bees particularly enjoyed it.  I grew these plants from corms then transplanted them to my garden during early spring.  They grew rapidly and required little care. Little did I know that the field across the road would be full of Liatris spicata blooms!  I may just dig some of those plants up and bring them to my garden next year.  

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope your summer is going well. 

It's been a busy, busy one for me- I need some time off to catch my breath!

Lady & The Skippers

The local butterflies love Lantana.  One species or another flutters around the blooms consistently throughout the day.   If I were a butterfly, I'd probably like the bright, colorful blooms too.  

The American Lady allowed me to get fairly close while I photographed her.  What a beauty she is!  I believe the small yellow and black butterflies are Fiery Skippers.  I have difficulty with identifying the Skippers- there's so many of them that look closely similar.  

I hope you've had a good week so far- thanks for dropping in!