When I was a child, I used to love catching "fairies" as they drifted through the air and then setting them free, with a breath of air and my best wishes for a good flight.
Back then, of course, the "fairies" were dandelion seeds, with their fluffy white parachutes.
I mentioned a week or so ago that the milkweed in my border were loaded down with seedpods.
I've been watching them, knowing that any day now they would start opening up and the fluffy little "fairies" would catch the breeze and distribute the seeds.
I caught some today, as I noticed some of the seed pods were open. I put them in a paper bag and shook them gently and when I opened the bag, the "fairies" drifted out and away on the breeze, happy to leave their burden of seeds for me to look after till planting time.
I'll probably be collecting seeds for several days, judging from the amount of seed pods! If anyone would like any, please let me know.
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
Got an email from my dad on the other side of the Atlantic this week, pointing out that it had been two weeks since I updated my blog and that my readership (presumably he meant him) was waiting.
So, dad, wait no more! It's officially fall and while we're still officially in a drought (I heard it would take 30 inches of rain to get us out of drought conditions) it did get a bit cooler last weekend. Rather than the 100 + temperatures we were having, there were a few days when the temp didn't get over 90. I spent last Saturday afternoon lounging in the hammock - BLISS!!
The hummingbirds have gone south, although there may still be a straggler or two. I've left a feeder out, plus there are still lots of blooms in the garden for them, such as the Dallas Red Lantana above and the Tropical Milkweed below.
Speaking of the milkweed -- this photo and the one below were taken about 10 days ago. Looking around the garden as the sun went down today, I see they are all loaded down with seedpods. I'm going to collect some seed tomorrow, if they haven't all blown away on the wind. So if anyone would like some free milkweed seeds, let me know and I'll save you some.
With all the milkweed around, I was rather surprised to see this Monarch on the Southern Wax Myrtle.
I'm keeping a look out on the Milkweed for caterpillars, but haven't seen any yet.
Oh My Sweet Potato!
In the bed beside the garage, the sweet potato vines have really taken over this summer! Believe it or not, there are some holly bushes and Indian Hawthorn in this bed. You can't really see them for all the sweet potato vine. Only the dark one has blooms, apparently. I noticed the same thing last year.
Our pine tree behind the house doesn't look so great in this photo, but it looks better in person. And believe me it looks a whole lot better than the hundreds of trees around town that have succumbed to the drought.
It's very depressing driving along and seeing whole forests of dead trees. I'm surprised the county aren't being more proactive about taking some of them down, especially considering the devastating fire in Bastrop County was said to have been started by a tree falling on a power line.
We can only hope that disaster isn't repeated. And we can pray for rain.
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
