Bird, Berries and Butterfly

After spreading 2 yards of mulch these evening, I sat with satisfaction, surveying my shovel work....mulch makes everything look better! A hummingbird graced me with his presence and I was feeling cheerful....and then, an unassuming grey bird. looked like maybe a catbird, landed on one of the tomato cages and snapped up a white cabbage butterfly for dinner... not done, it went over and helped itself to some blueberries (now I know where my berries are going) Then...not full yet, it snatched up a worm out of the tomato patch! I was incensed....have all the cabbage whites you want, but leave the worms and berries alone!

I did get some good pics this week and replaced the hopelessly misplaced card reader....

The Magnolias are just elegant, and they smell great too!

The Cherokee Purple tomato had one fruit!

The delicate Dill flowers have opened....soon to be populated by caterpillars galore....

GoddessSupport home from NYC and checking for ripe strawberries...

The Roma tomatoes have grown several inches this week.

The Butterfly Bush is just ready to explode into bloom...

Hello Captain Obvious!

 Since I have temporarily misplaced the new card reader, I am photo deficient today...BUT, I cracked up at some of the weather postings I have seen today....

In a STUNNING news flash we learn.....

Summer will be warm and the greatest threat for tropical risk is from the north Texas coast to the NC-VA border...while that leaves a little real estate uncovered, I wonder to myself....did we need a meteorologist for this prediction??

 A "hybrid" tropical system  is lurking off the southeast coast. Curiously the Farmer's Almanac predicted this very event for this week!

 Did a few garden chores early this morning....pulled the last bolting radishes that had no hope of developing further...they and some bolted arugula went right on my infant compost heap. I noticed the dill is going to flower already...I think this is oddly early. And can I register my complete and utter hatred for Bermuda grass...whose bright idea was this invasive nightmare!?!? Ugh!

Crazy For Hydrangea

Years ago when I was still a Philly-SJ dweller, I would marvel at the exceptionally beautiful Hydrangea that grew at the Jersey shore. In Ocean City and Cape May, there seemed to be something about the air? water? humidity? sandy soil? something that produced the most gorgeous blooms in all sorts of colors...clear periwinkle blue, deep reds, and an indescribable purple that wasn't even in the crayon box.

When I got to North Carolina, I was on a mission to have a beach hydrangea looking as good as those I remembered in Jersey. In 2005, the lot was a barren .19 acre patch of sand. I set about planting like a lunatic, and I situated the small shrub immediately outside the window of my sewing room so I could watch it bloom.

Biased, I know, I think it is just perfect, and look forward to it every year...

In other news, while the Atlantic Hurricane Season doesn't officially start until June 1, there is a little something something brewing to the southeast. Right now the prediction is for some heavy rain and gale wind later this week...only time will tell!

Saturday Miscellaneous

Volunteer ?millet sprouted under the finch feeder.

Red Hot Pokers in bloom.

I hesitate to let the cat out of the bag on this one....but these gloves are the best thing since sliced bread....thin enough to grab the smallest weeds, ventilated cloth tops make them not sweaty or uncomfortable, and they are neoprene so any latex allergic nurses out there won't have anaphylaxis! Unlike their higher priced cousins in swanky garden catalogues and specialty shops, these easy to find bright orange hand savers found by GoddessSupport at the orange big box store for a ridiculously low price.

Clematis reaching for the sky...

Plant ghetto waiting to be planted...

Found this on an oak branch...not part of the oak...what the heck is it?

Before I came upon this slug, I never knew that their antennae were retractable....how weird is that!

I have yet to identify this in the moth book...but I am pretty sure it will be "bird poop" moth...because at first glance, that is exactly what it looked like.

And finally...the Black Racer Snake that GoddessSupport found IN OUR KITCHEN!!!!!! ew.

Country living...yikes!

Wet Macro Monday

It's good when work days coincide with rainy days....no gardening going on here today!
Just wet, wet and more wet...

Wet dill....
OK...not very wet, but is this not the coolest plant!?!

Wet pansy...

Wet onion and corn...

Wet cabbage...

Wet lettuce...

Wet swiss chard...

Wet Day lily... (just started blooming this weekend)

Wet Snapdragon...

Sunday Gardening

Lot's of yard jobs to take care of today.... GoddessSupport felled a large dead tree yesterday and today the fun part was over and the work began! Working diligently with a somewhat undermotivated DS15, one half of the tree became firewood and the branches etc became a big bonfire in the yard.... an unfortunate casualty of the dead tree, because of the odd way the two trunks grew the one side ended up falling on one of our apple trees. :(

The cabbage butterflies were out again in force...

I was weeding in the raised beds and noticed this plumey growth on the fennel....

We harvested another bowlful of salad...arugala, swiss chard, boston and romaine lettuce, cook's radishes, some basil, and brocolli made an awesome side for dinner.

The Clematis has grown over the top of the trellis and another flower will pop this week....I am still thrilled that it lived and seems to be thriving.

Lot's of these birds all over this area with our close proximity to water and marshy places...

I did some inventory today of what's currently planted in the veggie garden.... am going to make a page for that later in the week... that's all for today!

Gardening in NC

Some time in at one of my favorite garden centers, Nature's Harmony, in the fishing village of Wanchese. I picked up a few things....a pineapple sage with gorgeous acid green leaves, a few red Pentas to attract the hummers.

They had some beautiful roses that were hard to resist...though I have to admit being totally intimidated by roses!

 This Iris was unspeakably gorgeous in person...I wish the picture did it justice....

 This morning a good friend and I attended the Coastal Gardening Festival held by the Dare County Master Gardeners at the Arboretum in Kill Devil Hills. Lots of wonderful plants and really cool crafts. I got an Angel Trumpet, and 2 Beauty berry...and a few other things that were extremely reasonably priced and all rooted and started by the Gardeners... I have my fingers crossed that my raffle ticket is a winner for the rotating compost bin!!

 I am interesting in increasing the natives in my gardens....some research to be done about this.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, it was too darn hot and muggy, for a gardener with some sinus issues to be out there. I did lay in some edging stones this evening after the sun went past the treeline...put in the pineapple sage and some zinnia's. The forecast is cooler tomorrow, so it will be back to crazy garden girl bright and early!