Coincidentally, the title is an apt description of what I’ve been doing lately. 🙂 The Bistro kind of looks past its prime, but there are still flowers, and no shortage of butterflies, bees and MLBs, which is why it exists, so I suppose that’s just fine.

Disobedient plant, doing quite well, especially considering how little rain we’ve got this summer, and how infrequently I actually water it. Bees like this stuff very much!

The giant hyssop is living up to its name! This is not a striking plant, and has only a few flowers at any given time, but the bees are very fond of it, and (apparently) so are MLBs; P saw them nomming the crap out of it. Wouldn’t have thought they’d notice it, but he said that he thinks our MLBs fly around the Bistro with their little fingers on their lips, saying, “Hmmm…what to eat?” He could be right.

VERY flutter-y Spicebush friend on the calibrachoa. Next spring, I think I’ll get all calibrachoa for hanging pots; it’s very popular with butterflies, and (the red, at least) MLBs like it, too. I see more activity on it than I do on the Wave spatoonyas that I usually have. Dunno…we’ll see what I end up doing when spring comes.

I didn’t make great accomplishments over the weekend, but I did do a little bit!

First thing I did was stop for gas on the way home on Friday, and discover a hitchhiker on my windshield. It was too dangerous for him out there, so I put him on the dash and he was my navigator. A bad navigator because he was climbing all over the console, and I’m lucky I didn’t rear-end someone because I was trying to watch him, but I had nothing to put him in, and couldn’t just leave a baby Carolina mantis!

We made it home safely, so I got a better shot of what turned out to be (I think I counted six segments) a “her”.

“Jeez, clean your car once in a while, willya? My toes got absolutely filthy!”

I released her in the Tornado Honeysuckle.

I didn’t do this, exactly, though I did plant them. I have no idea how they survived, given how little I watered them, but my disobedient plants are in bloom!

These are the elderberries that the birds planted for themselves. Ripening nicely!

I had to top up the pond, but since it wasn’t a million degrees, I decided to run the line over to it instead of always having to drag the hose. It’s not finished over here because I have to figure out exactly how I want it, but I did at least get the line buried (twice, since something dug it up).

I had leftover drip line, so I made a drip for Grey Stick.

When I forget where I laid the line…

Goes under the rock, and into the pond. I don’t know for sure yet how it’s going to end, but it works, and doesn’t splash the frogbit all over the place, either.

I didn’t have enough to finish, but I also ran a line over to the plants for soaker hoses. If the pond fill line is open, then it will fill the pond. If that line is closed off, then it will water the plants (once I get another length of soaker hose in there, that is).

Guess where I wanted to lay the soaker hose?

…and guess who knew it?

Pretty….Fireball?

Masses of Rudbeckia!

Phlox still holding on!

Cup plants. I actually saw MLBs at these more than once. Wouldn’t have thought they’d be interested in yellow, disk-shaped flowers, but who am I to second-guess the mean little shits?

Not that it’s terribly important, but I did it a couple of weeks ago, and it made me glad I never throw away leftover material. I had bought pipe insulation to make floaters for pots and a corral for floating plants in the pond a year or so ago. I had some left over, but didn’t toss it, and it was good that I didn’t because P had asked me what to get to replace the ratty, holey insulation that wasn’t “insulating” much at all, and after I’d finished, I had less than a foot of material left over. Perfect!

If you’re over the age of four and you call your canine companion a “doggo” or a “pupper”, you are stupid and I hate you. If you’re six, you get “doggie” as a freebie. Otherwise, it’s a fucking DOG. Not doggo, not pupper…a DOG. Jesus, people piss me off.

I’m far behind, but I don’t even care because beginning some time between 0230h and 0330h on Thursday night, it RAINED! Free water came from the sky, and I didn’t have to carry it, or pay for it, or anything! So, without further (god knows there’s already been enough) ado…

Big-ass cicada killer. I think it was stunned; maybe hit a car or something.

Pretty lady Spicebush friends are always welcome in the Bistro!

So are pretty partridge pea flowers!

FINALLY! I didn’t even notice these guys until I found this one, trundling across the dying grass in search of “up” to pupate. For the first time in…ever, I have PIPEVINE Swallowtail cats!

Also a stylish bracelet.

I turned him loose on the sweetgum where the Snakeroot Swallowtails all went to pupate.

There were three more left, but they were still eating, so I left them be.

They did some serious nomming, but I’d been so busy trying to keep everything watered enough to stay alive that I didn’t notice. The pipevine is on irrigation, so it didn’t need my attention, at least not directly.

Pretty black form lady Tiger Swallowtail.

Our fat bullfrog male. He’s fearless; when I walk by the pond, most of the frogs squeak and dive, but this guy just sits and looks at me. He thinks the pond is his very own.

I think this is an early-ish instar lappet moth, AKA Throw Rug Caterpillar.

This will warrant its own post when Tree Dude does his stuff, but…yikes.

Heh. These are so pretty in spite of the fact that we don’t get any rain. 

Midnight Marvel and native rose mallow. 

These are all native. Not the same plant, but the same variety and all planted together. 

I posted all the garden stuff first even though I actually got my pretty pink phone last week. It was supposed to arrive on Wednesday, but it actually arrived on Tuesday. For weeks, I had argued with myself over whether I should get a Galaxy S8+ or an Xperia XZ Premium. I finally ended up with the Galaxy because I read something about poor results from over-compression of images in the Sony, and since my phone is primarily a camera for me, that mattered a great deal. I found the Galaxy in pink in Taiwan, so I ordered it from there. That also means I have the processor that will allow rooting when I decide I want to do it. The camera is great, and I got an app to remap that stupid Bixby button to the camera. Smart lock allows me to swipe to unlock when the phone detects that it’s here, and I can take a photo by simply saying, “Capture,” or “Shoot,” when the camera app is open (unless I have Cookie Cats backgrounded; I don’t know why, but it wouldn’t work when I had the game running). That makes it a lot easier to take photos; I can do it one-handed, and don’t have to worry about accidentally moving the phone while reaching for the button! Anyway, the phone is great, and I’ve put the camera to good use already, as my previous posts illustrate.

I opted to allow DHL to deliver without a signature, so I had set the front security camera to alert with more than just email on motion detection, and to capture video. This is my old S5 and the video of the DHL guy delivering. C had gone home sick, but B told me to go and get my phone.

It’s a pretty thing! My micro SIM wouldn’t fit, but they both told me to “take a break” and go to the AT&T place to have them cut it down to a nano SIM. I thought about doing it myself, but didn’t want to ruin it, and the AT&T place is virtually on my way to the PO. It took just a few minutes. I had got some pink (probably iPhone pink, though) accessories for this phone, but don’t have them yet because I opted for no-rush shipping, thinking my phone would take ages to arrive.

Unrelated to my phone, or to anything else, really, I finally decided to get rid of my County Cork orange ends. I coloured my hair “dark brown”, which is reality is goddamned near black. It’s wet in this photo, but I’m also in the very bright sun. Anyway, it’ll fade some over time, but I like it, and no more orange halo when I put my hair up on hot days.

These are actually from this weekend, which is not even technically over, so I’m officially not behind!

Trumpet creeper. I know it’s a thug, but its flowers are just so pretty!

A bit heat-stressed and perhaps not 100% in their prime, but I do love the “autumn coloured” Rudbeckias. I don’t remember which one this is, but I don’t care; just as long as they’re that lovely warm orange colour.

Partridge pea with globe Buddleia in the foreground, and joe-pye weed in the back. Blue lobelia is there, but only a few blooms on that as yet.

Cup plants are very tall!

First bloom of the year on the Cliffie bush. I really should move it into more sun. Perhaps next spring when the ground is good and wet.

I didn’t know until today that they’d eat the flowers, but he was really chowing down! I guess my carrots aren’t going to self-seed very well after all, but it’s okay…I’ll pay a buck for seeds so a baby flutter-guy can eat.

EDIT: Forgot one! I may be having trouble growing honeyvine milkweed over on the arbor because trash pandas keep breaking it off, but that hasn’t stopped it from volunteering on the fence. I might regret it eventually, but I’m going to leave it.

Still behind, but there is light at the end of the tunnel! Pretty-pretty native rosemallow. I remember when I bought these; they were unrooted cuttings, and had got quite dry in shipping. I contacted the eBay seller, and she said to give them a try because these plants are really quite tough. She wasn’t wrong!

A bit chewed (fuck Japanese beetles may they rot and burn in hell forever), but I get to see so few Kopper King because of those goddamned beetles that I’ll take what I can get.

Taken after we’d actually got some rain. Not enough rain, but rain. Probably Midnight Marvel; it attracts the most attention because it blooms its little heart out.

Plum Crazy again. How could I not?

This is a flower from my Save The Bees “floor sweepings” seed pack. I dunno…a poppy, I guess? Whatever it is, it’s cute.

I have two Black Swallowtail dudes, nomming the crap out of the carrots!

Bloom is a little deformed, but I think it’s Cranberry Crush. God, I love hibiscus!

Nasturtium ‘Jewel Mix’ haven’t crapped out in the heat yet. I’ll take them as long as they’re available!

Unless I have them backwards (possible), this one should be ‘Fireball’.

Native rosemallow, just as pretty as the named varieties! I have a lot more dark pink than the white/rose. Don’t care–love them both equally!

A rare sight, indeed–an undamaged Kopper King! I’m sure that five minutes after I left, those fucking beetles came after it, but at least I have proof that it did exist.

Someday, I’ll get tired of photographing ‘Plum Crazy’. Today is not that day.

The Grey Sticks II that P got me last year have nearly doubled in size, and are starting to bloom.

I’m supposed to kill milkweed bugs because they can make seeds less viable, and can transmit diseases, but they’re just so fucking cute that I can never make myself do it. Milkweed longhorn beetles, yes, because they eat leaves and take away potential Monarch food, but not these little dudes.

I’m so far behind in posting that I think the last time I got anything up here was 4th of July weekend! Anyway, it’s been hotter than hell, of course, and we’ve got virtually no rain, of course, but I still have flowers. Granted, I’m thinking of changing my name to Rayne and my astrological sign to Aquarius because I’ve hauled so goddamned much water and dragged the hose around to water weeds that shouldn’t need it (watering roadside-weed goldenrod? really?), and that’s the only reason I still have flowers, but…I have flowers!

This is not a flower, but Cal does live in flowers (specifically the calibrachoa out front), so he qualifies. He popped out as I was watering the hanging pot. Tree frawgs are so cute; I love their little toes. <3

I haven’t seen little Spicebush doot-doot in a while, so I hope nothing ate him. The spicebush is getting quite large, so it’s easier for little dudes to hide from me (also from predators, I hope).

This is just interesting. The 544 Bright Lights had a rough go last year and did not reseed, so I had to supplement them with purchased seeds. The ones in the centre are 544 Bright Lights, and the ones to the outside are purchased this year from a reputable seed company. 544’s are larger, but not yet blooming. Very sturdy plants, but they would be because they have come from very sturdy stock that seldom got watered.

I don’t recall planting this…

No pink water lily blooms this year, but a lovely white one. This was taken in the morning.

By early afternoon, it looked like this:

Morning glory again. God, I love these flowers.

So…I had to pull up a bunch of coneflowers and a clump of black-eyed susan because they had fucking aster yellows. It left a space, so I moved the big ratabida (sp?) and the pink asters that were beside the Sweet Tea honeysuckle. Not a good time to move a fully grown plant in bloom, but hopefully, at least the roots will survive (the plant does not look happy as of today).

There were actually two pink asters and not enough room, so the second clump went into Bee Happy. It doesn’t look too bad so far.

Now I have a bare spot, but it was a pain in the arse to mow anyway, so I don’t mind. Crabgrass will fill it in if we ever get any fucking rain.

Berry on Sweet Tea. I don’t necessarily want birds spreading this all over the place, but they’re welcome to spread it all over our place!

Do not trust the plant tags. Sombrero ‘Baja Burgundy’…and a rogue ‘Flamenco Orange’. For the record, I can’t tell the difference between the burgundy and ‘Salsa Red’. Not that I care; I love coneflowers, period, and as long as they don’t have aster yellows, I’m happy with whatever they are.

Tall phlox, which never gets as tall as it’s supposed to, so it may end up moved next spring. It’s too pretty to hide it behind taller flowers.

Plum Crazy. Dear GOD, this is beautiful. It’s getting choked out by the sweet black-eyed susan, though, so that will have to be tamed a bit next spring.

I think this is Midnight Marvel. It’s far and away my best bloomer, and it’s gorgeous; photos don’t do it justice.

Fuck everything about these bastards, and if there was a hell, I’d hope they burned there for eternity. They love my Kopper King hibiscus, so I rarely see a bloom, and not one single undamaged bloom of the few these cocksuckers haven’t eaten before it could open.

Since the flower was already toast, I captured the lot in a plastic bag, then left it on the patio in the hot sun. Suffer, you miserable motherfuckers; I’m going to tell myself that you can feel pain, and I hope there was plenty of it.

This is getting long, so just a couple more. My cup plants did better this year; Charlotte has mostly left them alone, and they’re 7-8′ tall, and quite sturdy. Bees are happy with them.

These partridge peas need a lot of water, but they’re so interesting-looking and pretty that I think I’ll keep buying seeds each year (or collecting seeds, if the birds don’t get there first).

Last one…the same berry as above, I think, only now (or whenever I took this photo) it’s ripened to bright red.