The August Garden

I'm still here, in case you've been wondering. Life's responsibilities and unexpected events (which always take priority over blogging) have left me with very little time or energy to compose a real post of any kind.

But, right now I find I have a minute or two to spare and a desire to share some photos of the beautiful flowers in our garden...because flowers have a way of making me smile, and I hope they'll do the same for you.

Esperanza 'Bells of Fire'

Giant Milkweed, also known as Crown Flower

Brazilian Buttonbush

Fennel

Salvia 'Indigo Spires'

Are you smiling yet?

The Black Swallowtail Butterfly Story

A couple of weeks ago I happened to notice a large Black Swallowtail caterpillar munching away on the dill in our garden.

I was happy to know that at least one caterpillar had made it to its final instar. We had seen many more in their earlier stages and then they were gone. We suspected they were killed by the wasps that were hanging out in the garden.

If there was one survivor, there might be more, so I searched and found another fully grown caterpillar in the fennel. I made a mental note to come back the next day to check for chrysalises.

It was probably more like a couple of days when I remembered to go look. First I searched around the dill, but couldn't find the caterpillar or a chrysalis. But in the fennel, right in the spot where I had last seen the caterpillar, was a beautiful green chrysalis.

It was well hidden—buried in the fennel fronds and perfectly colored for camouflage. I might not have noticed it if I hadn't been looking for it. In the photo above, I lifted the stem it was attached to so I could see the underside. Notice the way it is attached with two stands of thread at the top.

I began to check it daily, watching for signs of color change, hoping to catch it when the butterfly would emerge. John was the one that noticed it looked a little darker on Saturday. Then on Sunday afternoon, he called me to come quickly and to bring the camera.

There he was, a fresh-from-the-chrysalis Black Swallowtail butterfly. You can see how deep in the fennel he was, his empty chrysalis shell beneath him.

I pinched away some of the fennel fronds for a better look. The large size of the yellow band of spots indicates that this butterfly is a male. If it had been a female, I could hope to see it again laying eggs in our garden.

In no time at all this handsome butterfly was ready to go. He flew up and out of the fennel, like he had been flying all his life, and fluttered over the fence. I suppose he's off to find a lady butterfly to keep this cycle of egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly going.

I wish him well.

Lucky Ladybug

Ladybug on Cilantro Flowers

I didn't keep a close eye on the cilantro and it bolted. Its tiny white flowers are so pretty though, that I think I'll let it go to seed and maybe a new cilantro plant will sprout when this one is finished. The bees are loving the flowers and a ladybug dropped in for a visit, too.

According to folklore, seeing a ladybug that has less than seven spots means there will be a good harvest for the season, but seeing a ladybug with more than seven spots means famine.*

I'm glad this little ladybug is a lucky one.

*Source: Ladybug Facts and Legends

Vegetable and Herb Garden Boxes

Princess: Hey, Queenie, quit eating weeds and come over here and see what Duchess and I found.

Do you think they planted all this for us?

Me: Well, I don't know how to break it to you, girls, but the answer is NO.

So far we haven't had any trouble with the chickens getting in the garden, but it's only been planted a few days.

Normally we don't put our garden in until mid-March, but since we haven't had a freeze all winter and we've been having springlike weather, we decided to go ahead and risk it. I think this is our earliest garden yet.

In the herb box is oregano, fennel, rosemary, and tarragon (and more). These four herbs are established or have reseeded themselves, though we did have to dig up and transplant the oregano in order to build up the soil that had washed out on that end of the box.

New herb plantings include...

sage,

flat leaf Italian parsley (because they say it's the best to cook with),

and curly leaf parsley (because I think I like it better).

Thyme, which is my favorite herb, is planted in a pot on the porch, as are a couple of varieties of mint. You can see dill in center of the vegetable box below.

Planted in the front and sides of the dill are various peppers—some spicy, some not.

Curly kale is planted behind. It won't last long in our climate and will be replaced with hot weather vegetables like okra and purple hull peas. I think John told me he planted carrot seeds in here, too. And he either sowed seeds for squash and zucchini or he's going to buy plants later, I'm not sure.

And then we come to the star of every vegetable garden, in my opinion, the tomato. There's just no way a store bought tomato can ever measure up to a homegrown one. This variety pictured is Celebrity. We also have planted some cherry and grape tomatoes.

Cucumbers will grow on the wooden frame in the front of this box.

By the time the cucumbers and tomatoes grow large enough to fill up the space, the romaine lettuce that is growing between the two will have been picked and eaten.

With God's blessing, we are looking forward to a bountiful harvest.

Picked for Happiness

Last week the roses in the garden looked so pretty; I picked a few for the house.

I casually arranged them with a few sprigs of 'Mystic Spires Blue' salvia and several snips of rosemary in a vase John made back in his college days.

The soft fragrance of roses and herbs was detectable when sitting nearby. And just a glance in their direction made me feel happy inside. That's the effect flowers have on me and why I want my garden to be filled with them.

Now that they've faded, it's time to replace them—more roses, perhaps. I just checked the garden and they are still looking pretty good.