Such A Cool Day In The Garden!

After many days of hot weather, this morning the weather was in the cool sixties. For me this is perfect weather for working in the garden. After breakfast Ed and I headed out to play in the garden. I decided to work on the bed in front of the house. There was plenty of deadheading to do, and a lot of weeds to pull. Now is a great time to get them before all their seeds have a chance to drop. I was enjoying the breeze . The aroma of the French tarragon, garden sage and lemon verbena filled the air as I brushed against plants while I worked.

I spent a very long time watching first two and than a single hummingbird visiting the scarlet runner beans. This one hummer seems so friendly. It actually comes and hovers right in front of me and seems to linger in the area where I work, even though there are many flowers in other places in the garden. Talk about cool!

Ed called me over to take a picture of this beautiful caterpillar. It's a Hickory tussock moth caterpillar. Ed was right not to pick it up. Sensitive persons get rashes from handling this one. He may be bristly, but I think he's gorgeous and more than a little cool.

A brief glimpse of a bald eagle soaring low overhead made the morning cooler yet.







Cool during the day here in September can mean pretty cold at night. With the temperature forecast in the low forties, some of the more tender plants are headed into the basement for the night. My sweet bays, ginger, curry leaf plant, patchouli and a lemon grass have been moved inside. Tomorrow during the day they will be carried back outside. Now the in and out gang begins. More plants will be potted and join the group as the cold weather threatens. It takes a cool day like this one to give us a little reminder to get ready for what's surely to come.

What Is This Crud?

Now that I have more plants in the house, they have a bit more of my attention. I was tending the tuberose pot and looked up to see this on the underneath side of a bay leaf. Off the leaf came, but when I got it in the sunshine and noticed the gold flecks, I couldn't help wondering what this crud is. I suppose it doesn't matter. The surgery is complete. The leaf is in the compost, but I'll be watching for more trouble just the same!

A Spider in a Bay Tree

It's a long winter for the bay trees in the house. I'm always glad to get them outside for the summer. Being extremely sensitive to the cold they are the last plants to go outside. Bay trees do so much better out in the sunlight.

A small yellow spider has taken up residence in one of them. The underside of the spider is what you can see. You can just barely see the superfine threads of her web. It shows up best where there are dark spaces between the stones in the wall. That tiny white dot on the right is something caught in the web. She is from all appearances, planning to have a large family there. Bays are troubled with scale and maybe the spiders will be a good thing. I haven't got the heart to evict the family anyway. I will keep an eye on them. If I need a bay leaf, I'll get it from the other tree.

Since we have been having rain, the bluebirds are hanging around the garden. It's always a thrill to see them, perching on posts in the garden or sitting on the roof of the house. A garden is a peaceful place, but if you watch there's always a lot going on.