Meyer Lemons...can't wait for these guys to get ripe...I hear they are fantastic...and they grow out here pretty well...I might replant it in the yard instead of the whiskey barrel...all in good time...

A spring morning..the yard gets morning sun and some sun/shade in the afternoon...the plants are really thriving here and with all the Spring rain, its been really good for establishing the new plants...as it gets hotter, we have to stop planting and just maintain the garden...so I think we are pretty much stocked for this year...

From another angle, in the foreground are various milkweed plants that are hosts for the monarchs...to the right is the Tall verbena which is a real hit with the butterflies...in the whiskey barrel is the lime tree, waiting for giant swallowtails...there's a climbing rose next to the mailbox, waiting for an arch to grow around...we'll find one eventually...we have to be careful walking on the stepping stones because the caterpillars actually walk back and forth and we don't wanna squish them...

May 3 2007...at one point I had 8 of these guys, but we're down to 4 in the pic..they completely stripped this plant by the end of the day and all crawled away to find places to turn to chrysalis...One of the 8 was killed, possibly by a spider or wasp...one is shown below, already turned...another is on the right, getting ready to turn...it was fun watching these guys cruise all over the yard today...

See the green bits on the ground? that's caterpillar poo...they were dropping it as fast as they were eating...in one end, out the other...nature in action...

This is one of the 8, he climbed onto the gregg's mist 2 days ago and is really too small (in my uneducated opinion) to turn yet, but he seemed determined...this shot was taken in the morning, and by the afternoon, he had gone into chrysalis...(I have pics, on my other camera, will post them too)...I thought he was gonna die from not eating for two days, but he did just fine...and now we know where he is, so we can watch him hatch...cool...

Can you see the two chrysalis in this photo? the one on the left is the dude up above who hadn't gone down into the J position just yet...and the dude in the right is the dude above who had...I've been enjoying seeing these guys every day....I can see their wings now, so I think we'll have new butterflies pretty soon...I hope I'm able to see when they first emerge...

Swallowtail caterpillars on the bronze fennel...I've been looking out for these for DAYS and then boom - there they are...I found two more teeny weenie ones as well...nothing on the dill yet ,but if these guys get going too much, I'll move one or both to the dill so they don't strip the fennel...

this guy is new to the yard...i've never seen him before...i'll need to look him up...he's not very big...we have also had an elusive Common Buckeye that I hope returns so I can get some pics of him as well...i like this shot, there's lots of color from the flowers...

these two were having a heated discussion as to who got to stay on the flower and who had to move...its surprising how aggressive some butterflies can be...we watched a Red Admiral taken on (and beat) a Hackberry butterfly by the bananas the other day...take no prisoners...the Painted Lady seen here decided to relocate for the time being...sometimes size does make a difference...

This was the first of the 8 to escape and turn...I spotted him over the weekend, so who knows how much longer he has to cook, but I can already see some wings in there, so he might hatch in the next 5 days....he's hanging under the edge of our porch...

our zinnia field, this is another hot spot for various butterflies...so far, we've seen Red Admirals, Hackberry, Grey Hairstreaks, Eastern Swallowtails, Giant Swallowtails, Monarchs, Yellow sulphurs, White Cabbages and lots of teeny black butterflies...right now I have 3 bananas in the zinnias and the red admirals are going crazy (along w/ loads of teeny flies that aren't house flies..they are shiny gold...kinda pretty).

For some height and added color, I built two hanging baskets with some butterfly plants and others just for color...

 

Our part of town is known to have many different hummingbirds...so far I've seen this ruby throated and a buff body, which I have pics of, but on another memory stick...anyway, this guy flew from one plant to another, so I tried to get him at both of them...

 

 

The sage plant is shown in the landscape pics above...its just in front of the porch, but partially blocked by other plants...so I snapped as fast as I could....frankly i had no idea this plant would be a hummingbird plant, but its very certain that they know more than I do...

 

Here is the painted bunting that visited the other day...we haven't seen him since this day...the pics are fuzzy because I was inside and there is a window screen in between us...but you can see the colors of him...I hope he comes back one day...

Here we have unloaded a lot of the goods...you can see bags of mulch, whiskey barrels, lemon and lime trees, the blue morning glory, the wafer ash and our assistant ready to work...Lets get to it!

We bought these at the grocery and Brian drilled the drain holes...he said it smells just like Jack Daniels (there are JD stamps on the bottom, these barrels are authentic...I wonder if my lemons will be infused with a whiskey odor? heh...

I don't think ya'll ever saw the rocking chairs I got for my birthday...well, its for both of us to enjoy...we haven't stained these yet, but we will...its nice sitting on the porch...You can see my trellis in the background, against the white canopy...I haven't found a good place for those just yet...

This is across the street, in the 'grove' area of trees...wild wisteria is growing all over the trees...

And this is a shot from the other direction, as you drive toward the house...the Meyer's lemon is there on the right..I wanted the big one, so that's what came home with us...two roses are on the right, two on the porch...eventually we'll find another arch and plant a climber next to the mailbox...

This is the smallest tree I've ever seen...its about 5 inches tall and itty bitty...its a wafer ash and a host plant for butterflies...they stay pretty small and we're using the tomato cage so I don't accidentally step on it...Brian's been wanting this tree for ages, and he didn't want to spend hundreds on a larger version...so we will grow this one...maybe it'll be 10 inches tall next year...HA!

This is our backyard brickyard...As Brian was digging to plant the rose and morning glories on Sunday morning, he found this massive concrete pillar and a whole flat of bricks...all underground, mind you...who knows how long they've been there or for what purpose...its always something...the only saving grace is out here the ground is so much softer, so he was able to get this stuff out in less than an hour..it would taken a lot longer and many more tools at the Austin house...anyone need any bricks?

Our neighbors horse...he kept walking behind the tree, so this was the best shot I could get of him...Lady isn't sure what he's all about...she's curious and frightened at the same time...

And finally I've filled the other pot! I had a Perle d'Orr rose in the red pot and it died just after we moved here...its been empty since August..I wanted to fill it with a small rose, and found this Hermosa..its a miniature, its a constant bloomer, its got small pink blooms and it seems happy...a nice balance for the Valentine rose on the left...And the infamous green door...

A bud from the Hermosa...its the little bud you see in the photo on the right...

A closeup of the new rose...None of these flowers was in bloom when I bought it Sat morning..I liked the shape of the plant and it had all the blooms ready to pop, so I figured it'd be a good strong healthy one...

The purple morning glory..it shows 'blue' here, but its really much more darker purple...with the fuchsia stripes...gorgeous!!

I love morning glories, they are just pretty weeds for the most part...I hope these guys climb all over the fence and cover it with color...the spent flowers are the pink ones...this plant was purchased locally and I almost missed it...someone had picked it up and was considering it, even tho I had already planned to buy it...but I hadn't picked it up and claimed it...and there they are poking around in it...ack! but they left it behind and I grabbed it before missing out...

I wore my clogs to plant all day, and the dirt/compost/mulch seeped in between the holes in my shoes...dig the UT buttons and the football! crazy...

my dirty feet and funky toe nails...I like little surprises and these crack me up...