Monday, July 6, 2009

Mish Mash Monday!

Finally, I have a post to put up! I have almost missed Mish Mash Monday- now made famous by Monica at Garden Faerie's Musing, just getting it in under the wire. :) You would think that I could get more than one a week, but can't seem to manage that along with gardening and of course my favorite pastime which is visiting all of your posts. I do want to make a small complaint though. Just about the time I get all of the new posts from my sidebar read and leave a comment-you post anew and once again, I am behind! (please take this complaint with a grain of salt. I love reading each and every post you write.)



Do you know what this is??


Maybe this will help.



It's a Praying Mantis egg case and these are just a couple of the babies that hatched from it.


The granddaughters found them scrambling out from underneath the arm of a patio chair. There were dozens of them, but most were camera shy and moving way to quickly to get a photo of. We were lucky that one or 2 stopped to take a look around before hurrying off to find protection in a flower filled container.
Even newly hatched, they are perfectly formed and adopting the familiar Mantis stance.


This photo you have to look very closely at to see the wildlife. Enlarging helps some. I was at Rose's last week when I saw this one enjoying her flowers. We were on our way to go plant looking-even I knew we would probably buy some! We did find a sale at a country nursery. All annuals 4' and under were a $1.00. We used some restraint and only bought a few. :) But I did find pink Lythrum and it now has a home near the double pink coneflower I found a couple of weeks ago.


Some of my volunteer sunflowers have started to bloom. I so enjoy their bright faces in the garden. And I am not the only one. Since these have bloomed, I have seen many more yellow finches and several blue jays checking them out. I know they are keeping an eye on them to see when the seeds get ripe enough to eat.



My favorite and the first day lily I planted has started to bloom! It is a Ruby??? Of course I didn't write the name down when I planted it, but I did leave the tag by it. The following year when I went to read the name all that was still legible was the Ruby part.



The blooms on this lily are dinner plate size! This fall, I am going to divide her and maybe even move all of her. The ornamental cherry tree is providing a lot of shade in that part of the garden now.


Several of the rest of the day lilies have started to bloom also. This one is Royal Red.



Peach Delight

Unknown, but I love this lemon yellow with the raised ridge in each petal.



Wineberry Candy.



This is one of the 2 small ones I have. I don't think they are miniatures-just shorter and more petite. This one is Little Business.



Wine Red.



And another unknown one. These with the different color throats amaze me.
















I am proud of these! Started from seed I purchased at Dollar General @ 3 for a $1.00. These annual Phlox are Drummondi Mixed. And of course I am very pleased that they are all shades of pink. :)


Now for another mystery or two....

I had been noticing these plants growing along the country roads I take to work. Finally one evening I just had to stop and take pictures. Does anyone have a clue about this one or the next?


These have been blooming for 2 weeks now. The flowers are huge-maybe 6-8" across. They grow to about 4 feet tall and seem to be very sturdy holding up their flowers much better than some hydrangeas I have seen. I hope they can be identified as I was thinking about planting one in my garden.
We had a delightfully slow rain of about 2'" on the 4th and even though it postponed many fireworks displays and spoiled a few picnics, it was much appreciated by me and more importantly- the farmers. Even so, we enjoyed our 4th and did get to watch the parade with our SIL driving a firetruck and a couple of granddaughters riding in it and throwing candy to the children lining the streets. I love these small hometown parades with the local high school bands and cheerleaders; the Shriners' 21 man bicycle; volunteer fireman driving the firetrucks with sirens blaring; locals dressed as clowns; and of course the old restored farm tractors driven by face -wide -grinning young farmers of tomorrow. I hope you got out to see America's freedom in action on the 4th.
Have a great gardening week!

26 comments:

Kathleen said...

Hi Beckie. I know how you feel about getting behind on reading posts. Even tho I post a lot, I feel like I stay behind in the reading part too. But it's summer and we all know what each other is busy doing, right?! Those little praying mantis are adorable. You're so lucky to have them ~ I bet they eat a ton of bugs in your garden. Oh, that last photo of the shrub with the white flowers is an Elderberry. I don't know which one exactly but I think any of them would be great if you added them to your garden. You have a nice collection of daylilies too. Hope you had a good 4th of July.

beckie said...

Kathleen, thanks for the info. I have been wanting to take a spade to work with me to dig up a couple of the small ones. I don't remember noticing these before. Maybe it is just an exceptional year for them. I would have dozens more day lilies if space and money were no problem. :)

Cheryl said...

Dear Beckie.....I love love love the little preying mantis....we do not have them here and I am totally smitten. So beautifully defined and detailed....how wonderful to have viewed their juvenile qualities.....I do hope that they do well...

You have a fabulous collection of daylillies....just like Lisa's....they obviously do very well in your part of the world...

The last bloom is elderberry....they do well here to.....if you do buy, I suggest, black lace....it is stunning....deep purples leaves and pink flowers...lovely.
The common elderberry grows all around my garden and I love it.....the perfume does not suit many but I like it, although I have to say it is unusual......

Glad you had such a fun time with the girls...sounds wonderful....

Have a fun week.....

tina said...

Those baby mantises are really cute. I am so glad you got a shot! And lucky you to have them. Lovely daylilies. Ruby is magnificent. I am not sure from the pic but the next to the last one (elderberry like everyone said and I too think it has been a good year for them-make sure to pick some) might be spiderwort? Is the foliage grasslike? Anyhow, have a great day!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

How lucky you were to find the tiny Mantis. I found several casingsin our bushes out front but forgot to look for the young hatching. I will look later today. I have probably missed them.

I love your daylily collection. I also love the orange flower on your header. I like orange flowers in general. Especially toward the end of summer. They really pop in the garden.

Glad to hear you had a good holiday. Best to you and S.

Frances said...

Hi Beckie, a joyously great mish mash post! I add to the votes that the last shot is elderberry, if you dig some, do know it can get very large, like a tree. The other bundle of buds looks like tradescantia, spiderwort, sword shaped leaves and blue or pinky flowers? Those baby mantids are just so delightful, good shots of them too. And hooray for the dragonfly, your symbol. You and Rose going plant shopping, wish I could tag along on those fun trips too.
Frances

Susie said...

When I was little I was scared to death of those Preying Mantis. Now I wish I had a few to take care of those pesky tomato caterpillars.

Your lilies are so pretty Beckie! I love all those colors.

Roses and Lilacs said...

Hi Beckie, yep, the large cluster of white flowers is an elderberry, (sambucus). They are a mid sized shrub getting as tall as maybe 10 feet, but easily pruned to almost any size. Later in the year it will have berries the birds love. You can grab a handful of the ripe berries and plant them, they grow pretty easily. I've been looking at hybrid varieties with black or golden leaves. Very attractive.
Marnie

Rose said...

Great shots of the baby mantises! I love the little one posed on the top of the chair. I saw a little one on one of my zinnias the other day; in fact, I didn't even notice it until I downloaded pictures. I hope he has lots of little siblings running around.

Your daylilies are beautiful! I really must come out to see your garden while they're still blooming. I was so excited I could help you identify the shrub, but I see Kathleen was the first to identify it. I just finished reading Marnie's post, so that's how I knew what it was:) Our Fourth was pretty dull, but I did enjoy the rain!

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Those baby mantises are just the cutest thing! I've never seen tiny ones. How lucky you are to have them. You have a lovely selection of Daylilies. Sorry I can't ID 'Ruby?' I used to grow 'Little Business' at my old house. I like the smaller flowered Daylilies because they don't look bad if you miss a day or two of deadheading. I agree that the second to the last photo is a Tradescantia/Spiderwort and the white flower is a Sambucus/Elderberry.

Laurie and Chris said...

Your lilies are so pretty! Those baby mantises are really cute It must have been fun to watch them.

Anonymous said...

It's a lucky sign indeed to have baby Praying Mantis in your garden. They eat all those bad bugs that feed on our plants. :) Your Daylillies are gorgeous regardless of their names. I agree with Kathleen & the others, the
2nd mystery bloom is definitely an Elderberry. Glad someone was able to identify the first one, what an interesting looking seed head. :)

Wendy said...

I love love love that "hidden dragonfly"! You do have to look closely, but it's almost like a game - find the hidden dragonfly! Your lilies are awesome!! And those little baby praying mantises. How lucky you are to see baby ones. I've never seen them.

Sounds like the 4th celebrations worked out after all. Even with all the rain. We also have been having more rain than usual. It will just have to balance out later in the season, hopefully.
Hugs

MissyM said...

I love your daylilies. I got a few new ones this summer and now I cant hardly wait til next year to see them in full bloom. That wineberry one of yours is gorgeous.

beckie said...

Cheryl, I did plant an elderberry in my garden-one I dug up from the road side. We will see how it does. :) It's too bad you don't have Mantis, they do a great job on insects.

The day lilies do look nice this year. I am trying to get new ones each year to add to my collection. A neighbor has offered me several of hers to plant thos fall and I am so excited. She has some really pretty ones.


Tina, it might be a wild spiderwort. Does kind of look like one. :) Thanks for the info.

beckie said...

Lisa, I hope you found some Mantis. They look like little ants til you look really closely. The orange flower is Sunset-coneflower that I got when we were at T&T's Great buy, about half what they are up here.

Frances, I am always on the look out for Dragonflies. :) Mish Mash is a great way to show several things. Kind of like writing a letter to a friend. You would be most welcome to go plant shopping with us!!

beckie said...

Thanks Susie. Those tomato worms can be very destructive. And I always hated to pick them off. Ugh!!

Marnie, thanks for the info. I dug one up and planted it in my garden=looks kind of sad. I think this fall I will look for a black lace one. They are so pretty. And if my freebie makes it they will compliment each other. :)

beckie said...

Rose, The girls are going to look for more mantis thos weekend. They love to find them and take pictures.

I got the Phlox planted and hope it does well. We will have our 'prairie' garden yet. :)

MMD The grands are good at finding the baby ones. They look like ants til you look closely, but they move a lot quicker. I like the smaller lilies too as their blooms are more clustered.

beckie said...

Thanks Laurie and Chris. The mantis are fun.

Racquel, I didn't know they were lucky, will have to tell the girls. Thanks for the info on the plants. I knew some one out there would know what they were. Blogging is a great source of info. :)

beckie said...

Wendy, it wasn't a very good picture, but I loved the color of it. With all the rain on the 4th, we are having fireowrks this weekend so I get to take the granddaugthers. Should be lots of fun as we plant to take a picnic along too.

MissyM, so glad you like the lilies. The wine berry is a lovely one. I am trying to get a collection-as in a full bed of different ones. Hope yours do well for you and thank you for visiting.

Gail said...

Hi Beckie, What would a garden be without our beloved named and unnamed daylilies! I would surely miss mine. Yours are beautiful...You lucky gardener to have so many mantis babies to work in your garden...I used to see lots of them but there are so many hiding places for them here! I hope you had a good holiday and I wish you a sweet weekend~~gail

garden girl said...

Hi Beckie, I can sure empathize with having trouble keeping up with everyone's posts, let alone keeping up with our own blogs.

Glad you got id's on the mystery plants. I love elderberries. I have black lace - 3 of them. They don't get enough sun for dark foliage, but they're growing well even in mostly shade. I love the lacy-looking flower heads on elderberries - remind me of my grandma's garden.

Naturegirl said...

Beckie! What a wonderful surprise and privledge to be witnessing the babies of preying mantis! It is rare to see one around my garden!!
Love your happy sunflower...if I were a bird I would surley be luring around it!
Heh..I think that second is Queen Anne's Lace??..sure looks like it! It is blooming in the fields right about now...make yourself a crown from the flowers!
Beckie thank you for all your encouraging words left at my blog and for your prayers. I am so blessed having such caring bloggers
thinking about me.I cannot sit at the PC for long periods so forgive me for not getting here sooner.I read your messages or have my hubby do so.
hugs aNNa xo

beckie said...

Gail, this is the 2nd year we have seen baby mantis and we are hoping for at least one more batch this year. The granddaughters find any insects interesting. Remember the butterfly house-well in the gift shop I bought them pocket sized books about insects and butterflies. They are getting used a lot!!

Linda, it seems especially hard to keep up during gardening season doesn't it? But this winter when snow is blowing we will have time to get in good visits and remember our gardens.

Anna, I think about you and send good vibes your way. Do be as good to yourself as you can. :)

joey said...

Hi Beckie! So happy to catch up ... the crazy summer is fun but no time to blog or visit my favorite friends :) I've never seen a 'baby' mantis and am very impressed by your photos ... keep up the good work and enjoy these delightful summer days.

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

The praying mantis egg case is just so cool-looking. I'm right there with you in keeping up with posts; most folks update way more often then you or me and it's just like you said--I feel a huge sense of relief catching up and then *presto* I'm behind again! But I try to remember the German saying "Jeder wie er kann"--each as s/he can or do the best you can! :)