Bird Bonanza!

Lots of bird spotting, of late. The blue jays are acting like roosters in the mornings. One starts getting anxious that I'll get up and put bird seed out, then the rest giving territorial calls.

Yesterday, I spotted two goldfinches in the wetlands. I went to get the binoculars to get a positive id, but they were no where to be seen. But a little small buzzy thing caught my eye. It was a hummingbird. A juvenille hummingbird! He was all fuzzy and adorable. I stood there and watched him for the longest time. He played with his tongue and his tail feathers. And even did some flapping of his wings, before he somersaulted off of the tree limb he was sitting on.

Later on, I did spot and id a goldfinch. This one was hanging upside down from a spent sunflower head eating the seeds. Positively charming.

As for the garden, I took Zeppe out and did a bit of weeding. Real shame I can't mulch the iris, the grass and clover keep trying to take over.

Glorious Weather

We are enjoying unseasonably fine weather. Which is cooly refreshing after that heat wave. My windows are open again, and I usually find myself rushing to the thermostat to remind the AC not to run. It's too nice and no need to waste electricity. I'm even cozying up under blankets at night because it get that chilly!

Now if only I could convince myself to mow the lawn in this gorgeous weather. But it really looks to brown to touch out front. Even the dandelions are looking parched out there. The back is looking better, but that also means that it needs mowed, as opposed to being something I should do. *sigh* I'd rather stick to weeding and watering.

A Sunflower of a Different Color

My second sunflower opened today. Despite them both being from the same seed packet (Velvet Queen from Parks), the two plants are totally different. The second one is a reddish brown, as opposed to the bright yellow of the first.



Can you believe that these are only two plants? I wonder if they were supposed to be like this.





And this is my little lily tuff that is getting ready to bloom.

Yuck -or- Death Comes to a Garden

So, yesterday morning I looked out and saw that the birdbath was flipped over and on the ground. Other than idly wondering what could have done that, (remember, I've got a privacy fence, so it is a bit of a mystery) it slipped my mind. This morning, I went out to do a bit of watering and tidying up, including righting the birdbath. Now, here's where it gets curious. There was a little brown bird dead beside the top of the birdbath. Eww. It kinda looked like it might have gotten knocked on the head when the birdbath got toppled. But what would leave a dead bird there? I mean, a cat might have gotten over or around the fence and knocked the top off, but to leave the bird? Anyway, I dumped the bird in the woods behind the house and tried to straighten up the plants that got smooshed. They don't seem to have broken stems, so they should survive.

My lily tuffs are starting to bloom. The black-eyed susans are attracting all sorts of pollenators. Including a Silvery Checkerspot that had a bird bite shaped hole in his wing. While I was weeding, a tiger swallowtail floated through the garden.

The weathermen claim the heat wave has broken for at least the weekend, but it is still hot out there. I was roasting in the sun. Hopefully it will be more lawn mowing friendly tomorrow. Hopefully.

Florida Trip -- 5

More from the extension center. They had a very lovely garden. And fortunately, we were there when it was in bloom.

Another view of the garden.



Zinnias



And crape myrtle. I like crape myrtle.



And to join the daylily gang, here's one, even if it isn't in my garden. ;) Ignore the ants.

I'm Wilting

Well, add me to the chorus of agonies raised against this heat wave. While the official temperatures haven't broken 100 yet, the heat index is a good 10 degrees hotter than the air temp. Youch! It is only getting down into the high 70s at night, mostly 80 by the time to head into work. Not that work is a refuge from the heat. AC is turned off nights and weekends, and it isn't working very well in the office I'm shoved into anyway. *sigh* I did take in one of my snake plant cuttings in an attempt to at least improve the air quality. I named this one Louis.

Spot watering and adding to the compost pile is about all that is going on in the yard. Too hot to do anything else. Even the plants are taking a break.

100 degrees is predicted for tomorrow. :(

Florida Trip -- 4

My Aunt is a Master Gardener and voluteers her time at the local extension center. So, of course we stopped by there before we caught the train home. And I took lots of pictures.







And some portulacas and a mystery blue flower. Edit: The blue flower is Blue Daze.

Recent Developments

I've gotten back in my garden this week. And for more than watering and being eaten by mosquitos. I mowed the back lawn and mulched my poor flowers. Maybe now they won't need watered so much. I also dead headed my hostas and removed a few spent blooms from the hydrangea. The hydrangea is still going strong.

Despite the bugs determined to eat my sunflowers, they are doing quite well. Blooming in fact.

Florida Trip -- 3

Continuing up the boardwalk and over the dune, there was the Atlantic Ocean.





At low tide, there were a lot of rocks on the shore. The tide actually lifted them up and washed the shells underneath them. There were also fossilized shells in the rocks.



On the cove side of the dune, various birds would feed at low tide, ibises and rosy spoonbills. Too bad my camera does not have a stronger zoom, or I'd have a good picture of the birds.



Back at the visitor center, the fire bush was in bloom.



Inside the visitor's center was a 9 month old baby loggerhead sea turtle. This one's name was Kiwi. She's supposed to be released after a year.

Florida Trip -- 2

Further along the trail at MacArthur State Park in Florida.



And a sea grape hanging over the trail. We even saw one with "grapes" on it!



My mom was quite amused to spot this little cactus off to one side. They didn't even have it marked in the trail map!



A "close up" view of a local butterfly. The butterflies here were really flighty and did not want their pictures taken.



A brown cuban anole partially hidden by a wild flower. These little lizards and their green cousins were all over the place down there. And well welcome to eat the bugs.



A shot of the steps leading up to the beach.




More to come...

Florida Trip -- 1

Since I don't feel like doing normal blogging, I can share some pictures. The first place I took pictures of was John D. MacArthur State Park in West Palm Beach.

These are some mango trees on the protected cove side.



And here are some palm trees along one of the nature boardwalks.



A wild coffee plant along the nature trail. These were all over the dune.



And the pointsetta before it was bred into the one we see spray painted at Christmas.



A tall palm tree outlined against the sky.



And some more trees along the dune.




More to follow later.....

Da Funk

I'll admit it, I've been on a blogging slump. It started up when it was too hot to work outside, and to sweltering to be on the computer. Took two weeks to get them to replace it this time around. And then, in the glory of the coolness, I just don't feel like doing much. Not to mention, I've been assigned to a different location for work, which means that I'm without internet all summer. It wasn't supposed to be that way, but inertia being what it is, I doubt they will get me hooked up before I leave again. And the adjustment in working hours has thrown me off schedule completely.

Not much is going on in the garden. The nasturtium bloomed, but I keep missing them with the camera. The beebalm I tried to transplant seem to have not liked the swampy conditions and died back. The hosta are blooming away happily. While I had to take out one of the mystery plants so they could replace the air conditioner.