Welcome July
I am borrowing this idea from a few other blogs I read: Welcoming July with pictures. Here are a few shots of my small green space at this point in the year:
As the first bloom fades, several other coneflowers are ready to take its place! I can’t wait to see them.
The caterpillars feasted; lots of chewed-off parsley stalks. That’s ok, though, since I want lots of butterflies around.
The only remaining caterpillar! I think these creatures are so beautiful; these are black swallowtail caterpillars.
Purslane in the evening. I love this plant; I love how the leaves sort of fold up upon itself in the afternoon.
Red geranium with another flowering bush behind, whose name I forget…
One of my succulents, with tiny new rosettes along the stem.
I should put a photo of our veggie micro-garden on our blog — every year I end up packing the plants too closely, and this year is no exception. The southern cucumber vine (one of two) is actively trying to throttle the southern tomato plant (one of three).
No toad sightings this year (I found a tiny one a couple of years ago), but we had a tiny, bright-green mantis exploring that same cucumber vine last night.
Oh, and I’m just finishing rehabbing the weed-choked area underneath the beautiful backyard oak tree into something nicer to look at, with proper mulch, a few hostas, and a couple of boxwoods. Nothing fancy, but it’s a whole lot better than it used to be.