The spider who has been living for several weeks in her zig-zag stitched web by the front steps has laid her eggs.
Here is the egg sack attached to a post of the porch.
It seems a precarious place to leave spider babies-to-be.
Some of the roses and flowers in the border are reviving in the cooler weather.
The dew lingers long each morning.
These filmy sparkling webs cling to the French marigolds [which have turned into lusty shrubs] and are spread over the flat-clipped box which edges the porch.
Spice pinks, gilly flowers, if I may call them that--grown from seed.
I want to call this roadside charmer Ironweed, but it may be a form of aster.
I need a wildflower book geared to Kentucky.
[Ironweed checks out in on-line photos. "Vernonia"--probably the variety "gigantea." It does seem to be related to the larger family "asteraceae."]
The honeysuckle which bloomed so sweetly at the end of May is again perfuming the area around the clothesline.
Definitely New England Asters.
The dauntless zinnias continue to attrack butterflies and insects.
This creature refused to unfold its wings for a better view.
This swallowtail was quite kind enough to display its colors, after I galumphed round about the flower border several times in pursuit.
I wonder if particular colors attract certain species.
Thistle in bloom,
I dead-headed some of the zinnias last week and threw the spent flowers on the ground. [Yes, I know, very untidy.]
The rain swept several heads into the edge of the next vegetable plot.
J. asked this morning what was growing there in these little clumps--how quickly the seeds sprouted in the moist heat. I don't suppose there will be time for them to reach flowering stage before cold weather.
The spicebush swallowtail looks very dramatic on a hot pink zinnia.
There was a wonderful cool breeze all morning.
The tomatoes were not quite ripe enough to start canning, so I put on my rubber boots and wandered around the yard and along the verge of the road, enjoying everything which is in bloom.
It was as perfect an August morning as anyone could wish.
Leopard's Bane? It grows in the rank grass at the roadside--coarse, shaggy clumps.
Again. I need a proper wild flower guide.
This is the foliage of the above plant.
There's a feel of autumn about these photos, summer's last hurrah is with you now by the looks of it. I laughed when I read about you 'galumphing around' after a butterfly trying to get a good photo, I often do the same thing. It's hard to get close enough and at the right angle without them spotting you and flying off just as you are all set to take the photo:)
ReplyDeleteWonderful photographs. The pink be-dewed rose is as perfect a picture as you can get I'm sure . The New England Asters look like what we call in England, Michaelmas Daisies. Michaelmas is on September 29th so Wikipedia tells us. I knew it was in September but couldn't remember the date.
ReplyDeletebeautiful photographs- that spider is amazing, isnt she?
ReplyDeleteLeanne x
What a lovely wander round your plot MM. I really loved the stand-back photo of the house and garden - it looks so neat and tidy now. You have some spectacular butterflies - the largest ones we have in our garden are the Red Admirals. This week we have had a pair of Holly Blues though, and as the Blues are my favourite butterflies, it's good to see them here, especially after the two awful summers we had which decimated the butterfly population generally.
ReplyDeleteLoved your pictures, lucky you on the edge of Autumn, we're still summer, though this week it's lower 90's instead of mid to upper.
ReplyDeleteYour farm looks so peaceful!