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!