Down To A Precious Few

Beautiful days spent in the garden are dwindling down to a precious few.  Mornings are cold and frosty.  Darkness comes earlier every single night,  But the hours in the middle of the day today were wonderful.  This year we have no shortage of big taller-than-me  weeds going to seed.  I get a great deal of personal satisfaction clearing a garden bed of weeds to rescue the plants intended to be there.  When I came in for a late lunch there was a huge pile of pulled weeds, a bed where you could see the soil, seeds in my hair dirt under my nails in spite of wearing gloves and pebbles in my garden shoes. It was fantastic!  After lunch I got the camera and went in search of flowers still blooming in the garden.  Flowers in the garden are also down to a precious few.  My Caprilands Sedum still had a couple of pink blossoms and the entire plant is turning pink from the cold.  It will die back to the ground and be return in the Spring.

My Butterfly bushes are all planted next to stone walls.  Insects are slow to leave the remaining flowers making a close-up photo a snap!

I am curious about this one.  I'm sure I have never seen this bug before.  It is big over an inch long.  It reminds me of ants, but it has a very long thin body  and antenna that makes me think of horns.  It certainly casts a big fat shadow.

This beautiful moss covered stone was under the hazelnut.  Now that the plants are dying back great stones become more noticeable.  I predict that this stone will be traveling very soon to a prominent spot in the wildflower garden down by the road.  Ed will see to that!