Actius luna aka Lunar Moth - What a Beauty!

This spectacular moth rested on one of my neighbors' hickory trees for quite a while. The photo was taken from my yard, so its not as good a shot as it could have been. This was the early afternoon/late morning when I spied him. He most likely had just emerged from his cocoon and was waiting for his wings to dry. These moths do all their eating in their caterpillar stage. As winged beauties, they mate and die within about a week.

This guy seems like a natural for jewelry. Found some earrings, a pendant, mounted specimens, but didn't see a brooch that really captured this lovely bug. I'd love a deco-type version to pin on a hat!

Early Spring - Anenomes and Tulips

The garden blogging ended as the drought really took hold last summer. Water restrictions here were only recently lifted as the rains are finally coming. I've got several beauties ready to be planted, but it looks like the ground will be too wet for digging for a while.

In the meantime, though, the garden is coming alive. Some of the daffodils have already come and gone. The tulips have only just began to bloom. Above is a pink one with highlighting on the petal edges (from a bag of mixed tulips that came as a bonus with an order from Blooming Bulb the fall before last). I'm surprised - pleasantly of course! - to see this guy back. I've bought mainly species tulips as I haven't expected others to be able to handle the combo of our clay soils and mild winters.

This fragrant tulip with the charcoal eye is Little Beauty - a carefree species tulip. Species tulips are those that occur naturally in the wild. They tend to not be as fussy as the hybrids they have spawned - and return more reliably without being lifted. Now if only I could find a tulip the critters around here wouldn't consider a tasty snack!

Looking Through the leaves up at a Fall Sky

This was taken last fall, around October I think. On a beautifully clear day in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Eryngium and Agertum at the Garfield Park Conservatory, Chicago

This was taken at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago recently. Echinops of some variety, no - more likely eryngium - a sea holly....

The sun shining brilliantly through a large leaf.

These tiny violet and purple fuzzballs are probably an agertum of some sort.

lady bug larva/nymph plus chipmunks & voles!

My chrysanthemums in the stump garden are playing host to an unbelievable amount of baby lady bugs! That's the goods news - bad news is that chipmunks have set up house in the decaying stump! I just got a bobcat/fox urine mix in the mail. Hopefully I'll have some luck with that. I'm also digging up their tunnels and adding permatil (aka vole block - a sharp gravel that pokes tender little paws) to the soil. On top of that, I'm also using Mole-Out, one of the castor oil repellents to get the soil good and nasty tasting. I don't mind sharing my gardens, but the warm winter seems to have created a population explosion in small critters - chipmunks and voles run amok! Between the little nibblers and some butter-fingers action during repairs to an old building in back, I've lost almost a dozen lilies so far.

Wild Blue Yonder Rose

The new Wild Blue Yonder rose is of course blue in name only. The flowers are darker red in bud. Once opened they start as a deep mauve-ish kind of red that fades to have white-streaked lighter red petals. This is my first grandiflora (and my first Tom Carruth rose) and I'm sold! The flowers are larger than a floribunda but with the same great repeating habit. We'll see how she handles the fungal petri dish that this part of NC is once the summer heat and humidity kick in. She has nice dark, glossy leaves so she might be ok (the dark leaves isn't 100% guarantee of bs resistance, but seems to be the case more often than not).

Mr. Carruth has been a hybridizer for Weeks Roses since 1989 and has won more AARS honors than any rose breeder currently working. I'll be sure to be looking to his work as I make future additions to my rose collection. Some of his other winners include: Hot Cocoa, Betty Boop, Julia Child, and a 2007 winner, Strike it Rich.

Giant White Calla Lily

White Giant

My Giant was purchased this spring and is rather petite yet. She looked gorgeous right after a shower so of course we had to get a picture. Her expected mature height is over 6 feet tall! And hardy done to zone 7 to boot.

If you've never shopped at Plant Delights, you are missing an eyeful! Luckily, I live not too far away so I got to treat myself to an open-house visit in March. While the Hellebores were gorgeous, I bought lilies - the Giant and a White Queen to add a bit of height and drama to the rose garden (giant) and nearby strawberry patch (queen). The Queen is an even tinier thing however and won't put on a show for some time.