gorgeous weekend

Despite it being windy the weekend turned out much nicer then expected.  Sunday saw a high of mostly sunny 72.  That's about 10 degrees normal for the average this time of year.  Expecting rain the next couple days, but temps staying in the 60's and sunshine for the upcoming weekend.  Hope that forecast sticks, plan on moving some rock on Saturday.

I spent quite a few hours in the yard this weekend.  Putting down mulch, pulling weeds/grass, hauling some rocks and removing a lot of the sand and silt covering the yard  plants that I hadn't cleaned up after the flash flood.  I hauled many buckets of that dirt, using it to fill in where some of the bank has eroded .  doing this I discovered much more erosion then I knew about.  My holly bush (seen in the photos) has its roots exposed on the stream side.

 What a mess eh?  The area above the liriope will be planted next year. (where you see all the dirt)I've not decided with what yet.  I haven't even decided if that butterfly bush will stay or go.  This one gets very large and ends up hanging over my patio and gives too much shade to some plants. I may try to move it, then plant one or two of the compact types of butterfly bush.  Though I'd have to consider how the two on the hill are doing.  I've not been pleased with the performance of my 'dark knight' variety. My white compact bush did better, holding it's shape very nicely.  But neither of them bloomed as well as I'd like.   I like the big original buddleia, but it blocks off most of this garden from view when you sit in the yard.  I had started another one in the lower yard, but it got covered with about 2 ft of rock when it flooded.  If I transplant this one, and it can get established, I don't think that would happen.  I have a couple new plants coming up from this

also,  in case transplanting this one doesn't work out so well.   

The only odd thing here is that I now have a phallic symbol sticking out through the middle of my yard.  Either that or the middle finger.  Take your pick.  But that will be resolved once further planning in commenced!

I can't get over how much I had to scrape off the top of the yard.  I hauled a lot of buckets of sand.  Granted it doesnt' hurt to have it there (at least I don't think) the yard already gets a sort of humped appearance from the bank erosion, or from the force of the water against it when it runs high.  I'm not sure but I've noticed that it's worse every year. Which then forces any excess rain water towards the patio, and often will wash mulch onto the porch.  Eventually my patio needs replaced, as it has a growing crack in it. I'm hoping when they do it, they can set it on top of the existing patio and make it higher, as it's own slab.

In the below photo that brown thing to the left, where the marigolds are?  That used to be a light cover over the counter in between my living room and kitchen.  I put in pendant lights, and hated to throw that monstrosity out. I put in some rectangular planters and put in some herbs.  I'm hoping it will make it through one more season.   It's been out here a few years already.  Not bad for some cheap piece of wood that was meant for indoors.

For the past week I've been watching an injured goldfinch.  I'm impressed over his will to survive.  He's had to adapt to the loss of his complete tail.  When I first noticed him, he spent a lot of time running around  on the ground scrounging for leftover seed from the feeder overhead, next to the house.  He would run from me rather then fly, but eventually he'd manage to fly to a low branch.  Now he's become stronger and more adapt in getting from tree to tree. Poor thing has to flap his wings so much harder and faster.  How no hawk has gotten him yet is impressive.  You don't realize some times how much these birds use their tails.

Today I watched him come to the sock feeder. Usually they'll land at the top and sort of shimmy down.  He tried it, but couldn't make that sideways step without a tail for balance. He tried a few times, then flew off. I felt bad for him, until I watched him circle around, come back in and land closer to the seed.  He was a step or two off, tried to shimmy down, failed, and flew off again, circled and came back landing precisely where he could eat.  I wonder how long he can survive like this?  He has to be using so much more energy to fly, which means he has to eat more.

As you can see in this photo his entire tail is gone, not just some feathers.

He actually looks better then the first few times I saw him. I think he has also caught on that if he is brave enough to come when I'm out, he has the feeder to himself.  The instinct to survive is very strong isn't it?

Random shot of a black capped chickadee.

Little wren at the feeder.  taken from inside the house though.

I know I showed this some time ago, but not everyone has seen what I reference before...but this is the feeding station.  At the base I have planted a Dutchman Pipevine.  Hopefully by the end of  next  summer it will have reached the top.

Little Dude is still making regular visits...

just another quickie

Nothing new today...except the name of the ..ummm...plant is liriope!
woohoo!  Thanks Sister!
I can't wait to see how this works out.  It looks funny right now because I have clumps of all sizes :D  I assume at some point the smaller ones will catch up with the bigger ones.  At least that's how it usually worked out for the hosta.

The rain they were calling for never materialized, though the wind did. But with the sun shining much of the day it wasn't so bad. It will probably be quite cool tonight. The wind is picking up now...but they are calling more a sunny day tomorrow. yea! Better then rain or clouds with all this wind.  Maybe it will dry out some of the standing water around here.

it can all change in a day!

First, thanks to  Corner Gardener Sue  for identifying the red flower I'd posted and couldn't remember what it was ....dahlia...figaro mix to be exact now that I found the tag too!

I procrastinate.  In case you weren't aware.

Now the downfall of that is that it makes more work in the long run.

The other day I saw this on the moon flower vine and said to myself, "self,  take a photo and post it to the blog".  I take a photo. No no I take several photos. I may even go look at them immediately, unless something else catches my attention.  But you get my point, yes?

I try to identify the caterpillar without luck.  I search and search, and of course several times I'm up from the desk to see whats going on, in the yard, or on the porch. Eventually I do need a couple hours sleep for work.

So it doesn't make it to the blog that day.  No big deal. 
I get home from work the next day and check in on this guy and find....

That it has shed.  It may be some form of Yellow woolly bear / Virginia tiger moth caterpillar. Though they usually stay pretty close to the ground eating low growing plants. Then the following day he was darker and check out those long hairs!

On one of the potted plants, specifically on the annual verbena there was this  caterpillar:

Not sure why his head is tucked in like that.  But went outside to see if I could get a better photo of him, and instead found the same kind of caterpillar, only smaller!  The big one was no where to be found.

He's still out there.  He ate most of the flowers that were left, so I had more in another pot and moved him.

I'd been excited that I had a moon flower that was going to bloom.  And I waited, and waited.  I was going to post this photo...

and whine that it's been like this for days, wondering if it will EVER bloom.  Every night I was looking out my bedroom window, hoping I'd finally see it.  Two nights ago I left for work, and no bloom. And procrastinator that I am, still didn't blog.  When I got home....

TA DA!!  a moon flower had bloomed.  yippee!

By 1pm it was half it's size as it was dying off.

Remember the zebra swallowtail cat I found on my paw paw? It disappeared. 
But a day or two later this green form larva appeared:

Since the other cat was black form, I know it's a different one.  It just boggles my mind though, given the chilling weather.  This one is now gone as well. Maybe they have gone into chrysalis to overwinter.  I thought I remembered reading that they go into chrysalis right on the paw paw, but haven't seen any. I could be overlooking it, but maybe once all the leaves drop I'll find one.

Almost forgot, I finally got around to digging up my star gazer lilies and moved them.  I don't think I'll see them again.  LOL  I made a mess of it I think.  Just have to wait until next year and see.  I planted some purple allium bulbs.  I generally suck planting bulbs.  I have no 'vision' for it. And I tend to plant according to directions and end up with stupid looking little soldier flowers :D  This time I didn't...it was difficult to ignore the directions...but maybe this time I should have because now looking at the flowers online it's obvious they need plenty of room for the big globular head of flowers.  We will see what happens, if they survive.

I kept finding all kinds of bugs in the ground. One rather fat caterpillar, a dark brown chrysalis to a moth, and of course grubs. And lots of rock.
These were from an area no more then 2 feet wide and up to 6 inches deep. The six inches deep is after I removed rock, so I'd have to throw a little more dirt in the bottom to keep it from being too deep for the bulbs.

I finally got around to removing all the hosta in the front of my home and replaced them with...umm....umm...those plants Sister gave me.  She'd given me three several years ago and I thought they'd make a decent replacement for the hosta, that won't suffer from the hot sun.

My ultimate goal has always been to get rid of as much grass as possible.  So using these ...ummm...plants...I put a row across the middle of the yard.  So next Spring I will have another area to plant, etc.  And I'll have to because it will look terribly dorky otherwise.

Just so you know, I went out in the rain just to take this photo for you.  And while I was there I took a couple other photos. And almost sunk in the garden where I planted the bulbs yesterday.  I thought I'd tamped it down pretty good.  I thought wrong.  Thankfully I managed to stay on my feet. It could have gone either way.

I like marigolds. They are so dependable and bloom so long.  But also my 3 house bunnies love them.  I grow them for my bunnies as a treat.  Actually almost all my herbs go to them too. I brought in a bucket full this morning and they had a grand time picking out their favorites. Chocolate mint is definitely favored.  The french lavender looses interest after only a couple bites.

So anyone know what this is? (below) It has been growing all season long in with my mini basil. It blooms quickly, dies quickly. I don't think I've ever seen a flower fully opened on it.  I see the buds, I see limp hanging flower, never in between in it's full vibrant state (assuming it does have one!)

I just bought a bunch of mulch and not a shred of it is down yet.  I have good intentions.  but I either get side tracked or it rains.  Today it is raining. Cold. Tomorrow it's to be raining, cold and windy.

So are you wondering what that bug in on that plant? What bug? Ah you didn't enlarge the photo did you.  There is a small bug on the stem. I didn't notice until I saw the pic on the computer.  So I went back out to try to get a better photo.
Not so easy, as he wanted to play hide and seek. I'd come from the right, he'd scoot to the left.  I'd come from the left, he'd scoot to the right. Round and round the stem he want.   Not great photos, but you can see he is colorful. I've no idea what he is either.

Remember the rocks?  Here's one I had to dig up in order to get one more of those ... umm...plants in the ground:

That's some serious rock to dig up.  I often wonder if I keep digging them up, will my whole yard just collapse? :D

A young stink bug

When I opened the door to take a photo of ...the plant...a squirrel was on the porch looking for peanuts. It's hard to resist that cute face, so I threw some out for him. That brought the ducks running across the yard, thinking they were getting food again. So I gave them a bit more too.  Something about seeing a several dozen ducks waddling at a high rate of speed across the yard compels me to laugh...and indulge them. 

The past few days had been lovely. The ducks have been napping down in the corner of the yard. They don't seem to mind sleeping on the rocks, though walking over them seems to be hazardous for them. They are not known for their grace on the ground. The other day watching them go across the path to the other part of the stream I had to laugh.  There was a dip between the rocks they were walking on.  First one across the hole, bobbled over to the side, righted and kept going. As did the next one, and the next one and on and on for the first 12 or so. Then one female saw what was going on and walked around it. The next one didn't and bloop, there he went.  Maybe it's one of those things you have to see to realize just how funny it is.  ;)

 Isn't she beautiful!?  Although the female mallard is considered plain, I think they are gorgeous. All the different patterns, along with their personality.  There's many differences between the males and females. And I do think the female is a little brighter then the male.  But then again, since they are the ones that raise the young, they have to be!

The duck below in the center is the odd looking fellow that the white duck brought with her last year.

I almost forgot, when I moved a potted plant when I was digging in the yard, I discovered a Redback Salamander, a woodland salamander that doesn't like water.

And some random typical photos of birds coming for the peanuts. The blue jay has been here a lot lately and is usually first to swoop down and grab a nut, beating out the squirrels and titmouse.  The titmouse is more hesitant. He usually comes in slowly, landing nearby, then lands somewhere a little closer before landing on the grass. Then he looks at it, looks around before grabbing it.  Amazing they can fit a peanut in their tiny beak.

Animals don't watch where they are going. The squirrel startled me the other day, I was sitting on the ground, putting a plant in when movement caught my attention. I looked to the left and saw a squirrel charging across the yard, under the table, right towards me (does this have a familiar ring from a much earlier post about a groundhog?!LOL) I yelped and he froze for a second and took off.  He stopped at the redbud tree and got up in a low branch.  I went over to it, just so he could see it was me. We are all a little nutty.  I just can't get over how these animals get so focused on something that they aren't aware of everything going on in their path.

The other day I looked out the door, and all I saw was the sunflower seed bin, with a groundhog butt sticking out the back.  His back legs were on the edge, while the rest of him was inside. He heard me before I got the camera. I've been watching him work the lid open.  For awhile he couldn't do it, but he's learned to go to the end of the container, instead of the longer side. He works it hard, with both his mouth and his paws to pry it up over the lip. Interesting when you remember he doesn't have opposable thumbs.

just a moment ago I heard him breaking in to the box.

He wasn't happy to hear me say his name :)

That's it for today!

A few days of rain last week.  Doesn't do a lot for my motivation!
But it seems to do a lot for the mosquito population.

They are making it very difficult to spend much time at once in the yard.  Even using DEET they are still a problem.  They must know their time is limited...they will seek out any tiny little piece of skin not covered with deet.  Rather disgusting!  And then I ran out of bug spray. Hopefully I can get some tomorrow as there is so much to be done yet outside. 

We've been having some gorgeous weather the past few days, after all the rain.  But I wasn't able to spend a lot of time in the yard, what with things like fall festivals going on everywhere!  Actually I'm not one for going to things like that, but my niece was having a booth at one, in support of cystic fibrosis awareness and a cousin was having her first public performance of  the "She Serpents". They do belly dancing.  Awesome to watch.

The ducks are back in full numbers now.  Most mornings I see about 3 dozen.  No sign of the white duck yet, but her companion of last year has returned.

They are their feisty selves, picking on each other, leaving many duck feathers over the yard.  Though they usually aren't this aggressive with each other until it gets very cold. The groundhogs are losing out on feed since the ducks clean up every speck of cracked corn.  OK not all the groundhogs, since Little Dude is still making his porch visits and helping himself directly to the bag.  Surprisingly he doesn't seem to consume a lot given his size.  He likes a varied diet and will still work hard to get the lid off the other bin to get inside and eat the sunflower seeds.  Today he was in the corn bag and I startled him...I hadn't realized he was out there and I called to the squirrel (yea yea i talk to the animals) to see if he wanted a peanut, realizing too late that Little Dude was on the porch.   About 15 minutes later I was heading outside. I didn't see LD or hear him get back in the corn bag.  so I opened the door and suddenly the lid popped open on the sunflower seed bin that's right in front of the door and out a groundhog popped!  

Watching the activity outside makes me wonder if we are going to have an earlier start to winter.  The chipmunk has been closing up one of his burrow openings, and reopened another. I guess his coffers are getting filled.

The warm weather has encouraged some flowers to open up.  I can't remember what this is.  The name of the flower is in my brain, honestly, it just can't seem to find it's way to the tip of my tongue to spew forth!

Squirrels are so cute....even when they are little thieves!

I think I figured out why the one squirrel was crying and hiding under it's tail. It's being bullied by another squirrel.  There's been a lot of chasing and some fairly rough tumbling in the yard.  One of them now has a torn ear. Yep, I yelled at them, scolding them like naughty children.  One squirrel took off, the torn ear, came closer...and was rewarded with a peanut of course.

Suddenly there is a third squirrel, and things actually seem a little more calm.

I'll have to continue later!  I have a caterpillar I'm trying to identify, as well as some sort of flying ant.

wow!

Starting off with the mundane...making you wait to see what the WOW is all about!

I found a home for a bunch of hosta plants.  I'd also replanted some under the red bud tree.  I dug up, split up, and moved the Autumn Joy sedum.  I hesitated doing it now but it was not a happy plant where it was, and I keep reading where it's a very forgiving plant.  So far it looks fine.  It will be nice to see how it fairs with better light.  I originally planted it a few years ago with absolutely no idea what I was doing. It said plant in full sun.  And I did that.  The problem was, my tree had not leafed out yet! hah!  So it ended up with too much shade. Live and learn!  So I'll transplant another hosta to the spot it held.

All this moving around is causing a lot of anxiety in one of the squirrels! The one seems ok with it, but the other, goes through all kind of gyrations when he sees a newly dug area, missing plants, etc.  He will come bounding across the yard and upon encountering the change will stop, his tail twitching spasmodically, put one paw forward, then pull it back, rock back and forth while stretching his neck to try to take a look or sniff without getting too close and to be able to make a fast escape. Often he just turns tale and runs back to his tree. He might manage to grab a peanut but it takes him several tries to actually pick it up. Runs like the devil is after him.  It definitely puts him out of his comfort zone.

Yesterday I heard one of the squirrels 'crying'. It went on for so long I decided to go out and see what was wrong.  He was laying high up on a branch across the stream with his tail up over his head. Usually when I've seen a squirrel like that, he's 'hiding' from a predator overhead.  But they usually remain quiet.  I couldn't figure out what was causing so much distress.  I did show him I had peanuts and he'd quiet for a bit and watch me throw one to the ground, then start that crying again. Once I threw a few more I came in the house and he quieted, assuming he came and got himself a treat and felt better. 

Hey I know it works for me!

You can tell it's October. There were 8 mallards out here today.

So here's my WOW moment for Saturday.  I was looking over my castor bean plants for any seeds that were drying. I looked down at my smallest Paw Paw tree and saw ....drumroll please....a caterpillar.  Not just any caterpillar. It was a Zebra Swallowtail caterpillar.  As you recall I had 2 brief sightings of the butterflies this summer.  I was so excited I ran into the house and called sister...breathless...just to share the news. She was almost as excited as I was!
Totally unexpected, especially since it's October, and I'm in Pennsylvania. It also survive the strong wind and rain the other day.   I also think there's at least one other egg on the plant. It looks like it has a bit of the red ring on it, so I might have to get my macro lens out and see if I can get a good photo of it.  Though tomorrow they are calling for more rain.