A welcome visitor

First caterpillar (Queen) I've seen in a long time on the milkweed. And a few aphids keeping him company.

More summer blooms and a near miss

From the top: Tropicana canna, thryallis 'rain of gold', a small but happy rock rose, geraniums enjoying a new part shade spot under the bird feeder, and pride of barbados looking very hot in the midday sun.

Not sure what happened here, but these look suspiciously like cardinal feathers. Can't imagine what a cardinal would be doing that close to my back door, but I hope he or she is okay....

High summer

Rock rose

Mountain laurel seeds

Tropicana canna

Zinnia seedlings

Russian sage

Standing cypress

The last of the water at Walnut Creek on this morning's walk

A morning of purple and pollinators

I tend to think of hot colored blooms in mid-summer (flame acanthus, firespike, tithonia's velvety orange, pride of barbados), but when I looked out this morning, my front garden was dominated by cool purple flowers. Most striking of all is the sage bush (did we have a drop in barometric pressure last night? they're in full bloom all over town).

Below: a bee in the sage; another bee mid-flight choosing between sage and chaste tree blooms, another favorite with pollinators; and a moth on the wild Mexican petunias.



Eggplant flower; russian sage; and blackie sweet potato vine.



Close-up of chaste tree flowers; more sage bush; and wildflowers (ironweed?) on this morning's walk at Walnut Creek.