Choice Morsels

It may just be the beginning of August, but I already sense a feel of autumn coming. The squirrels sense it, too, and have started shelling pine cones,  littering the ground with petals and cobs. I'm pleased to say I have Black Swallowtail caterpillars on my curly parsley, which is amazing since I've hardly seen any Swallowtails. Sneaky, I guess. First I saw I had one, then I saw yesterday I have 4. That's really all my two parsley's can support, but I have a Rue nearby I can move any overflow to.  I plant the parsley in particular for the butterflies. Though, I use it for cooking at other times of the year. It's a bi-annual and stays green and vibrant throughout the winter for 2 seasons usually. I did some light outside tasks today: pruned my container blueberries and planting the purple Lantana that's been in a small container, rooting.  I used my new garden seat, which makes low to the ground tasks like that much easier. Today's photo is ...

Today's Garden Pic is one a first bloom of one of my new hybrid Daylilies. It's called "Magic Dancer" It's a bi-color, which means 3 petals are a darker and 3 opposing petals are lighter in color. It was somewhat cloudy when I took this shot, so the light made it take on more of a pinkish shade to the camera, but to the naked-eye, it's really more on the purplish side. It's classed as a "re-bloomer," so I'm looking forward to seeing it again later in the season! Magic Dancer is one of 3 new fancy color lilies I've added to my garden in the past year. Over the years, I've lost a few of my others. The roots either just age out or disease gets them sometimes.  I try to pick "rebloomers," so I can enjoy them twice--so if you're buying daylilies, looking for that. The Night Beacon Daylily out by the mailbox, which is a rebloomer, has fresh bloom stalks up right now! ****** Thursday is Independence Day,...