Miscellany

One evening during the "golden hour", it was so lovely outside (in other words, not windy) that I wandered around snapping photos. Here are some of the things that caught my eye.

A robin's egg that didn't make it to the nest:

A maple leaf that was full of gall mite nodules:

A closer look at some more of them (kinda creepy, huh?):

An old empty milkweed pod, contrasted against the new spring growth:

Wild phlox Update: A very observant reader discovered that these are not wild phlox but "Dame's Rocket" growing in the ditch (thanks, Jenny!). In my reading, I found that they're an invasive species that crowd out natural wildflowers and should be removed. Hmm... I think I'll leave them there... I enjoy them. ;)

Half a moon:

Rolling hills of new crops:

And I didn't have to walk more than 50 feet for any of them.

Currently blooming

Besides the gerbera daisies, here is what I'm enjoying around here these days (click on each picture to enlarge):

Petunias (loving the yellow/purple ones!):

Clustered bellflowers: 

Bachelor Buttons: 

 

Nonstop Begonias:

 

Phlox:

Dianthus: 

Gazanias (my favorites right now): 

Corn update and prettiness along the way

This was the corn status on July 5th. It's been growing fast in the heat we've had. The corn had recently been sprayed, so I didn't let my little measuring assistant go into the rows.

Currently blooming in the wildflower bed:

And in the yard:

I've never seen so many buds on the day lilies before. I guess they've enjoyed all the rain we've been having.

Flower stuff

My wildflowers that I planted last year are coming up thick again this year. I really need to get out there and thin them some more, but right now it's VERY muddy. Anyway, I was pleased a few days ago to see the first of them blooming. This is yellow phlox.

I planted some new perennials this year, but so far they look like pretty much nothing, so you'll have to wait awhile to see pics of them. Here's one of several geraniums I set out, though.

This next flower is an apple blossom. There's a single apple tree down in the area where the fawn was. I have no idea what kind it is. We've never gotten apples from it, but I noticed it blossoming this year.

This is wild phlox, also blooming down in the fawn area.

And we all know what this is. There were bzillions of them out there, but the rains washed all the fuzz off, so then we had fields of stems. I finally managed to get them mowed off on Saturday. I think they're past their peak blooming season now... I HOPE!