Pretty in Pink

The the past few years it has seemed like the flowers in the garden have been predominantly orange, with some complementary purple thrown in.

This year, the theme is pink, pink and more pink.

For some reason known only to the flowers themselves, it was only the pink blooms from last year that self-seeded.

This pink Cosmos is at least four foot tall and it's really put on a nice show.  The only problem has been that it's in front of the shorter Salvia Greggi and Pineapple Sage and blocking them  (and any hummingbirds that may be enjoying from view!

These pink Cleomes are about 4 feet tall as well.  They are more or less past their best now (this photo was taken a week or so ago).  I'm collecting seeds so I can start some seedlings and put them where I want them next year.  

I think this giant Violet Queen zinnia is more of a fuchsia pink than violet, but I love it anyway.  I had thrown several seeds directly into the island bed, but this was the only one that came up.  I've got more seeds, but probably too late to try and get them started now.  My bad.

In other news, I had been lamenting the total lack of Monarch butterflies in the garden so far this year, but in the past week or so there has been at least one female, laying eggs and enjoying some nectar.

I've only found two first instar caterpillars so far (click on the photo below to see the larger version and you may see one), but I'm sure there are more eggs around, ready to hatch.

I've set up the mesh  cage on the patio again and have ordered some more water picks to help me keep my milkweed clippings fresh.  I'm ready for the Monarch Nursery to get underway!

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - Easter Edition

I hope everyone is enjoying this lovely Easter weekend.  It also happens to be the 15th of the month, so I'm linking my post up with Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

I'm enjoying a long weekend, so I've been spending quite a bit of time puttering around in the garden. And of course I had the camera with me.

I think this first photo is my favorite.  It includes the Cleome that re-seeded in the island bed, along with the pineapple sage and I think some Salvia Greggi is visible in this one too.  I also see a Cosmos in there.  If you look closely, you can also see some garden porn -- a pair of love bugs, ubiquitous at this time of year, managed to photo bomb the photo.  Can you see them? (Click to see a larger version)

The penstemons have settled in very well. I'd like to get some more colors of this - perhaps a white, if it comes in white, to round out my collection.

OK - I have two mysteries in this photo.  First, I always seem to have a hard time identifying butterflies.  I'd appreciate it anyone could let me know which this is.

Also, I'm not sure if the plant he's visiting is Salvia sylvestris May Night, or if it's Angelonia. 

I know I had several purple Angelonias growing last year, as a complement to all the orange Profusion Zinnias I had everywhere.  But I did also plant some May Night Salvia for the same reason, but it didn't do very well (I actually planted it first, but ended up supplementing with the Angelonias as the May Knight didn't do well).  However, this lovely plant came up  in two places this spring and I'm really not sure which it is.  

That's it for my Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post.  Now I'm off to see what's growing in other people's gardens.  You can visit them too, by clicking on the link.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

The End of Summer and Even More Monarchs

Ooops - it's been a month since my last post! There really hasn't been a lot going on to share with you.  The Profusion Zinnias, which overflowed the island beds all summer are starting to go to seed and look a bit ragged, but the Gulf Fritillaries and other butterflies are still enjoying them.

Ditto the Cleome.  I collected lots of seeds from each of them, so I'll have plenty to share next spring :-)

The Salvia splendens took up the western half of the island bed and is still going strong.That's the first time I've had much success with salvia.  This variety has small red flowers that I have seen the occasional hummingbird taking a sip at.  I've never had luck with the blue/purple varieties though.

The Cosmos, which was just feathery foliage all summer is suddenly a mass of pink flowers.  I must never have paid attention to when it bloomed before.  I thought it was a summer bloomer, but it's here now and looks lovely.

But the most exciting thing going on in the garden at the moment is the number of Monarch caterpillars and chrysalides I have in the Big Cube  cage I purchased back at the beginning of the summer.

I've got a total of 16 in the cage - more than I had back in August! They have been eating me out of house and home but luckily I have some healthy stands of milkweed in the garden that I can take cuttings from.  I just have to make sure there aren't any cats already there when selecting cuttings!

I'm going to be going in to hospital for surgery on October 11th, so I hope I shall see some of them eclose before I go in.  Then my husband is going to take over the Monarch husbandry after that.

At least they should all have pupated by then, so he won't have to pick milkweed for them.  He'll just have to check daily for new butterflies and release them from the cage when they are ready.

I'm linking my post up with Camera Critters. Please take a few minutes to visit and see what other critters stories and photos people are sharing.
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Back from vacation - How has our garden grown?

Eric and I were on vacation for two weeks, taking a road trip across Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, up to Montana and Wyoming where we visited the very moving Battlefield at the Little Bighorn, Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons.

While we were away we were hearing about the torrential rains and flooding our area was receiving. I could only imagine what the garden looked like, especially as we have some serious drainage issues  since the house next to us was built.

But as it happened, things were looking pretty good. Okay so of course the grass and the weeds needed taking in hand, but generally speaking, if one doesn't look too closely in between the flowers, the effect is quite pleasing :-)

One of our island beds has a volunteer Vitex bush growing in it.  I was going to take it out, as we had a River Birch growing there.  But the River Birch never really thrived and ended up getting snapped in two in a windstorm, so I decided to let it stay.  I will just be more vigilant about keeping it pruned back to shrub form (if I can) rather than letting it grow tree sized like I did with the one behind it.

The daylilies are blooming beautifully.  I had meant to divide them but never got around to it.  I think late winter is the time to divide and replant them, so I will put some in the other island bed and I will probably have some to share.

The little Sam Houston Peach has some nice sized fruit on it this year, but unfortunately many of the fruits got damaged in the hail storm we had before we went on vacation.  They may still be edible, but just blemished.

 The other island bed had millions of zinnia seedlings which I thinned out before we went away. I also planted some native milkweed and some liatris,which are coming up, and some coneflowers, which didn't do anything. Last year's tropical milkweed, which I had trimmed back, is looking good, and the New Gold Lantana are flowering.  I also noticed lots of little Cleome seedlings coming up around the waterfall.

By the bird bath against the back wall, the Angel Trumpet that I keep giving up on has once again returned. I doubt I will see flowers on it, but I like the different texture of the big leaves against the holly.  In the containers, last year's Gaura and lantana have come back and some violas are still going from spring time.  There are self seeded zinnias in this area too and I've thinned them out and kept them where I want them for some color.

This has been a basic overview to catch up after our vacation.  I'll be back on my usual blogging schedule now and hope to take time to visit my blogging friends and see how your gardens are growing.



Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.