Look what I found today! Caterpillars on my butterfly weed. I was so excited. Now I wonder what butterfly they will become?

This butterfly weed is one that I started indoors from seed. Several of them lived after I transplanted them in to the garden, but this is the only one that bloomed this year. I am hoping they survive the winter and come back strong next year. Just in case, I plan to start more next spring.

I have had a lot of 'painted ladies' in the gardens this year. They seem to love the giant zinnias as well as the butterfly bush. Definitely going to plant more zinnias next year. I started most of them indoors, but did direct sow some. They all grew at about the same rate. I am thinking of starting a few for containers and just sowing the rest directly in the gardens. That way I will have more room to start other plants inside.

The sum and substance hosta has put up flower scapes tall enough to be seen from behind the cone flowers. This is the first year they have really done well. The plants are about 4 years old and they are finally living up to their description of being huge.

This area of the garden is still looking very pretty and I am pleased that it is lasting. A lot of the other areas are looking piteous(not sure if that is a real word, but it describes the areas well!)

Does anyone know what this plant is? When I finally noticed it wasn't a flower, I thought corn stalk. But no...

... this is a corn stalk. And yes, it is growing next to the house. It may be Indian Corn from some fall decorations last year. The squirrels found the corn and there went my decorations. It will be fun to see what the ear looks like when ripe-if I get to it before the squirrels.

Have a happy gardening week end!

A Little Whimsy, A Little Gardening!

I have been reading in others' posts about 'Whimsy' in their gardens. Gardening Gone Wild's designer workshop this month in Whimsy in the Garden. I have loved all the art work, fanciful and playful creatures, and downright silliness. I don't have much, as I just can't seem to find things that jump out at me and say 'take me to your garden'. But I decided to show you what I do have. What would Dragonfly Corner be without a dragonfly?

And you may remember the antique lightning rods rescued from the roof when we put on new shingles. I have 3 of these-only 2 have the glass balls. This one has a morning glory growing up it that is the same color blue as the ball. Another one is covered ball and all with a moon plant.

I have always loved yard or garden flags(I think that is what they are called). This is my first year to have one. Notice the Kobold liatris beside it that is just starting to bloom. I found these bulbs at Aldi's (discount grocery) this spring for a really good price. My first time for these, too.

And that is my little bit of whimsy. I have been thinking of adding more, but probably not til next spring. Maybe I just need to loosen up a little and let whimsy take hold.

This is a container with my yellow impatiens that I paid a fortune for. I am not very happy with them as they are much more a peachy color. Maybe they are getting too much sun. But what I really wanted to show you were the Bells of Ireland! I started these from seed and was so pleased to see them actually bloom. They would have looked great with a yellow to contrast or compliment the pale green. Oh well, they are still pretty.

I just had to show Silver Mound Artemisia, another first for me. Planted this spring from an 8" pot, it has more than doubled in size! I think I will have to get some more of this next year. What a great plant. Above and beside it are some pass along plants. Yarrow from Rose and I'm not sure now about the top one.

A small mass of zinnias started from seed indoors.

This was the first day lily I ever planted. I have had it about 5 years now and divided it 3 times. It is a prolific bloomer and a fast grower. Wish I knew the name! (sigh)

Yellow glads planted to try and get some other colors in my garden besides pink and purples. I did plant some purple ones thinking the combination of colors would be pleasing. As it turns out the purples were more lilac with white throats and they bloomed a lot earlier than the yellows. Not all plans work out the way you want.

My coral bells are blooming, although they are puny little flower stalks. I have seen some with blooms that really show. I shouldn't complain as the foliage is exceptionally nice this year.

My first delphinium! This is one of those plants I bought a little later in the spring. It is supposed to be Magic Fountain Lavender. Even taking into account the camera's penchant for turning purples into blues, this is not lavender. So, I'm not sure what the actual name is. But being as it is purple-it can stay!

Some of the caladium bulbs I planted have really grown large leaves. This one is cupped and holding rain drops from the light showers we had the night before. The red doesn't exactly go with the pink and purple wave petunias, but does look good next to the sweet potato vine. As large as this vine has gotten, next year I am thinking of doing a container of just them and a couple of tall plants-maybe the dark red spikes they have now.

And lastly, Sum and Substance is blooming. I love the big snow white flowers almost as much as I do the hosta's leaves. If you look really closely or enlarge this picture, you will see..... did you guess? A Japanese Beetle! I couldn't believe they were going after another kind of plant. They are really being obnoxious this year, sampling just about every plant and bloom in my garden.

This is probably it from Dragonfly Corner for this week. We have the 'big move' on Saturday. I am going to my Dad's Tuesday to help (do) with the packing. He will be staying with us for a couple of weeks while waiting for his new apartment to become empty. Luckily, we can store all of his things in the garage of the new place.

I hope all enjoy their gardens this week!