Bountiful Butterflies

The black-eyed-susans and zinnias, now in full bloom, are major attractants for butterflies. I love to see all the different varieties that arrive to sample the sweet flower nectar.

Here is a sample of our winged garden visitors ~

Sharing the zinnias

Spicebush Swallowtail

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silvery Checkerspot

Floral Finale

The crepe myrtle tree blossoms provide our final burst of color for the summer. Our trees just started to break out in pink flowers. As I was looking out admiring the lovely shades of pink in the trees, a curious phoebe was looking in at me :)

Top branches starting to flower

Phoebe in the crepe myrtle tree

Golden Morning

Black Eyed Susan Flowers

Honey Bee

Goldfinch on Sunflower

Beauty

Garden Pest Extraordinare!

Hot temps persist and may be the reason I saw a huge caterpillar in our garden today. This lime green giant is a tomato hornworm, known to decimate tomato and pepper plants in particular, and known to show up in very hot and dry times. When I discovered this huge caterpillar, it was munching on one of the jalapeño peppers ~ a hot pepper for a hot day! After taking a couple of photos, I removed this big guy and put him in the woods. He did not go willingly, clinging ahold of the pepper plant with all his might … so part of the plant went with him :)

Munching away on the pepper plant

Biggest caterpillar I've ever seen!

Good Day, Sunshine!

Another super sunny morning!!!

Sunbeams streaming in ...

Our gardens are soaking up the sun!!!

Hosta Flower

Zinnia Garden

Sun flower opening up to the sunshine

Early Evening Visitor

"The Watched One"

"The Watching One"

Super Bright

Now that the Black-Eyed-Susan flowers have opened with their petals of gold, the beebalm garden's become a super bright mecca for butterflies, bees, and the occasional hummingbird. The bees are fond of all of the flowers. This morning they were totally immersed in the blue sage.

The bee puts its entire head into the blossom of the blue sage!

ACEOs for the Summer Season

Still busy creating my miniature artwork for the eBay miniature art community!!!

Early Morning Sun

The morning sun beautifies everything it touches with its sparking rays of light. This morning it was especially pretty outdoors, and I wasn't the only one enjoying it :)

View from the front porch

A ladybug basks in the sunlight 

Sunbeams filter through the leaves, creating prisms

Flower garden catching the light

A tiny male hummingbird feasts on beebalm nectar