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
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?
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.
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!
