Posing Hummer

I don’t promise these are great photography, but they are a triumph for me. I finally caught a hummer on camera. Through a double-pane window  and screen, but I caught him. This is the first time I have seen a hummingbird perch. They are always in a tizzy, flitting from flower to flower. This time he sat right down on my red pepper cage and waited until I got the camera. He wiped his beak back and forth on the wire like a chef sharpening a knife, then preened for a while. I’m in awe. So not good photography, but a great accomplishment for me.

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Nature–Steps Away

Monarch just before pupating

Crysalis formed overnight

Pink Crape Myrtle hanging on

Wandering Jew on tree trunk with moss

Turtle Bubbles in pond

”Chrysalis

 

Note: Click pictures to enlarge.

A short walk outside my front door caught these wonders. The Monarch caterpillars are larger than ever since we got a broad leaf milkweed. They obviously still love the old kind because they stripped it first, but seem to get fatter than usual before finally tucking their necks (do they have necks?) and forming a chubby “J” right beneath the leaf they have been eating on. Seems that was as far as they could waddle. The next morning we have a bright green crysalis, and in another day the gold crown and buttons at the bottom begin to shine in the sun. I’ll try to catch the coming out party in about seven to ten days. If Hurricane Hanna comes this way, we’ll snap that leaf off and bring it inside. We did that once before and woke to a butterfly in the office.

The other shots are just flowers still decorating the yard and the surface of our glassy pond, teeming with life. Though it goes dry at times, rain brings fish and other aquatic life back into this area and restocks the pond for us over and over.

Before our house was built, the  neighborhood kids called the property Frog Bog. We’ve tried to keep it friendly to the frogs and any critters who like to take up residence. It’s easy to make your property welcoming for them. Check out my link to Backyard Wildlife Habitat and get started.

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African Iris

Perhaps this photo deserves a note. The yellow African iris was a gift from a friend (thank you, Abbe) from her yard. She has several plants growing since the 40’s or 50’s, planted by original owners. If they are not heirloon, they seem to be. Others have seen my yellow iris and asked where I found it. Apparently most out there are white. I know, you can’t tell after my manipulation of the photo. There is a reason for it. The feature that thrills me most about this flower is its proud self-esteem. If it had a chest it would be swelled as it stands as tall as possible and reaches toward the sun. I was trying to capture that effort, that movement. I hope it comes through. Enjoy.

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Mystery Flower

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Could I get some help here? This beautiful, vine-like plant was given to me by a friend, but neither of us know what it is. It was in the yard of an older house when she moved in and grows vociferously in Florida.  Not that a rose by any other name would be any sweeter, but we would both appreciate knowing what we have.

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GARDEN GIRATIONS

I  know going in the African irises are not part of the “working group” in our wildlife garden.   The coveted hummingbirds and butterflies ignore the tiny blossoms and go on to porterweed, firebush, pentas and lantanas. But the tall, broad iris leaves catch every nuance of breeze and flag me down with startling movement each time I glance their way. They are a gift, one that does not appear to fit with the garden’s purpose, but it would be a mistake to think that. The robust, twelve-foot firebush stretches like the giant it is, pushing toward penta’s territory. But standing guard, straight and sturdy as a fence, the African iris halts the invasion, doing much more than I ask of it. Just being a sentinel would be enough, or sprouting tiny yellow  blooms skyward would be enough, but there is that swaying, dipping, shimmeying that it does for no reason but to bring the garden alive with movement. So in the lull between wildlife visits, we enjoy the dance of the irises, a ballet to fill the waiting stage.

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