Monday, July 1, 2013

My Garden Notebook - July 2013



The mild spring that blessed us with cool temperatures has eased into the first days of summer. Although we have had some hot days, many of the days are cooler than normal.  At this time of year, I am usually watering often and running out of water in the rain barrels. In June we had a lot of rain. I don't see any major fungal issues yet on the plants. They seem to thrive in this weather. Still, I wonder what summer will bring. With the spring bestowing a blessing of tolerable weather, it will be interesting indeed to see what kind of summer we have.


stats

Gardening Zone: 7a
June High Temperature: 106 degrees F
June Low Temperature: 55 degrees F
Precipitation: 7.52 inches



wildlife

I see so many dragonflies in the garden this year.


Dragonfly in Butterfly Garden

This Black Swallowtail had just come out of the chrysalis a few moments earlier. It is one I sheltered in the butterfly house until this moment.


Black Swallowtail Butterfly

These Fritillary butterflies were playfully chasing each other from one flower to another.


Great Spangled Fritillary Butterflies

I heard the call of the Pileated Woodpecker and looked up.

Pileated Woodpecker

I found this Luna Moth in the branches of a Colorado Blue Spruce tree.


Luna Moth (in sepia)

There are many who come to the bird feeder, but one morning there was a new visitor.


Eastern Box Turtle

what's blooming, sprouting

I planted some bee balm last fall in various places in the Butterfly Garden aka the Hummingbird Garden aka the perennial bed. It is a winner, rising tall and flowering beautifully.


Pink Supreme Bee Balm - Monarda didyma

Shasta daisies are popping up everywhere and always make me smile.


Shasta Daisy - Chrysanthemum maximum

This is the first year that this clematis made a bold display because it had finally reached a size to spread out and shine.


Clematis, Jackmanii

One of my favorite flowers is echinacea, and I have been adding a few each year to the perennial beds. They never disappoint.


Echinacea purpurea - Flame Thrower

Another favorite flower of mine is gladioli. In the past week, the spikes have begun to rise above the other perennials and open into a rainbow of colors.


Gladiolus - Lucifer

Some blooms offer a simple complexity that matches no other.


Oak Leaf Hydrangea, Alice - Hydrangea quercifolia


The roses have been especially prolific this year, what with the milder temperatures and frequent rain.


Knockout Rose, Pink

in the vegetable garden

The vegetable garden is filled with squash, cucumbers, red cabbage, Swiss chard, asparagus, tomatoes, bell peppers, peas, and some lettuce. I planted about 10 cucumber plants, and they are providing us with lots to harvest.


Cucumber, Supremo Hybrid

I have one raspberry bush that has spread, and it has been quite prolific with all of this rain.


Raspberry, Encore Red - Rubus

The peas are nearing the end of the harvest, and I will most likely plant okra in that bed.


Pea, Avalanche

The peppers are still small, but they are fruiting.


Bell Pepper, California Wonder


In the past week, a few tomatoes have begun to ripen. And I am quite anxious to have a taste.

Tomato, Beefmaster

























I usually do not have cabbage in the garden this far into the year, but with the mild temperatures I left it in to grow larger. I will be harvesting some soon.


Red cabbage, Cairo

completed chores

spread milky spore powder
sowed green beans
trimmed Carolina jessamine vines
sowed moonflower seeds
spread cow manure on lawn

chores for July

pull out peas
sow okra seeds
deadhead flowers
check under squash and cucumber leaves for squash bugs and eggs and remove
prune tomato plants
remove and destroy poison ivy plants from cottage garden


What's in your Garden Notebook for July?


I have begun a composting series with the following posts:

Composting Part I - All About Compost
Composting Part II - Advantages and Disadvantages of Compost Bins and Piles

Later this month, I will post the next article in the series, How to Make Perfect Compost.


I am joining in the following:


Helen of The Patient Gardener hosts End of Month View. This monthly meme is where garden bloggers share their garden views for the end of the month.

Daphne of Daphne's Dandelions hosts Harvest Monday. This weekly meme offers garden bloggers the chance to share their harvest.

Lisa of Macro Monday 2 hosts Macro Monday. This weekly meme is for sharing all of those lovely macros from the garden.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
© copyright 2013 Michelle A. Potter

82 comments:

  1. Loved all your photos and must say I'm envious of all your visitors. Rain every other day has not provided opportunities for butterflies here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are often amazed at all the visitors but are very grateful.

      Delete
  2. What an amazing variety of everything you have in your garden, so many different visitors. Love your black swallowtail, that is really smart. You have such a variety of fruit and veg, they are all looking really good. The hot weather that we are having at the moment has brought all our butterflies out, I love seeing them flitting about the garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Watching the butterflies is something I never tire of. They add another dimension to the garden.

      Delete
  3. I'll echo Lavender Cottage -- wonderful to see all the butterflies!! They've mostly fluttered right by our garden this year. I've started to see just a few in recent days. But all the bee-friendly plants have at least attracted lots of bumbles and smaller bees to the garden, so that's a Happy Development.

    Your veggies and flowers look lush and wonderful. Congrats!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The rain has added that lushness this summer...something we do not often experience. We usually have periods of drought.

      Delete
  4. Beautiful flowers and vegetables! I love how you put the chore list on your blog, a good way to be organized. We have a piliated woodpecker on our property too, we hear him all the time but I have only spotted him once and at quite a distance. For all their noise, they are pretty shy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Pileated woodpeckers are always a treat to see. I, too, wish I could see them more clearly.

      Delete
  5. Michelle, lovely veges! Tomatoes and raspberries ripen very fast. I love your shots of insects, I know it's difficult: they fly away quickly.
    Have a nice week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am so glad you stopped by, Nadezda. And the tomatoes are ripening faster than we can eat them.

      Delete
  6. Wonderful post. I so envy your butterflies, they have been scarce this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have seen some butterflies, but the numbers were greater last year. Perhaps there are more to come.

      Delete
  7. Such a beautiful butterflies you have around there. All your photos are lovely but the insects, like the dragonfly are really gorgeous. You have some delicious vegetables.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With all of this rain, the garden is doing very well. I like not having to water it as often.

      Delete
  8. Every month you share with us a series of photos that give a unique view of the garden, completely different from the month before, and the same month the year before! I think it's great that you are able to capture these views, they will make a wonderful collection and you can see your garden change year after year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I, too, like seeing how things change from year to year. It makes things very interesting.

      Delete
  9. What a wonderful post!
    Very sophisticated pictures on your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great series of photos and a great garden.

    ReplyDelete
  11. As always, your close-up photos take my breath away!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks...it is my pleasure to capture the beauty.

      Delete
  12. Fun to see someone else also growing vegetables. My garden is behind yours in some but I do have a Cocozelle squash set on, and cucumbers making little tiny fruits so far. I also have a lot of beans planted, some are blooming. I planted some Burgundy Okra but okra likes more heat than it can get here so I don't know if I can expect much. My tomatoes are only blooming at this point. Great photos!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love vegetable gardening and reaping the rewards. They always taste so delicious.

      Delete
  13. Chciałabym , żeby zółw przyszedł do mojego ogrodu, ale to nie jest możliwe niestety. Piekny jest Twój ogród kwiatowy i warzywny. Pozdrawiam.
    I want the turtle came to my garden, but this is not possible, unfortunately. Beautiful is your flower garden and a vegetable. Yours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just saw another box turtle this morning. It is nice to see them around this year.

      Delete
  14. Wow, your photos are just amazing. Beautiful flowers, veggies and butterflies. Cool sighting of the Pileated. Wonderful photos, have a happy week!

    ReplyDelete
  15. exquisite macros... every one!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am drooling over each picture! The monochrome shots are superb!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Everything looks wonderful...really lovely pics. I especially like the turtle and of course the butterflies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The turtle was having a nice lunch that day on the seeds on the ground around the bird feeder.

      Delete
  18. Your garden always makes me happy! I smile as I scroll down looking at all your beautiful blooms. You seem to have many more butterflies than I have spotted in my garden this year. This has been the quietest year for them to date. We are certainly not short on blooms with all the rain. Love the box turtle. What a special surprise!

    ReplyDelete
  19. What beautiful photos. I see that we like a lot of the same things. Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment. It is a pleasure to meet you.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your photography is phenomenal! Such magical captures!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Beautiful macro shots, Michelle. Your compost grows some beauties.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Absolutely gorgeous! Your photos make gardening look like the miracle that it is :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Rosemary. It is a miracle, isn't it? :)

      Delete
  23. Oh Michelle it's lovely to catch up with your blog again and as usual there's so much going on. Loved that clematis scrambling through your railings. I really need to check out your compost series as I'm not happy at all with mine this year.

    Rosie
    www.leavesnbloom.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With all of the rain, there seems to be more going on than usual. Hope the compost series helps...

      Delete
  24. How beautiful. Your photography shines in this post. Love the images with the waterdrops. We've had an unusual weather year with much more than average rainfall interspersed with 90 plus degree temps. It's interesting how the plants love the excessive rain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am often fearful of fungal issues when we have so much rain, but we have had enough sun in between that it does not seem to be an issue.

      Delete
  25. beautiful pictures and lovely garden. Wish I knew the secret of the Clematis.......I also wish the dragonfly would stop in here more often. I do get a few butterfly but its a job to catch them sitting still isn;t it
    Janice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That clematis is 10 years old...I think that is the secret. :)

      Delete
  26. It is great to catch up on your garden. I enjoyed your photos very much, especially the one of the turtle! Your echinaceas are lovely. I am adding more coneflowers to my own garden this summer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Echinacea is one of my favorites. There are so many varieties with so many colors.

      Delete
  27. Looks like your garden is loving all this rain! Your veggie garden is way ahead of mine, but all the rain we had in April made for a late start here. Beautiful photos of the creatures in your garden. I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't seen a dragonfly all year, which is strange considering all the moisture we've had. Butterflies have been few, too, though I've noticed several swallowtails lately.

    "Poison ivy in the cottage garden"--yes, that's on my to-do list, too:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This year there are many dragonflies. I don't think I have seen this many in the garden before.

      Delete
  28. A turtle!! what a wonderful surprise. Like you I'm wondering how this summer will eventually turn out. We had rain rain and more rain throughout June, so chilly we had to turn our furnace on. and now that July is here we're baking in 39 degree temperatures with humidity that just sucks the life out of you. What comes next is anyone's guess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have had some of that humidity as of late....ugh! We still have had rain often enough to not need any extra water.

      Delete
  29. I savored this post until the end so I could linger again over your beautiful images. Not many butterflies in our tropical weather....hot, humid and wet...daily rain continues and we are saturated. Your flowers and veggies are delicious. I am hoping for just a bit of a break so I can finally get out in the garden to do chores...right now the heat is causing migraines if I am out for any length of time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am unable to work in the heat and humidity as well. I am so glad you enjoyed the post.

      Delete
  30. Fantastic photos and your raspberries look delicious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The raspberries turned out nicely. We really enjoyed them.

      Delete
  31. wonderful pics... enjoyed the entire series.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Everything so very beautiful in your garden which also happens to be a wildlife magnet. I must say the set up of your blog and quality of your pictures is very inspirational.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Alistair. I am glad the garden is a wildlife magnet although I do fret when they nibble on my garden.

      Delete
  33. My chore list involves figuring out ways to beat the bunnies and the blackspot on my roses. I love that you have a turtle in your garden. I once found a turtle in my mailbox but I think some of my students were playing a joke on me. I set him free and he seemed much relieved. :o)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL...that must have been a joke unless it was a very skillful turtle.

      Delete
  34. Beautiful photos... Yes, enough with the rain already. Though it does make for nice weather for photographing without sunlight glare and with raindrops on foliage...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree...the raindrops sure do make for nice photos.

      Delete
  35. OK, so now I'm hungry again at 9:30 p.m.! Your veggies look so yummy! I agree about the Echinacea--they never disappoint, but this year they are sooooo healthy! It really struck me the other day when I went to cut some for a floral arrangement. I love it when they're in various stages of blooming. Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL! It was not easy doing this post with all of those photos of veggies.

      Delete
  36. Hi, I remember commenting on this post, and I subscribed to it too, so now I got all your replies, but I can’t find my own comment! Anyway, beautiful photos as always! You are so lucky having such colourful butterflies in your garden, the ones I see over here are mainly brown or white. And that photo of the dragonfly is absolutely stunning! Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Definitely and totally cured of herpes virus by Doctor Razor's Quick cure for Herpes. My Sincere Gratitude to Dr Razor, I was infected with HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS 2 November 13 2018, I went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, I was confused because the medical drugs has become my daily food, but i decided to sort after Natural Herbs. One day I sat beside the pool, Browsing and thinking where I could get a solution to end this predicament. I saw a blog on how Dr Razor cured people with his herbal medicine, i did not believe but i just decided to give him a try, Visit Doctor's Razor Website : https://herbalistrazorherb.wixsite.com/drrazorherbalhome . I contacted him and he prepared the herbs for me which I took, and he instructed me to go for a check up, after the test i was confirmed with herpes negative, i am so happy. If you have any problem or you are also infected with any disease, kindly contact him now with his Email: drrazorherbalhome@gmail.com or Whatsapp/call +2349065420442 . .This testimonial serves as an expression of my gratitude.
    He also have a herbal cure for COLD SORE,
    SHINGLES,
    CANCER(Cannabis Oil),
    HPV,
    ASTHMA,
    IMPOTENCE,
    BARENESS/INFERTILITY ..
    Contact him on this email: drrazorherbalhome@gmail.com , or Whatsapp/call his cell phone number on +2349065420442

    ReplyDelete
  38. Definitely and totally cured of herpes virus by Doctor Razor's Quick cure for Herpes. My Sincere Gratitude to Dr Razor, I was infected with HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS 2 November 13 2018, I went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, I was confused because the medical drugs has become my daily food, but i decided to sort after Natural Herbs. One day I sat beside the pool, Browsing and thinking where I could get a solution to end this predicament. I saw a blog on how Dr Razor cured people with his herbal medicine, i did not believe but i just decided to give him a try, Visit Doctor's Razor Website : https://herbalistrazorherb.wixsite.com/drrazorherbalhome . I contacted him and he prepared the herbs for me which I took, and he instructed me to go for a check up, after the test i was confirmed with herpes negative, i am so happy. If you have any problem or you are also infected with any disease, kindly contact him now with his Email: drrazorherbalhome@gmail.com or Whatsapp/call +2349065420442 . .This testimonial serves as an expression of my gratitude.
    He also have a herbal cure for COLD SORE,
    SHINGLES,
    CANCER(Cannabis Oil),
    HPV,
    ASTHMA,
    IMPOTENCE,
    BARENESS/INFERTILITY ..
    Contact him on this email: drrazorherbalhome@gmail.com , or Whatsapp/call his cell phone number on +2349065420442
























































































































































    Definitely and totally cured of herpes virus by Doctor Razor's Quick cure for Herpes. My Sincere Gratitude to Dr Razor, I was infected with HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS 2 November 13 2018, I went to many hospitals for cure but there was no solution, I was confused because the medical drugs has become my daily food, but i decided to sort after Natural Herbs. One day I sat beside the pool, Browsing and thinking where I could get a solution to end this predicament. I saw a blog on how Dr Razor cured people with his herbal medicine, i did not believe but i just decided to give him a try, Visit Doctor's Razor Website : https://herbalistrazorherb.wixsite.com/drrazorherbalhome . I contacted him and he prepared the herbs for me which I took, and he instructed me to go for a check up, after the test i was confirmed with herpes negative, i am so happy. If you have any problem or you are also infected with any disease, kindly contact him now with his Email: drrazorherbalhome@gmail.com or Whatsapp/call +2349065420442 . .This testimonial serves as an expression of my gratitude.
    He also have a herbal cure for COLD SORE,
    SHINGLES,
    CANCER(Cannabis Oil),
    HPV,
    ASTHMA,
    IMPOTENCE,
    BARENESS/INFERTILITY ..
    Contact him on this email: drrazorherbalhome@gmail.com , or Whatsapp/call his cell phone number on +2349065420442

    ReplyDelete
  39. Your post is just outstanding! thanks for such a post.
    Visit Best Astrologer in Kolar.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Good Article you know your article it's useful me. it's really good and helping your article and yes thanks for sharing information
    For sofa repair work contact thesofastore gives Best Sofa Repair Services in Padmanabhanagar,Bangalore

    ReplyDelete

'I see trees of green, red roses, too
I see 'em bloom for me and for you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world'
--What a Wonderful World

Thank you for visiting The Sage Butterfly blog. I enjoy reading your charming reflections very much. Have a great day!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"