Butterfly Blogging

Since it's too hot to do anything outdoors, I thought I'd share some of my butterfly pictures. I love taking nature photos. Butterflies are some of the more challenging pics for an amateur like me, because they hate to pose.

First up, Monarchs. They are by far the easiest to photograph. For one thing, they're everywhere here in Florida. And they're here year round. Monarchs in Florida are unique in that they don't migrate. I've found that they also tend to stay still longer than many other butterflies.

The first one was at the Brevard Zoo's Butterflies over Brevard, in Spring 2005. The second at a local nursery's butterfly house. The last one, which we called Wilma, was found in our backyard after a hurricane. The extreme northern tip of Hurricane Wilma came through our area in October 2005. That afternoon, while outside checking for damage, we noticed the butterfly that had just emerged from its chrysalis. We felt Wilma was a most appropriate name.

Next up are two photos of a Gulf Fritillary at Blackpoint Wildlife drive at the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge.

This next one looks like a Red-banded Hairstreak. I followed it around the yard for quite a while, and never could convince it to pose beautifully on a flower. I finally took what I could get, which was the side of the air conditioner unit.

And finally, two pretty ones from a summer trip to Tennessee. We were in the Cumberland Gap area for my husband's family reunion.

The first one, I believe, is an Aphrodite Fritillary. No guarantees though. It was taken near the Cumberland Gap Cave.

And lastly, a Pipevine Swallowtail, taken at a little place called Bear Creek.

I hope someone enjoyed these butterfly beauties.

No Signs Of Life Outside.

I stepped out briefly this morning to get the paper, then hurried back in to the comfort of air conditioning. Not a creature was stirring, not even a bird or squirrel, or neighborhood cat. No humans out and about either. The only sound was that of the cicadas singing. The only other sign of animal life was an occasional lizard darting by, probably in search of water.

Temperatures have consistently been in the upper 90's, with heat indices at 102 or higher. No rain in more than a week. I managed to get out from 7pm to 8 pm last night to do a bit of weeding. I pulled out the dead sunflower, and put the seeds in the bird feeder. The birds have been looking for water every day, so I once again filled up the birdbath. I really need to get the Seminole pumpkin seeds in the ground, but can't bring myself to get out there long enough to prepare the plot.

August in Florida is not for the faint of heart.

Freeze Warning!

Brrr! The coldest temperatures since 2003 are expected tonight. Our area isn't expecting a hard freeze, but we are bracing for a freeze. The sensitive plants are covered, potted plants brought in.

I put sheets over the vegetable garden, and just hope it will be okay. Why, oh why did I plant tomatoes? Why didn't I wait until next month? Oh, well. There's nothing to do now but hope.

Fall Plantings

The oppressive heat is over, and our best growing time is here. This is when Floridians can grow vegetables and not worry about the heat killing them. Sure, there's a chance a frost will come, but for most winter vegetables that's not a problem.

I still have an abundant supply of cayenne peppers, basil, and rosemary. The basil is in pots, while the other two are in the square foot plot. A few weeks ago, I added broccoli, bibb and red leaf lettuce, spinach, green onions, and tomatoes.

I also bought a stevia plant, and I fully admit it was the novelty that made me do it. I have no idea what to do with it, so I guess Google will have to help me figure it out.

Bloom Watch

It's always a pleasure watching a flower go from bud to bloom. I watched this hibiscus on the northwest corner of the house for 3 days.


Day 1

Day 2


Day 3

Flower walk

I decided to take a walk around the yard, and look at flowers, both those intentionally planted, and those who chose to reside here for one reason or another.

Oh Petunia, you're such a pretty little enemy. So now what do I do? Destroy you, even though the butterflies like you? Work to keep you in check? Why can't you just behave?

Snapdragons shouldn't be blooming, or so they tell me. I hear they don't like our Florida summers, but this one is holding on just fine.


We planted Pentas to attract hummingbirds. I haven't seen any, but the butterflies visit several times a day.

I love Spiderwort. It surprises us all around the lawn. Even dear husband, who thinks anything you didn't plant yourself is a weed, doesn't like to mow them down.

A hibiscus flower that hasn't opened yet? No. Turk's Cap. So named because that's what is supposedly looks like. These are in the far northwest corner of our yard.

And finally our Crepe Myrtle tree is blooming. These are all over our neighborhood, as trees of various sizes, and seeing them is always a treat.

Square Foot Fool

After many years of unsuccessful vegetable gardening, I decided to try Square Foot Gardening.




It's recommended that the smallest beginner garden should be 4x4, but I thought even that would be a bit much for me. So I have 3x3. My sweet husband built a raised bed for me, and designed a "critter cover" to keep the squirrels and rabbits out. Although I planted in all 9 squares, not everything took, so I currently have 3 open squares. I'm not sure what I'll put in them. This time of year in Florida is not really the best for planting. Right now I have cayenne peppers, bush beans, chives, basil, rosemary, and cherry tomatoes. The beans don't look too healthy, and I'm not sure they'll survive now that the wet season is here. The basil and chives were struggling in little pots in the kitchen, so I moved them outside in the hope that they'll be happier there.

Look! We have one ripe pepper. What can you do with one pepper? I guess I'll need to search out some recipes.




And here are the not so healthy beans. It appears to have attempted flowering, but the flowers dropped before any beans formed.
Ah! Some tomatoes. Not many will be ripe at once, so I'll have to get creative and try to pretend there's enough for all three of us. We'll be having very small side salads.
















This looks a little sad in the picture, but it really does look like a decent little garden in person.





*Note: I have no idea how to load these pictures. No matter what I do, they all load above the text, then I have to try and move them to where I want them. They look a little haphazard don't they? Kind of like my garden at times.

Flowers First

I suppose the first post should have some pictures of pretty flowers. I was going to start with my square foot vegetable garden, but hey, that's not pretty. So here we go.


Here is the milkweed in our butterfly garden. We have seen many Monarchs lay eggs on the milkweed, and we've seen many Monarch caterpillars. We've only seen one butterfly emerge though.



This azalea is no longer. I'm sorry, but azaleas in a garden are just not that great to me. They grow all leggy and you can't prune them after late June. They only give you a few weeks of flowers, and you spend the rest of the year keeping them trimmed. Azaleas look much better in the wild. I did try to transplant it to the far back area of the yard, but it didn't make it.

By far my favorite in this group is the sunflower. This is an accidental sunflower so I don't know if it counts as part of my garden. These grow all the time, from birdseed that drops around our birdfeeders.



Ah, Sun-flower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done:

Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow
Arise from the their graves, and aspire
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

~By WILLIAM BLAKE~

Moving my homeschool blog

I've moved my homeschool blog over to here http://floridamom.homeschooljournal.net/

I'm in the process of turning this into my gardening blog.