Look who decided to rest on a nasturtium leaf
What an unusual sight - this plump little monarch caterpillar was resting on the leaf of a small nasturtium plant growing next to the base of one of the larger milkweed pots. It must have crawled out of one of the milkweed pots, down to the ground and up the nasturtium plant, which is about three inches high. It might have gone there to morph into its current instar which looks like the third or fourth. I plucked the leaf with its stem and tucked it with its caterpillar passe
Anna's hummingbird and the Abutilon shrub
There is a section of the garden beds on the patio where the plants are specifically for our local hummingbirds. The Abutilon "Red Tiger", or "Red Tiger" Flowering Maple is one of them. I planted it last year in the spring as a seedling, and it is now over six feet tall, and constantly in bloom. It seems to be in the perfect spot with well-draining soil, and in part shade. The Anna's hummingbirds visit the blossoms throughout the day, for the nectar and any little insects tha
Yellow-faced bumble bee moving pollen
Last weekend while I was checking out the native plants, something suddenly plopped down in front of me. It was this Yellow-Faced Bumble Bee Bombus vosnesenskii. It was cleaning pollen off its face and moving the pollen to its baskets on its legs. I was so happy to see the bee, because after having so many Yellow-Faced Bumble Bees visiting the garden all summer, I haven't seen any since earlier this month. At first it didn't seem like it was moving, so I was afraid all was no
Climbing Carolina Aster in bloom
And just like clockwork, the Climbing Carolina Aster Ampelaster carolinianus is starting to bloom again. This nonnative perennial vine starts to bloom in late October through December or January, providing pollen and nectar for bees and butterflies. For much of the year the vine can look dead, full of dried brown branches and leaves. But don't prune it! I waited until late summer and then cut only the very dried branches that were completely dead. The plant gradually sprouts
Hermit thrush in the birdbath
Well look who is having a great time in the birdbath, a hermit thrush. It may be the same bird I saw in the morning in our neighbor's camellia tree. I was on the patio this afternoon, looking through a box of dried wildflowers and started to hear soft splashes of water. And there it was, enjoying the fresh filtered water in the clean bath. It's hard to explain the feeling of pure joy I have, when I see birds thoroughly enjoying the little birdbath. These birds show up in our
Still releasing monarchs
What a lovely female monarch. We released her a couple of days ago a few hours after she emerged from her chrysalis. So far we've released 67 monarchs, with an almost equal amount of females and males. Currently one caterpillar is creating its silk pad from the ceiling of one of the mesh cages. And there are six chrysalides remaining. Hopefully they all are healthy. We had to euthanize two chryaslides last week when they started to look strange. One developed strange black li
As long as there is nectar
Even though a lot of plants are going dormant, we still have bees and butterfly visitors in the garden every day. As long as there are nectar and pollen sources they will come. The indigo spires salvia is still producing blossoms on its spires. Currently it is one of two salvia plants in the front yard that are still blooming. Alas, the other three salvia plants didn't get enough water for the past couple of weeks, so the blossoms dried up. But the plants will revive and will
Natural sculptures
This weekend we purchased several pumpkins to carve for Halloween. And then I saw these. Doesn't this squash look just like the profile of a swan? I think it's so lovely with the striking contrast of bright yellow and dark green. And this squash looks like the head of a bird, complete with eyeball and curved beak. All the lumps on it make it even more interesting.
Well that didn't take long
When we went to Annies Annuals last weekend to buy "a few plants", I couldn't resist a Rosa chinensis 'Mutabilis' China Rose plant. I try to stick with mostly native plants, but this lovely rose plant produces throughout the year blossoms that shift in color from orange to yellow to a magenta red. It is very drought tolerant and attracts bees and butterflies for its pollen. When we purchased the plant there were several buds on it. I transplanted the plant to a larger pot in
Gardening is always a learning process
I planted the Ribes sanguineum 'King Edward VII' as a 4" small seedling in early Spring of last year. As a California native, it would have been a great complement in the front yard to the Ray Hartman ceanothus on the opposite side of the almost all native garden area. The front yard, which faces west, and is on a gentle slope, gets no shade from the hot sun. Although this strain of ribes should have some shade, it does tolerate clay soil and is drought tolerant. It seemed t
