Late August Images

Other than some rain on Thursday, it has been very dry here.  Some plants die or dry up, some push out a few flowers, and others thrive when summer is hot.

Some of the morning glories are purple and some are pink.  The vines are crossing the Virginia creeper vines, which have produced the blue berries.  Once we get cooler weather the Virginia creeper turns bright red on the fence.

Coreopsis Moonbeam

I just have a few turtlehead flowers.  I think they like more water than I give them.

The russian sage is attracting a lot of pollinators these days.  This small brown moth or butterfly spent hours at this plant today, just flying from one flower to the next.  Unfortunately I was not able to identify it.  It was hard to get close enough for a good picture, but fun trying.

Soldier beetles on parsley.  There are many soldier beetles around the garden.  Here and on the thyme they do not seem to be pollinating anything, but they also seem to everywhere that the bees go for nectar.  From the little I read they are in the same family as fireflies, but do not produce light.  They are a predator of aphids, which I have seen quite a few of in the vicinity.

Today I noticed a couple more spears of broccoli have grown.  It’s not a big harvest, but a healthy one!

The winter garden I planted at the beginning of August is coming along well.  The beets are the one thing that I have not been able to grow.  I might plant some more pak choi, tatsoi, or lettuce if the weather cools down again soon.

We have a so many crab apples this year.  The birds don’t really start eating them until February or March, so the tree should be pretty this winter.

Bird sighting:  Yesterday we saw a yellow parrot or parakeet in our yard.  Did it escape?  The sparrows were chasing it.