Monday, August 10, 2009

"Dirty hands, iced tea, garden fragrances

thick in the air and a blanket of color before me, who could ask for more?"
~ Bev Adams, Mountain Gardening



A Cabbage White sunning on the leaf of a pink mallow. A good day to be a butterfly;)



A Tawny Emperor nectars on a purple coneflower.



Kwanso still blooming at the bend of the drive, welcoming visitors with a frothy display of vivid color.



Globe thistle just beginning to show its misty blue color.





An Eastern Comma, displaying the tiny white mark about half way up his hind wing. Nature designed the Commas to look like brown leaves. I wish he would have opened his wings to show the amazing angles and curves. Butterflies tend to be uncooperative. They never believe me when I promise to make them the next Elle Macpherson of butterfly models;)


David just beginning to create his snow capped mountain effect in my garden. Old, faithful David, I wouldn't dream of gardening without him.



August, with its clouds of scented blooms,
August, with its great stacks of giant clouds,
August, with corn plants standing like rows of soldiers,
August, with watermelons, full and heavy, dozing in the sun
~ Mary Naylor



Oriental lily Mona Lisa.



34 comments:

Sherri said...

Your flowers are absolutely gorgeous!! When I saw the pictures of the globe thistle, you certainly brought back memories of our farm. I had 2 huge plants of the Globe Thistle and the birds loved them! Thanks for the memories!

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

Don't you just love globe thistle?! I also love the little nodule thingies at the tip of butterfly antenna! So cute. Thanks for spreading a smile.

Dog_geek said...

Beautiful pictures! I can never get good butterfly pics - I'm way too slow, and they are way too uncooperative!

Dawn said...

I have that same orange day lily and everyone has the single, nice to know it's name! Beautiful butterflies, much like the super models with doing what they want!

Dog_geek said...

By the way, Marnie, I keep meaning to tell you - we are in the Mid-Atlantic area, not Texas. Thanks for your concern in the comment you left on my blog last week, but we aren't having drought trouble for a change - rather, we are practically drowning this year! I guess we must be getting all of our rain plus Texas's rain.

tina said...

Your pictures are so pretty Marnie. The butterflies are all happy to live near your garden!

Jennifer AKA keewee said...

Lovely summer pictures. Thank you for sharing.

Jann said...

That globe thistle is neat! Love seeing the lilies as always, too, and the butterflies. Very nice post!

Randy said...

Oooooh, I wish we still had lilies! So pretty.--Randy

Susie said...

I planted globe thistle this year but it just sat there and looked at me. Hopefully it will perform next year. Your David phlox really is pretty. Nice photos Marnie.

Morning Glories in Round Rock said...

Your Globe Thistle is amazing! So striking. You have a lot going on in your garden--all good. Love the freckle-faced beauty Mona Lisa.

JC said...

Love your photos of the bee and flutterbyes

F Cameron said...

A wonderful assortment of butterflies and blooms!

I have echinops 'Ritro' and love it with agastache.

Your blooms of 'David' are so inspiring. I have one plant, started this year, but have to fight off the rabbits, so he's only a foot high from the "pinching back" done by the critters. I want drifts of the snow like your gardens, so I'll make the effort!

Cameron

ShySongbird said...

Such beautiful photos, your garden must be a real picture! I really love Mallows and have some myself this year after a few years without them. The Globe Thistle is lovely too, I think I will have to find room for it especially as it is so attractive to insects.

Gail said...

Wonderful quotes Marnie and then you top them off with delicious photos! I don't think I've seen david looking better anywhere else this summer! The Globe Thistles would look wonderful here...but I can't get them to stick around! Such is the vagaries of plants! gail

Rose said...

Such a lovely post, Marnie! I'm just about ready to take a nap--pooped out from helping youngest Daughter pack for a big move--and these images are so soothing, I think I might dream of them while asleep:) The butterflies have started to visit here, too, the past week or so. I took about a dozen photos of a black swallowtail on the verbena and salvia this morning, but it wouldn't stop moving! You did a great job in capturing these winged creatures. "David" has been on my plant wish list for several years; I don't know why I still have planted any!

Cheryl said...

Hi Marnie....I love the echinops. I have the white version, I think the blue is lovely. I may add that next year.
The lily Mona Lisa is beautiful, I love the fragrance.

The butterflies are beautiful....i am glad they are arriving in your gardens. It would not be summer without the butterflies......

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Such wonderful flowers and the butterflies are like the cherry on top of the sundae.

BeadedTail said...

Such pretty flowers and love the ones with the butterflies and bee! And thanks to you I wasn't afraid to pick up some daisies and roses yesterday from a clearance rack, planted them and will try to bring them back to life. Already three roses have bloomed!

Chloe m said...

Hi Marnie,
The globe thistles are the best purple ever! I have waited two years for mine to bloom. I started them from seed and I think this might be year! I hope mine someday look as great as yours.
Your butterflies look gorgeous and happy to be flitting about on your blooming flowers.
Rosey

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for sharing your butterflies, I love them! I've never had a comma here, or a tawny emperor, so I'm quite jealous!

troutbirder said...

Thanks Marnie for the cool take on August. Suffering under very high humidity the last few days, I needed that...

Bill S. said...

Great pictures of flowers and butterflies. Right now we are in the middle of butterfly migration and we are getting beautiful scenes from them.

Kathleen said...

I'm glad somebody is seeing butterflies Marnie. They are still very scarce here. Your pictures are beautiful. I like the thought of dirty hands & iced tea too. I planted one globe thistle in early summer and I think its never gotten enough sun for its liking. Sitting there still about six inches high. Your photos inspire me to move it into a better position. That oriental lily is beautiful, I love the soft pink shade.
On the subject of lilies, the 'black beauty' I blogged about is only 3' tall but was just planted this May. I believe the tags said it would reach a height of 36 to 48". However Frances left me a comment that hers were 7' tall. Mine is planted in partial shade ~ that might keep it smaller??

Darla said...

Beautiful photos! Love the David.

sweetbay said...

Beautiful insect pictures Marnie! I must add Echinops to the garden. I can't imagine gardening without 'David' either. He's a star and a keeper!

walk2write said...

David was faithful to me in Illinois, and I didn't even have to court him. A previous homeowner planted him, and he was the only reason I kept my cool when I thought about all of the other not-so-nice things that owner left behind. You're so patient with these butterflies, Marnie! I have not had much luck trying to capture the few visiting my garden.

A Wild Thing said...

OK...you forced me to do it...I'm gonna go weed the garden...a stroll through your posies is very inspirational indeed...thanks, I needed that!

sharon

Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog said...

I love the quotes and all the butterfly photos. I've been doing research on butterflies recently and came across a great website that shows which butterflies are documented found in each county (parish here) in every state: thebutterflysite.com. Lots of good info there (although somewhat difficult to do an ID as you'd have to look at a lot of photos).

Wanda..... said...

Thank you for your visit...your blog is "Perfect", what else can I say!

Pat said...

Lovely post.
You really should do your own poetry...you write well and if it's anything like your photography it would be great!!

Balisha said...

That orange lily is stunning. Like orange sherbert.

sweetbay said...

Marnie you asked about the Downy Skullcap.... It's been blooming for a month now, and how long it blooms depends on how much moisture it gets... It's quite drought resistant and tough but like a lot of plants appreciates a rich soil. I pretty much think of it as a summer bloomer. Scutellaria integrifolia is a spring bloomer but will repeat until frost. S. ovata is a good one too.

oldcrow61 said...

Beautiful photos Marnie.