"When autumn comes is a fool's guess"

"To what can our life on earth be likened?
To a flock of geese,
alighting on the snow.
Sometimes leaving a trace of their passage."
-  Su Shi

It naturally thrives in dry woodlands, fields, 

woodland edges, and rocky, limestone, or clay soils—

all of which are common in Middle Tennessee's landscape.

Above - Maybe Ocola Skipper Butterfly (long-winged skipper)

Below - Leaf Cutter Bee

The Pure Golden Green Sweat Bee, Augochlora pura 

displays metallic tones that are usually bright green,

 but sometimes coppery or golden, 

and even a deep dark green that looks almost blue.

It is an extremely beautiful bee that poses no threat to gardeners.

Augochlora makes her nests under the loose bark of old fallen trees. 

She builds cells made of mud and debris 

found under the bark that she glues together. 

She works throughout the days gathering pollen from her favorite flowers, 

carrying it back to her log home on her hind legs. 

In her nest, she mixes the pollen with some nectar and her own saliva. 

Scientists think that her saliva has antiseptic qualities 

that help keep this food fresh and add extra protection to the eggs. 

Once she has gathered enough food for one larva she lays an egg 

inside the cell and seals it. Her nests are lined 

with an impermeable thin membrane 

that she produces from glands on her body. 

The nests need all this protection because there are marauding ants 

and many other little predators that would promptly devour her babies.

Seeds

Bright yellow flowers in center are unpollinated.

The brown ones are pollinated and have no more nectar or pollen

Two outside petals have curled up and died, turning a dark purple.

When all petals have curled up the seeds begin to mature.

Striped Hoverfly (Syrphidae)

 Pearl Crescent Butterfly (Phyciodes tharos)

Common Eastern Bumblebee

This one was about twice as large

as the ones I usually see.

Common checkered-skipper Butterfly, Pyrgus communis

Larvae feed on the leaves of plants in the mallow family.

The hairs are brown or black with some white on the female,

and bluish-gray with some white on the male.

Maybe Ochlodes sylvanoides, the woodland skipper

Not the best of photos, but it shows the white patch on the 

male Carpenter Bee's face which is quite large on this one bee.

A number of Carpenter Bees were on the Pink Turtlehead plants, 

robbing (as many call it) the last of the nectar 

by slitting a hole at the base of the flowers 

and eating the nectar for long periods of time. 

Swamp Sunflower buds just beginning to open.

Beautyberry 

October 8, 2026

Dear Friends,

Splendid day today! 

Slept for four hours, took a potty break, then stared at the ceiling listening to gentle music that would lull me back to sleep.

As you may guess, I stared at that ceiling for two hours but was gifted with a visit from Charlotte asking for a massage.  Cats can often be so demanding, but she was full of sweet nothings, so I accommodated her wishes.

If you are not a person who has been chosen by a cat seeking free lodging, you may fail to understand the dramatics of a cat who will fight almost to the death to be nowhere near the cat carrier, let alone in it. 

One must do that deep breathing, in through the nose and out through the mouth, relax, baby, relax.  Pretend it is just another day in the neighborhood, and it is breakfast as usual.  If those words cat carrier pops into your head, your cat will know before you do what the intended fate is.  You’re so cooked if you’ve reached this point.

Nothing humbles a person more that crawling on all fours, sweeping a broom under the couch to chase your little baby into the hallway where all doors will be closed except the room you intend to trap him in, although Vic forgot to open one of the doors, so each time Austin ran down the hallway, it was back out in a flash and under the couch again.

I suggested to Vic that a deep breath to regain his senses, and perhaps taking a moment to open my writing room door might be more rewarding.  Easy peasy…well, I lied a bit there, but Austin finally surrendered, seeing it was a futile cause trying to stay free.  Poor baby.

When the doctor handles him, he becomes jelly and flattens out like a big pancake on the table, does his stress purring, and is blessed with so many words telling him he is the perfect cat, and we don’t know what’s wrong with Mommy and Daddy.  Surely, they exaggerate a bit.

Anyway…It’s not always easy talking about the garden these days. Vic’s losing control of it, but nothing’s new there.  September was just as hot as August, so no time out on the deck, and the water bill quadrupled. October has given us mornings with crisp fresh air caressing one’s face.  Feels so good, but afternoons still reach the nineties.  Without the shade the Ash Tree once produced, the back yard looks ragged and worn out in this unrelenting heat.

I’m not sure if the dogwood died, or if it just went dormant early. Next spring will tell the complete story. It breaks my heart when I walk in the garden, so I do it less than more.  I really don’t feel like the title gardener fits me anymore.  Today’s my sister’s birthday, and it makes me miss her even more.  I seem to have no one to confide in…bummer! What an utterly lonely feeling.  I must fight to not let it depress me.

It’s afternoon already, and breakfast is just a dream that will not come to pass.  I picked some butter lettuce for lunch to make a salad with hard cooked eggs and avocado.  The seed catalog said this butter lettuce would survive hot weather, and they are correct.  It doesn’t get shaded, and will become limp in the afternoons, but in the evening or early mornings it is quite nice.  I just let it go to seed and let the seeds plant themselves.  It has been surviving this way for three years, giving me two seasons of lettuce a year. Vegetables can have as pretty of flowers as anything else in the garden.

I am doing a little better, knock on wood, and my family doctor has been working with me to get the doses right of the three medications that cause extreme drowsiness for me.  I melt into a very deep sleep that would take a fire alarm at my ear to wake me up, so I have been a bit worried.

To you, my precious readers, who have stuck with me through thick and thin: thank you for letting me into your lives. You are a real blessing to me, and you give my life so much purpose. I could hug you to pieces! 

😊

Yvonne

💖