Okay, so it’s no magazine title, but it’s accurate.

I found this lovely little creature on the sunflower chip feeder that I was bringing inside. It had been sitting on the table, and he decided it was a good perch. I had to scooch him off to bring it indoors, and then identified him as a Small-Eyed Sphinx.

I’m hoping for another banner year for Pipevine Swallowtail, and we’ve got a good start so far! Snakeroot first, as usual.

I had been concerned about the arrowwood viburnum I got last year not producing flowers because it’s Blue Muffin (only one they had) and that needs another type of V. dentatum to fertilize it. I need not have worried, though, because my little flying friends must have found some somewhere. This had only a few berries on it last year (literally–like half a dozen), so I’m hoping for more this year.

One of the fat carpenter bees that love red calibrachoa. Lots of butterflies (especially swallowtails) seem to like it as well, but these bees crack me up because P calls them, “Your 500 pound bees”, and that’s what I think of every time I see one.

Just because it’s pretty, and it was a “found plant”, and I remember picking these on the lawn to take to my Grade Primary teacher.

The one (s?) I bought are fine, but I’m most happy to see this bloom because this is the Baptisia that I started from seed. Apparently, it’s not really easy to start from seeds, and I didn’t do it according to instructions because I forgot about it, but it forgave me…and in such a pretty way!

He actually turned up the day after the oreos left–I like to think he came to make us miss them less–but I didn’t want to do anything to startle him, so I didn’t take pictures at first. For the second time in my life, and the first time in about 10 years, I got to see a Red-headed Woodpecker! We named him Big Red, and this horrible photo is a testament to the fact that digital zoom on a camera phone is fucking worthless. No matter–he’s glorious, and he’s even brought his mate sometimes!

Bonus pond picture because I will probably never get tired of it.

Oh my GOD, what a fucking job it was to get that shit out of the ground! I didn’t mind the look of the maiden grass too much, and had it been well-behaved, and not made me itch fiercely every time I so much as brushed by it, I probably would have left it there, even if everyone and their goddamned dog has it, and nothing uses it for food, and it was a huge pain in the arse to cut back in spring. That was not the case, though, so I got out my shovel, and I made it…go away. I replaced it with the two pots of Dacotah switchgrass that I had grown from seeds. They’d overwintered in their pots, and looked a bit worse for wear, but I think they’ll live. They look so small compared to the space the overgrown ugly Miscanthus had occupied. The vinca is next on my shit list, but that’s for another time.

I would’ve had to stand on D’s patio to get the whole house, so…

Actually, something did use the maiden grass, though not for food. I have no idea how I didn’t tear his wings because I was ripping at that grass, and he’d just eclosed, but he was undamaged. A beautiful male Black Swallowtail, and I don’t understand what he was doing in the grass out front when the nearest host plants are near the edge of the back yard. He must have made one hell of a trek to pupate! I put him on the dogwood so his wings could harden, but was still ripping up grass, so I don’t know when he flew away.

The original plant cost me a goddamned fortune, but if ability to spread everywhere in a giant flowerbed constitutes value, then I’ve got my money’s worth! This stuff is everywhere! I don’t really mind, though, and neither do Pipevine Swallowtails. The flowers are cool-looking, too.

I still have two more pots to do, and it wasn’t easy to cut them without breaking, but I do at least have two toad shelters so my little dudes can get out of the hot sun, and be safe. I could have used plastic pots, which are much easier to cut, but clay does a better job of keeping them cool, and in our summer heat, that’s important.

One in Bee Happy.

The other in Sarah Flah’s Giant No-Mow Flowerbed.

Lonicera flava in full bloom. God, it’s beautiful!

Grey Stick is dead. Long live Grey Stick!

One of the Grey Sticks we brought from 544 is alive and well, but due to my unfamiliarity with the light and soil of Parview, and being in a rush, I placed the largest one poorly, and it died. A small Grey Stick grew over there, but I wasn’t sure whether it had come from Grey Stick, or from Cliffie Bush, which is a double-bloom pink (wasn’t supposed to be a double…fuck eBay sellers), so I had to wait until it produced a bloom. Lo and behold, a Grey Stick it was. I knew I’d have to move it to a better spot, but every time I thought of it, it was too hot, or the wrong time of year, or something, so it didn’t get moved…but now it’s moved! I argued with myself for a long time before I finally settled upon putting it right out front. It was growing over an osage-orange root, so it wasn’t as easy to move without disturbing its roots as I’d hoped, but it seems healthy, and it’s right out where I’ll remember to check on it occasionally (I hope).

Canadian columbine, just because I never get tired of looking at it (or seeing a MLB doing more than looking). I don’t know why they have cultivars of this when none are as pretty as the wild type.

It’s so pretty!!! It’s apparently very…uh…vigorous, too. Don’t care; if it looks like this, I’ll prune it as often as necessary.

05-03-18:

05-04-18:

I thought I was buying spicebush, but what arrived was Carolina allspice, and by way of apology for the mistake, the seller said they were “similar”. Well, yes, you dumb bitch, in that both are shrubby things, and both are natives, and both have “spice” in their common names, but I’m quite certain that Spicebush Swallowtails can tell the difference. Last thing I ever buy from her. Anyway, I thought they were kind of pretty, so I stuck them up by the pond, and this year, they finally had a few blooms. People go on and on about the “spicy” scent of the foliage and blooms, but I thought they sort of smell gross, and it’s only a faint scent. Not “cat piss rue” gross, but not pleasant, either. Nice leaves, though, and cool-looking papery flowers.

After the open-oven-door heat and drought of last summer, my little dogwoods were doing well to have any blooms at all. Not as many as last year, but last summer was fucking miserable, so they did a pretty good job, all things considered.