Photo-a-Day Week 35

We are already at the end of another week. Many of this week's photos are outdoor-oriented.  As the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds migrate south, we have more visitors at the feeders and more territorial guarding happening. We have had much cooler temperatures, and it is lovely to be outside, enjoying the weather. So, on with the discussion of each photo. 

Day 237-

Love how the sunlight hit this tiny bird's chest. She is guarding a feeder to the left of where this metal hummingbird ornament sits. Fiona is always on guard at the sliding glass door, barking at these little jewels.

Hummingbird on hummingbird

 I was on the fence about which of the two photos to use. I used the one I did because the sunlight was brighter on it. Here's the 'reject', also a good photo. 

Day 238- 

We usually have the green Praying Mantis and its egg sacks around. Seeing a native one is a treat. The native mantis is brown, not green. This one was on our sliding glass door. As I was in and out, refilling the hummingbird feeders, I was worried I would disturb it before I got a photo. This was taken outside, with the trees and sky reflected on the glass.

Carolina Mantis

I did try a shot from inside the house. Not very good.

Day 239-

Driving back from the doctor, we drove past this old Wilson factory. I liked making it black and white. But wait, there's another photoshopped element. Check out the photo below the one used.

Closed Factory

Not only had I changed from black and white, but I was able to remove the truck from the front of the building.

Day 240- 

On my way inside I walked past the rose bushes and saw the Katydid on the rose bush. Quick snap of the shutter captured it!

Katydid

Day 241-

One might think my garden is filled with insects, and perhaps you may be correct! I like getting photos of these beauties. It almost looks like this is another black and white photo, but it is as it appeared. 

Dragonfly

Day 242-

Yes, another black and white offering. The sunlight sparkled on the spider web, and I had hoped that using a black and white filter would help accentuate the sparkle.

Sunlight on Spider Web

The original one for your viewing. Also tried to crop it to show the web closer. I decided that having the fern and downspout in the photo framed it better. 

Day 243-

I like this tight little rose bud. The varied colors made me take notice today. It seems the colors red and white were what I was drawn to today as the discarded photo was also a red and white bloom.

Oso Easy Rose

 

Here is the discarded red and white bloom, a Salvia. Do you see the tiny ant on the left bloom? 

This ends another week of the photo a day challenge. Stay tuned, there's more next week. 

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Nature- Volunteers and Surprises

As it says in the heading of my blog, it is a random diary of what is going on in my garden. I need to get back to documenting growth of my garden. One of my neighbors said that they thought my garden had really popped this year. Will it be even better next year? Who knows, every year has so many variables  from late frosts to rainfall factoring in to benefit or challenge each year's growth.

The volunteers in my garden are always a treat to see. The various colors of Blue-eyed Grasses pop up in the spring. The blue flowered grass is Sisyrinchium angustifolium. 

The yellow flowered grass is most likely Sisyrinchium rosulatum. It isn't always yellow, sometimes they are pink to lavender. Always a nice little bloom to see in the garden/yard.

Don't you love the seed pods?

A new volunteer this year is Lyreleaf sage, Salvia lyrata. It is a vigorous spreader, maybe even a thug. I am not sure how it entered my garden. There really aren't Lyreleaf sage in our wild areas. Could it have come in on a plant from a plant sale? Maybe. 

 I like the purple and lavender colors together, Sage and Iris. There is a Gladiolus byzantine planted near the Irises, so in the coming years, we will get another color combination.

Why do I have a rose in the volunteer list? Well, this gorgeous deep red rose sprouted from root stock. I had a David Austin rose, Rosa 'Olivia' in a container in this garden bed. Sadly, it was just at deer eating height. When I dug the rose out of the container there were some roots that had traveled out of the hole in the bottom of the container and into the garden. I thought I had dug up all remaining roots, but it looks as though I was wrong. This unnamed red rose is probably a rambler based on its growth habit. This coming winter I will rework this corner of the garden. The rose is fragrant and a gorgeous deep red. I love it against the yellow of the creeping St. John's Wort, Hypericum calycinum 'Brigadoon'.

Surprises in the garden come in fauna form, some with legs and some without. Below is the ladybug/ ladybeetle feasting on aphids. Balance of nature!

We have lots of turtles in our neighborhood area. Being on the lake there are many sliders, this one headed off to the woods to perhaps lay her eggs. I made sure it was well off the road before venturing on.

We also have lots of box turtles in the garden. Love seeing all the turtles.

There are also snakes in the garden, or in this case, in my hose caddy on the patio. This is a Black Rat snake, nonvenomous and beneficial to the health of the garden. Like I said with the aphids and ladybugs, balance of nature. 

Hanging out in the front yard is one of many toads and frogs we have. I believe this one to be an American Toad, Bufo [Anaxyrus] americanus. 

And finally, Bambi was visiting in the backyard garden with her mom. It is a love/hate relationship with the numerous deer. The fawns are so stinkin' cute!

Stay tuned for more observations from my garden. Thanks for stopping by.

©Copyright 2022 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Mistakes Were Made

We all make mistakes in the garden. Sometimes the consequence is small and easily fixed and other times the correction takes time and a lot of effort. I have had to take shrubs out that were supposed to be four to six feet at maturity, they were over eight feet and growing. That mistake correction took a bit of elbow grease, digging up as many of the roots of said shrubs and dragging them into the woods to decompose. The culprit? Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum 'Daruma'. It was billed as a dwarf. While I know the straight species can get twelve to fifteen feet tall, I had hoped this would behave better. In the photo below you see the large shrub covering a bay window? That is the mistake shrub.

Unruly, Unpruned, and Unsightly

  I pruned this Loropetalum often, each time it felt like it wasn't enough to get ahead of the rapid growth. This garden has always been in flux. Trial and error, mostly error.

Pruned but still largely covering the window

Bushes cut- check

Roots getting dug out

New small shrubs were purchased and planted. Raw soil and clay still exposed, mulch needs to be added but first one of the other mistakes needs to be addressed. Does my current mistake fall under the "easy to fix" or "time and effort" category? I think it is a middle of the road mistake. 

Do you see the yellow ground cover? Yes, this is my current mistake to be addressed. Creeping Jenny, Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'

I know, I know. I knew it would spread but I thought I could contain it within the small garden area. Well, it had other ideas. Creep it did, through the Purple Pixie Loropetalum chinense 'Peack' and the  Salvia farinaceae 'Victoria Blue' and into the Dianthus gratianopolitnus 'Firewitch'. This is unacceptable! I did like the contrast in foliage though- bright yellow and purple or blue-green or even a bright red Salvia (name unknown) each made the other pop. 

Firewitch Dianthus and Jenny

Red Salvia pops against the bright yellow

Since digging up the aforementioned Loropetalum I have been hand pulling the bright yellow mistake. I have a large black plastic bag I have been adding to on a regular basis. Usually I just toss pulled vegetation into the woods to break down. This is too invasive so it will decompose in the black plastic bag. Well, I have not been able to keep up with the aggressive ground cover. Time to attack it with vigor. Today's plan is to take the shovel and dig out the Lysimachia and sift out the roots and any above ground growth. Any clean soil will be replaced. Plants in this area I want to keep will be dug up, root checked for any wayward Lysimachia, then replanted afterward. I don't want to use an herbicide if I can do it without. Time will tell whether I was able to get all of it removed. Later this week I will get some mulch and top dress this garden and other spots in the yard that need mulch. Time to get busy. Stay tuned for some after photos, hopefully without Creeping Jenny.

Do you have gardening mistakes? How do you address them?


©Copyright 2020 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Grasses and Blooms in October

We continue to have some gorgeous days in October.  The garden is still growing, fall is the best time to plant and transplant in our area.  My native grasses, Schizachyrium scoparium, Little Bluestem,  have started to reseed a little and I am happy to move the babies to spots that need filled in.

These grasses were planted along the driveway to help slow water runoff.  Some of the grasses have done very well, others, not so much.   I love the no care attitude with these grasses.  I have a soaker hose that sits on the top of the ridge where I have some trees and shrubs planted, but these grasses are on their own, subject to whatever Mother Nature has to offer. 

Another native grass I have in the yard is Panicum virgatum, 'Dallas Blues'.  The idea initially was to put this blue grass along the side of the yard where I have Callitropsis glabra 'Blue Ice' and Cupressus arizonica 'Carolina Sapphire', repeating the blue color.  Well, as you can see in the photo below, it got lost.  

I decided to move them from along the right side of the yard to the left side, up on the ridge.   We had a tree go down last year, almost on the property line.  It doesn't bother me so I am leaving it down.  There had been a redtwig dogwood shrub in this open spot, it didn't do well (that is code for it died).  

Adding the three blue Panicum was a good idea, they will do well with minimal care....less water needs than the shrub.  Here they stand out better, showing off their great blue color.

Also along the driveway, closer to the Bluestem grasses, is a little gully.  In that gully is where I found the Cranefly Orchid, Tipularia discolor, growing a couple years ago.   I looked for the blooms this fall, none were found.  I thought perhaps the plant had disappeared, but look what I found the other day.

 The winter foliage of the orchid emerging through the pinestraw!  Hooray.


Some more happy findings-- my Snail flower Vigna cararalla is blooming, oh so fragrant!!  I got this plant from Julie at Growing Days.  It took so long for it to bloom, I thought it may never happen.  So happy it bloomed!!  It is an heirloom vine, seeds from Monticello, a lovely vine grown by Jefferson.  It is a tender perennial in the South, crossing my fingers it makes it through the winter for another year!!

 

The cooler temperatures have spurred my Janet rose to bloom again.  Love the hint of yellow/coral in the center of this delicate pink bloom.

The buds are so pale pink with a hint of peachy yellow.

Wonder how long I will continue to have blooms?  Wow.

 Another fall bloomer is the Mexican Sage, Salvia leucantha.  Love these purple blooms on long stalks!!  There are four of these subshrubs in the yard, each full of blooms. 

The Gerbera daisies are coming back into bloom again.  Really had wanted red ones, these are more tomato soup red.

Finally, the Coca-cola box I got from my mom is planted with succulents and ajuga, making a nice addition to the area where my planted Croc is .  It is really dry in this area and there are some tunnels -- voles?  Maybe, who knows, but they do leave the Euphorbia alone.  This is  Euphorbia x martinii 'Ascot Rainbow'.

How is your fall garden?


©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.