There is always a bit of magic in a September garden.

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As a gardener, it is always in my best interest to take stalk of the natives that actually love the environment my garden gifts them, so they may thrive and prosper and produce next years’ youngsters, whether plants or invertebrates.

It’s officially fall, but we all know here, in this section of the Earth, that’s just a number on the calendar.  As for me, fall began when the nights all of a sudden became downright chilly, while the days are still roll-up-your-sleeve weather.  That was two weeks ago.

Autumn always entangles itself with summer, a slow waltz of wondering begins for us humans, as to when leaves will actually begin to fall. 

Of course, a clever person has already noticed a few leaves falling  here and there for quite some time before they descend in larger numbers to interlock with each other, layer upon layer, as winter homes for invertebrates, a blanket of warmth on the earth, and fertilizer in next years spring.  What a wonderful cycle of life nature does on her own without much of our cooperation and plenty of our hinderance. 

Blue-stemmed Goldenrod does well here in the back garden.  A demure plant that is agreeable with its surroundings, kind to the other plants that just want to be friends.  Much of the time, it pops up in its own space of bare ground, somewhat of a loner.

Wild petunias can hold their ground with aggressive plants, and bloom most of the summer in sunny patches of poor soil.  Did you know, the seeds literally explode from the plant, traveling upwards of 10 feet when fully ripe?

They get along well with their neighbors and are easy to control if you have the urge.  I never do.  Carpenter bees and hummingbirds adore them, a good food source when it’s sparse during the hot summer months.

We ordered the Blue-stemmed Goldenrod as I wish to keep the already established groups intact, but the petunias becoming overcome by shade will be dug up and transplanted to the old ash tree garden area.

It’s a slow process gathering all the bits and pieces after the ash tree was sawed into oblivion, limb by limb, showering the ground in sawdust.  Wind has blown and rain has pushed clumps of the retched sawdust into every nook and cranny of plants and rocks.

Whatever leaf mulch there was on the ground from the year before has disappeared into the garbage bin along with the sawdust and a thin coating of dirt, therefore, a thin layer of leaf compost and topsoil will be put on the ground, and probably a light coating of shredded wood mulch on top of that to keep it in place during the weather to come, and before the great falling of colorful leaves.

We can only hope all this work will be enough to keep all plants around the tree stump healthy.  Time will tell, and I have lots of it, (sigh)…

Vic’s been cleaning the overload of grass from the flower beds to make room for shrubs.  It’s a job that was best done last March, so he has his work cut out for himself.  Vic’s favorite mantra has always been, why do it today, if it can be done tomorrow.  More power to you, sweetie.  Per his request, the above photo is after he worked for hours in the weed patch... silly guy.

It is my feeling that I have lost that bit of magic from my writings that made them special.  I’ve changed, I guess… more like the shell of whom I once was, or maybe just struggling to not become obsolete when I am obsolete.  This is my third post, and I think I’ll just let it be, saving it from the recycle bin drama of the other two.

I never apologize when I dump an onslaught of photos upon you, and I’m going to drop a hefty load again, some worthy and some not quite there, but it’s all I have, so lucky you 😊.  I do appreciate every one of you, my readers.  Without you I would just be talking to myself, but then again, I am a good listener.

Winterberry berries turning red 

and Clematis viorna growing through it with a seedhead.

Winterthur Viburnum berries 

turning from cream to pink to blue.

Red Viburnum leaves, Swamp Mallow leaves, and Oak leaf

nestled with Joe Pye Weed seed heads.

Newly planted Blue Eyed Grass in some of the pots.

Liatris Aspera

Clasping Aster, Symphyotrichum patens

With Common Eastern Bumblebee

Polistes annularis, a species of the Red Paper Wasp

on Swamp Mallow plant

These photos appeared fuzzed

because they were taken throw a screened window.

Female American Redstart, Setophaga ruticilla

First one I've ever seen.

A cardinal, then a sparrow took baths 

while the Redstart looked interested for quite a long time 

before finally hopping in.  The water was a bit deep, 

so I think eventually it decided the level was low enough for a dip.

As you can really see in the last photo, 

what appears to be it's down feathers 

( I could be wrong on the feather type), 

were really fluffed out.

Female Cardinal

Looks like a Tulip Poplar Tree leaf.

The tree actually isn't a Poplar, but a member of the Magnolia family.  

Its leaves will quiver in the wind much like Poplar leaves do, 

but their shape is not the same..

Female American Redstart playing with the paraschute cords,

with much better success than the cardinals had.

Butterflyweed seedpod, Aclepias tuberosa

open with seeds exposed.

American Dogwood Tree, Cornus florida with its red berries.

You can see some of the flower nubs that weren't pollinated.

White American Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana v. lactea

Pink Turtlehead with a bumblebee.

Large Carpenter Bee, Xylocopa

Carpenter Bees have learned, or maybe it's instinct, 

to cut a hole in the side of the flower near the base to collect nectar.  

The flower isn't pollinated when this happens, 

but some bees are too big to fit inside the flower.

These flowers have a lot of ripening seedheads in fall,

so it doesn't seem to be a problem, 

as they are also visited by Bumblebees and other bees.

I think this is a Bumble Bee taking nectar from a hole near base of flower.

When the female flower pistil matures, the lips relax a bit,

and I have seen Green Bees and 

what looks like a type of Long Horn Bee also enter the flowers.

American Dogwood Leaf

Young Gray Squirrel

 

Austin squirrel Watching

Almost stepped on this little creature navigating the carpet.

Jumping Spider

Exited glass on deck railing and disappeared over the edge.

It dropped by a thread to the bottom in about one tenth of a second,

and disappeared through the decking boards.

Female Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus

With a female cardinal.

Disappearing Act

Blue-stemmed Goldenrod, Solidago caesia

On sunny days it is covered in tiny bees 

with a few small flies and Bumblebees.

Yellow is a difficul flower color for me to do close ups.

Sometimes I luck out, this time not.

Spicebush Swallowtail, Papilio troilus

Mud-puddling

The butterfly uses its proboscis, 

a long, straw-like mouthpart, 

to absorb essential nutrients from the mud.

These nutrients often include salts, amino acids, and minerals like sodium, 

which are crucial for various biological processes.

You can see this butterfly 

looks like it has been through hell to get here.

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My Corner of the World

September ~ when the heater is turned on before midnight and the air conditioner is turned on before noon..

Opening the sliding glass door to the deck and the garden beyond, the music of a few katydids’ give’s purpose to my empty mind this early morning.  I have missed the rush hour, and the lull in traffic gives me pause for thought.

I’m happy in parts , but unhappy with the whole of living.  Selfish seems to trump goodness quite often, and we all know good intentions are no intentions at all.  Such a disappointment; gives me reason to love my two cats even more.  I have yet to meet a cat who has lied to me.

I’ve noticed my “About Me” part of my blog introduction still lists my interests as Cats, Dogs, Wildlife Gardening, Scrapbooking, Artist, Cooking, Hiking, Art, Museums, Theater, Music, Book Stores.  Nowadays they are mostly unpracticed interests due to different health issues.

Cats are an active interest, as I have two, but if I’m not present at a veterinarian appointment, my husband will give me a different version of what the cat docter said every time I ask.  Whaaaaaaaaat? 

I am the head gardener of my wildlife garden with one volunteer who is a self-declared hater of gardening… ha-ha-ha.  Let’s move on.

Cooking – well, yes if my prep guy preps and leaves me only with the cooking to do.  Sometimes I feel as if I’ve descended into hell after I am finished, but hey, it’s always worth the try.

Nothing else happens if I have to stand more than a few minutes or bend my neck for any length of time.  That pretty much wipes everything else off the list unless I have a bent elbow to hang onto.  Sometimes that bent elbow walks off without me :'(

My wildlife garden only came about when the person who promised to teach me how to shoot effectively in competition matches reneged, leaving me high and dry.

Wildlife gardening was the only choice I thought I could teach myself and pull it off on my own.  It was riddled with unrealistic expectations and arguments, and a hardscape of whatever I could find at construction sites.

Was it worth it?

I would like to say yes, but it feels like no one cares.  A lack of compassion for all living organisms seems to be a flaw in our evolution of smarts.

So here I sit, empty as I began, in my writing room, trying to think of something more worthwhile to write.

Horace's Duskywing Butterfly, Erynnis horatius

on Joe Pye Weed going to seed.

About three feet away this looked like a tiny dark oblong mass.

Since I did not disturb the top bug from eating the lower insect, 

I can only speculate that the top insect is a shield bug nymph.

sucking the innards from something 

that looks a little like a spotted cucumber Beetle.

Whatever... 

Clematis viorna

Flower Fly - Syrphid Fly - Hover Fly

Clasping Aster

First aster to bloom here in early fall.

Leaf base is attached to the stem without having a stalk or peduncle,

so it appears to clasp the stem.

Large Carpenter Bee, male, with its white face patch;

on pink turtlehead plant.

The sun was still shining but the wind smelled of rain: he loved that promise of wetness mixed with the autumn reek of leaves and molder, ripe apples and completed earth. The Equinox always roused him and gave him a sense of fulfillment at the same time: he felt as tired and contented as the ground and yet as wild with storm as the changing sky. 

~Frances Frost, Uncle Snowball, 1940

Polistes fuscatus, Northern Paper Wasp, I think.  

They mimic so many different looks.

It will drink from the side of birdbath as the one above is doing,

but will also land on the water and float while drinking. 

Drosophila melanogaster, Fruit Fly

Carex plantaginea, Seersucker Sedge edging pathway.

Wild Petunia, Ruellia humilis

A nice groundcover when happy.

Oncopeltus fasciatus, known as the large milkweed bug

Milkweed nymphs go through a process called molting, where they shed their exoskeleton to grow larger. The time between each molt is called an instar.  

On Butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa, seed pod which they feed on.

They reach adult stage after four instars, and live for about a month.

That time of year, you know, when the summer, beginning to sadden,
Full-mooned and silver-misted, glides from the heart of September,
Mourned by disconsolate crickets, and iterant grasshoppers, crying
All the still nights long, from the ripened abundance of gardens;
Then, ere the boughs of the maples are mantled with earliest autumn,
But the wind of autumn breathes from the orchards at nightfall,
Full of winy perfume and mystical yearning and languor;
And in the noonday woods you hear the foraging squirrels,
And the long, crashing fall of the half-eaten nut from the tree-top;
When the robins are mute, and the yellow-birds, haunting the thistles,
Cheep, and twitter, and flit through the dusty lanes and the loppings,
When the pheasant booms from your stealthy foot in the cornfield,
And the wild-pigeons feed, few and shy, in the scoke-berry bushes;
When the weary land lies hushed, like a seer in a vision,
And your life seems but the dream of a dream which you cannot remember...

~William Dean Howells

Hairy Sunflower,  Helianthus hirsutus

Snout Butterfly

Eastern Gray Squirrel on 

Carpinus caroliniana, American Hornbeam

Liatris aspera, Tall Blazing Star

Below is one that stands out from the rest

with its dark red.

The stem can get 6' tall, but in my containers they grow horizontally

sometimes, curling and snaking about.

Large Carpenter Bee

Often called gentle giants.

I had a pair of them fly into me today when they changed direction,

and they just went on about business as usual.

Northern Mockingbird

Mother and Fledging

Austin

Always thinking of you ...

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Saturday's Critters