Mish Mash Monday!

I know this is late for a Mish Mash Monday, but had a few things I wanted to share.  MMM is brought to you by Monica and a thank you to her for it!

 Thanks, also to Rose. I now have a new look to my blog after over 2 years of the same format and colors. I have also started using the new editor on Blogger.  Because of that, these photos may be hard on your eyes and your sense of composition as I am still in the learning curve of how to use the new editing features. But I do want to thank Rose for explaining all of this to me. She is much more computer savvy than I. :)

The first poppy of the season! I so love these gorgeous crepe paper looking blooms. These are in my MIL's garden and will not transplant to mine. I have tried unsuccessfully for years to get a start and now accepting the fact they will not grow for me, I enjoy them in her garden.                                                                     

Lily of the valley is another plant that multiplies in my MIL's garden but will not come to live in mine. However, I do enjoy the delicate blooms and love taking photos of them.

I think this must be the Year of the Lilac and Wisteria here in Central Illinois

Cheryl, this photo is for you! :)

I did a board at work for Earth Day. I find free coloring pages on the Internet and have parents and grandparents at work take them home for the little and not so little ones to color. They put their names and ages on them and I display them on the board. I take photos of the board and send them back to the kids so they can see their artwork displayed. We all enjoy their efforts and their artistic abilities.

More lilacs, tulips and wisteria at work. I love being able to take in bouquets. The fragrance was wonderful. I can't believe how long the lilacs have lasted.

While I am on the subject of work....

I got permission to do 3 planters in the front of the building. This is the'yellow' container and I have a pink one and a purple one. As they fill in I will show you more.

Back in my garden, I have Bachelor Buttons blooming. This was a pass along plant from a favorite cousin a couple of years ago and is doing wonderfully. I also have pass alongs from another favorite cousin and will share those at a later time. Lucky me to have such green thumbed cousins!

Couldn't resist a photo of the pansy. With the cooler weather, they have stayed so fresh looking and continue to bloom profusely.

Last, but not least. the first iris of the season. This is an unnamed one, probably a very old variety that has been passed down through many generations of flower lovers. My MIL gave me this one. While not very flashy, it is dependable and it's blooms fill in that gap between spring bulbs and summer flowers.

Do you have antique pass alongs in your gardens?

I hope everyone has a great gardening week!

 I do apologize for the spacing ! Bear with me while I learn. :)

Beauties and One Beastie!

It seems no matter my intentions, I am only able to post once a week these days. While that may be more than enough for you who read my blog,(!) I am missing the more frequent interaction with my garden blogger friends. Someone has said that during the long dark days of winter we will all have more time and I suppose that will be true. But there sure won't be as much going on in the gardens.



I don't have many bloomers now, just a few struggling to hold on against the shorter days and cooler weather. What is there finally got a good rain last Sunday. We had just shy of 5". The basement got a little damp and we had some big puddles in the yard for a while, but the ground soon soaked it all up. The grass is now green again and the dirt and debris is all washed off the patio. Our mini-drought seems to have broken. But, my goodness, didn't Ike do a lot of damage and bring an enormous amount of rain to a lot of places! My prayers are with those who were really affected.



The lack of blooming flowers at Dragonfly Corner has more than been offset by the critter world. I found this chrysalis on a most fitting spot-the butterfly bush. It looks like a piece of dried moss. Wish I knew which butterfly it will be.

The praying mantis that lives in the container by our back door was doing a little exploring the other day. when I went to take his picture, he turned his head and looked right at me. The garden has been full of these this year. I tried to take a picture of one eating a painted lady butterfly, but it turned out sooo bad-even for me. The mantis moves so slowly-he seems to be the sloth of the insect world-makes me wonder how they ever catch anything.

This is the first of these kind of butterflies that I have seen this year. A tiny blue-gray with just a dot of orange behind it's body. They are so delicate looking. The yarrow is doing well. It was a pass-along from Rose this spring.

I think this is a skipper moth of some type. The zinnias are still attracting lots of bees and butterflies.

A lone late cone flower being enjoyed by a painted lady. I have noticed a lot of the cone flower seed heads are looking like they have been picked clean of seeds. I hope the birds are enjoying them. Soon, though, I am going to have to get out there and start clearing some of the mess out of the gardens.

This is the container by the back door-the residence of the praying mantis. I had pansies in this til in July some time so it got a late start. But I have been very happy with the plants in it. Most were bought on clearance and picked with little thought other than SALE! The tiny leafed vine is a perennial whose name I can't remember now, but has survived for 3 years in there with no special care. The white is scaevola, 'whirlwind'. I have fallen for this plant! No dead heading, no wilting when dry, grows quickly and just looks so fresh all the time. I am going to find more places for this next year. There is also a angelonia angustifolia, 'dresden blue' in there and again I'm very happy with it. No dead heading and it hasn't gotten 'leggy'. The dark leafed plant is alteranthera, 'purple knight'. Another one I am going to use more of next year. There is also a caladium bulb in there which is on the back side. It's a pink and green leafed one and doesn't really 'go' but the bulb was so long in coming up, that I had forgotten I planted it with the pansies. As for my other containers, most of them are looking pretty sad. Lack of rain and the end of the season has taken hold of them. Another project I need to do-clear most of them out.

And finally, I will leave you with a couple more morning glory pictures. It is still blooming and still growing! There are dozens of buds yet and each morning it puts on such a show. All my neighbors have been over to admire it. So yes, finally, I have learned to love it for it's self.

I hope you are enjoying your gardens!

Butterflies, Bees, and Beetles!

*** Updated July 25, 2008
I found the name of the butterfly. It is a Red Spotted Purple-limenitis arthemis and can be found here!

Posting twice in one week...yeah! Life is getting better. I am still busy with a lot on my plate, but I think for now things are somewhat under control. I have finally gotten the big 'move' organized, accepted the fact that my Dad will have to stay with us for a couple of weeks while his new apartment is finished, decided not to stress too much about the lack of help from my the siblings, it has rained so I haven't had to water, the weather has moderated, I didn't have to work this evening, I've gotten my house in a semi-state of clean, and I spent some quality time in my garden today. Yes, life is improving.

I couldn't resist showing my favorite day lily again, so bear with me please. I smile every time I see her blooms.

This picture shows the color much truer than the one I showed last post.

As the title suggested, I did manage to photo some butterflies . This one was so patient with me as I tried to get just the right shot.

I am sure someone out there knows his name....

A Painted Lady on a sunflower. She, however, wouldn't open her wings for me and preferred I take a side view.

Bees on my cone flowers...I am so happy!

Japanese Beetles on my sunflower...I am so not happy! I noticed something had been eating the immature seeds and had hoped it was birds, but I think it was this guy. Is there anything they won't destroy?!

Do you remember the last time Rose and I went plant shopping? I vowed not to buy any more annuals. My intentions were good-but the 'gotta have it' syndrome kicked in today. Those zinnias were on sale and looked so pretty. Did I mention they were on sale?

The smaller pots are Angelina Sedum, a perennial. I did get one back in the spring and then saw it planted as a border at the Idea Garden. I am going to try to do that with these along the roadside burm alternating with Artemisia Silver Mound. Can you believe these were on sale for $1.00?! I stopped by Rose's to show her and she is going plant shopping tomorrow...after all a sale is a good thing!

This is one of the planters now that it has filled in some. The wave petunias in the top just haven't done as well as I had hoped, but all in all it looks pretty good. Next year I think I will put something taller in the top to emphasize it more. And maybe still have something that trails down onto the lower part. Summer is only half over and I am already planning for next year!

This is also a whiskey 1/2 barrel. And it didn't turn out the way I pictured. The waves just haven't done well this year, but even if they had, this sweet potato vine would have taken them over. I added this long after I planted the waves and just look at how it has grown!

Lisa showed a field of wildflowers a while back that was beautiful. I found this patch just on the outskirts of town. The state highway department is trying to do more 'prairie' restoration along their right of ways-less mowing.

There are 'blackeyed susans' (Gail did a great post on these) and I know that white flower must be a daisy relative, but we know it as a weed.

Cone flowers, of course! I wish I knew what the name of these are. They are just a little different than the ones I have-thinner petals and a darker color.

And these. Does anyone know what they are? All these planted together with a sprinkling of vetch made an impressive display.

I hope your gardens are doing well and that you are taking time to enjoy them. Have a wonderful weekend!

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly. "One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."- Hans Christian Andersen

Catching Up! And Bees!

It has been two weeks since I last put a post up, and I have missed the connection to Blogger Land. I have explained in some comments that after a really busy week, my Internet was down for a week. This past weekend was our monthly visit with the granddaughters and then I have been working more than originally planned. Excuses aside, I have truly missed being able to contribute to the community of friends out there. So I hope you will forgive me. I promise to get caught up on my reading and will try to get back into a routine.

I have had so little free time , that I have not been able to enjoy my gardens as much as I would like. I did take a few minutes a couple of different days to go out and take a few pictures. It amazes me how much can change in a garden in just a short while. There are lots of zinnias blooming-ones I started from seeds. Gladiolas are blooming, cosmos, some wildflowers. The roses are still making buds and once in a while one will make to full bloom before the Japanese Beatles get to it. Day lilies are still so pretty and I ave a couple of trumpet lilies blooming. Russian Sage is in full flower, and I even have a few volunteer petunias. And last but not least, the WEEDS are taking over!

And I am so proud to announce, I have bees! They are loving the cone flowers. But it is so hard to get one to pose.

I'll admit you have to look really close to see this bee. He was as yellow as the sunflower!

Part of it was pollen on him, but he was definitely a yellow bee.

My sunflowers are doing very well. This is the week I have to record the number and type of bees seen on one in an allotted amount of time.

I finally pulled my pansies out of this container and managed to get it planted with some of the on sale annuals Rose and I found a couple of weeks ago. The caladium is from some bulbs I planted many weeks ago. They are finally starting to show up.

Many of my day lilies are in bloom now-some of them planted this spring. Unfortunately, I can't find the names! Oh well, there still pretty.

This is a trumpet lily I planted several years back. I thought for a while it was 'Star Gazer', but now I'm not so sure.

I have 2 plants-do they multiply like the Asiatic ones? If so, they are being very slow doing it.

Another unknown new one. The area where I have most of them planted will look much better when they all grow and begin to fill in.

This is one I planted last year-it only had a couple of blooms. This year, it has more than doubled in size and has had several scapes with lots of buds. I think next spring, I will divide it and move part to the day lily bed.

These flowers must be 8" across and just amaze me.

A ' Double Delight' the beetles missed!

I know this was a short post(for me anyway), but my time is still not my own. I am in the process of helping my Dad sell his place, negotiating with buyers and lawyers, finding a place for him to live, and trying to pack for the move the first weekend in August. I am working an extra day this week plus I have a 4 hr. training class I have to attend. My house looks like a tornado hit it and I am way behind on laundry. Cheryl laughed when I told her it was a zoo around here. But maybe zoo isn't the right word. Insane asylum describes it much better!

Hope you all have a great gardening week!

In The Good Ole Summer Time....!

The joys of being young on a hot summer day! Dressing in Papa's t-shirts and running through the sprinkler on a day that reached 91, is an pastime handed down through the ages. Oh to be young again!


We unexpectedly had 3 of our granddaughters this weekend and of course that meant we had all 7 girls. We absolutely love have the girls with us. Each personality is so different and enjoyable to see.

Waterfall, Midwest's version. This is rain water running out of a field of planted corn taking with it valuable topsoil. We had another 3 + inches Friday night and Saturday morning. There is just nowhere for the water to go.

Drainage ditches are running brim full and rivers are out of their banks. We have flood warning out for several counties and some low lying areas are being evacuated. Thankfully, we live in a higher area and have only suffered a damp basement. I feel for the farmers trying to get their crops in the ground and seeing the ones already planted standing in water. Food prices will go up as a direct result.

On a lighter note, "Mr. Lincoln" delivered 2 perfect roses this weekend. This rose is always a reliable bloomer.

And speaking of roses! The blooms on this root stock have delighted me and all the neighbors who keep asking what kind it is. I guess I am going to leave it another year. It is hard to cut down something that is blooming it's heart out.

I've gotten most of my containers planted and am happy with the results. The rain has kept them watered and they seem to be growing great guns. This is an old bird bath that doesn't hold water anymore, but I couldn't throw away. Instead, I have used is as a plant stand for a couple of years now. This one is planted with 'Ipomoea-Sweet Caroline' bewitched, 'Penstemon' apple blossom, and zinnia 'Profusion Cherry'.

Another barrel, planted with pink and purple wave petunias, sweet potato 'Marguerite' and a 'Pentas'.

This one, one of three sitting by the back door, has a 'pink suberbena', 'Batata' sweet potato vine, and a 'coleus-jade green'. I also have a pink 'dragon wing', dark blue 'superbena', 'pride' coleus-a pink and green combination of color- more 'profusion cherry' zinnias and caladium bubs planted in the other 2.

One of my granddaughters who is 9 is a budding photographer. She took a few pictures of my flowers. This is a 'blush' impatient that is planted in a container that fits around the umbrella pole over our patio table. When it fills in a little more I will show it to you.

This is a close up of the pink 'superbena'. I though she did a pretty good job.

**********************************************************************************

I hope those of you who need rain get some this week, and those of us who don't have a dry spell. In other words, have a great week of gardening!

(I apologise for the look of this post-blogger is doing it's own thing today!)