Tuesday 12 June 2012

good bug, bad bug

The garden was incredibly fragrant this past weekend and just abuzz with birds and bugs. I think the normal succession of blooming has been compressed this year and so we had the Preston and Korean lilacs in full bloom, as was the golden mock orange. The bearded irises were on their way out but the old shrub roses, especially Mme. Hardy, were just coming out along with the white peonies. It seems to me that, in other years, these plants would be blooming over the course of three or even four weeks
Bumblebees working the lupins

Tiger swallowtail at the mock orange
Monarch at the Preston lilac
Monarchs at the golden ninebark
It was a pollen feast for Monarch and Tiger Swallowtail butterfliesand bumble and honey bees, dragonflies were busy (but not enough for my liking) catching mosquitoes and deerflies on the fly and, unfortunately, the potato bugs were hard at it on the potatoes and tomatoes. The house wrens have built a nest in the new bird house, and we thought we saw a Northern oriole. There were swallows, catbirds and hummingbirds galore.
Potato bugs much too busy for my taste
And the resulting eggs from their efforts
Old tuna can with the bottom removed, intended to thwart the cutworms
Monarch larva on the parsley
They always talk about how Monarchs lay their eggs on Milkweed, which we have in abundance. So it's interesting to find this larva on the parsley.

The paradox of creating a garden is that one works so hard over so many years to create an oasis of beauty and productivity and then there seems to little time to sit back and take joy in all the other creatures that find you have actually been kind of successful.


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