Butterflies and Spiders....oh my!

Welcome.  Today at the Empty Nest Gardens...

the naked ladies (Lycoris Squamigera) have just started blooming

The Knockout roses are blooming again

The perennial Ruella loves the heat.

Portulaca also loves the heat.  This is a good plant for me to have in a hanging container.  I only water it 3 times a week and it doesn't seem to mind.

I believe this is a Fritillary butterfly and it loves the zinnias.

Wow, look what a little water soluble fertilizer does for a pot of Wave Petunias.

Mrs. Weaver is back.  She is an orb weaver and she has built her web on my bay window where I can watch her every move from inside the house. 

 

Thank you for visiting Empty Nest Gardens and Quilts. 

Until next time,

Weeds Happen

I am ashamed to show you this bed full of weeds in front of the shed but I wanted to show the progress  I made today. 

This morning I decided to tackle this bed with it's over grown native rose bush and lots of crabgrass.  The mulch had decomposed enabling the weeds to grow wildly.

These are the tools I chose to attack this bed, my grandfathers hoe, loppers, hand pruners, hand spade, thorn gloves, and my large green bag that holds lots and lots of pulled weeds and trimmings.  I started at 9:15am while the temperature was in the 80's and the bed was in the shade.

After an hour I had made this much progress.  The rose bush has to go.  It came up volunteer, has no flowers to speak of and has horrific thorns.  I spent most of my time cutting it back.  Time for a Diet Pepsi Vanilla and a dip in the pool to cool off. 

3 hours after I started I am finished.  I cut the rose back as far as I could.  It is growing inside a tomato cage around an old satellite dish pole.  The rose will have to be dug out but that takes a lot of energy, way too much for a hot day like today.   By now it is 93 degrees and full scorching sun.  Time for another dip in the pool. 

I just love the varigated ginger on the shed porch.  Now I have space to plant something fun....oh my...I have a good reason to go to the garden center.  That will be a fall project.  

Remember, weeds happen to all of us.  Don't get discouraged if they are taking over your garden because they do that this time of the year. 

Enjoy your summer, weeds and all.

Until next time,

A break in the rain...finally

Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.  Wow, the Oklahoma City area has literally been flooded with rain the last 8 days.  This causes me to retreat inside and do things other than yard work.  It also causes the weeds to start dominating the yard.  Tomorrow it should be a dry, hot day so weeds...watch out...you are going down!

The summer phlox is a little droopy from the weight of the rain.

A few drops on the papaya that is near the pond.

The pickerel weed in the pond is loving the rain.

Melampodium thives in the summer heat.

The crape myrtles have started to bloom.  They also love the heat.

I hope you have enjoyed this little stroll through the my yard.

Until next time,

Cactus and Succulents

Today I wanted to share my cactus and succulent collection with you.  This summer my Pickle cactus has bloomed 4 times.  It has a brilliant orange bloom that only lasts 1 day.

The Pickle cactus is on bottom and a varigated prickly pear cactus on top, both from Houston

Green prickly pear cactus from Houston

This is a pass along plant that I received from a lady at work.  It is an African carrion (Stapelia Grandiflora).  It will have a starfish like bloom and you had better stay away because it smells horrible. 

I have 2 barrel cactus from Arizona, 2 agave, aloe vera, 2 Thanksgiving cactus and several other cacti and succulents. 

There are several areas on the acreage where native prickly pear cactus is growing.  It blooms for me every year. 

I bought these at an estate sale. The one on the right is a Zebra Haworthia.  I believe the one on the left is an aloe.

Until next time,

Browsing through the Garden

Come on in and take a walk through my garden.  The periwinkles are looking good.  I fertilize them with water soluble fertilizer every 2 weeks. 

I just love purple coneflowers.

This is Rubylite Rose Calla Lily.  I bought it at Lowes for $5 three years ago.  The label says it is only hardy to 30 degrees but it comes back each year so I consider it a perennial. 

The castor beans are getting tall, around 7 foot tall so far.  It is still amazing to me that they can go from a seed to 7 feet tall in 8 weeks. 

The leaves are huge and they look like the dark green leaves have been sprayed with a purplish-reddish glaze.  The red "flowers" on the top are the seed pods.  I let them dry and then collect seed for next years plants. 

White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moth - this little guy was difficult to photograph.  I couldn't get the camera to focus on the moth but I was able to get 3 good pictures out of about 40.

This moth is about the size of a hummingbird.  It loves the lavendar. 

One last purple coneflower.  Actually this picture and blogger would not cooperate.  It wanted to be last!!

Until next time,

Wordless Wednesday - Daylilies