CALENDAR WORTHY

Slow weekend in the garden, which was exactly what VPH and I needed.  No real gardening being done, just harvesting and tidying up. 

First, as promised, a picture of the morning glory in bloom:

Which is difficult because all the blooms are above my head:

 Another climber that's making me happy these days is the purple hyacinth beans:

The dead cucumber was ripped out today and the other cucumber is not looking too good (after I took the photo I removed the bad leaves):

The zucchini still has beautiful male flowers, but no female flowers:

The volunteer tomato plant is blossoming:

The wildflower patch was so over-shadowing the dahlias in pots on the lily pad stepping stones that I decided to pull them out of there.  When VPH saw this micro-mini dahlia in the pretty pot sitting on the bar he said it was like we went out and bought a whole new plant.  I said just wait until it blooms:

Speaking of blooming...some of these guys are lagging behind:

Bet you're wondering where the calendar worthy shots are.  Wonder no more.  This one's good: 

This one's better: 

I think this one's the best: 

I was checking on the cherry tomato plants this morning when I spotted a really big bug on the sweet potato vine (aren't I nice to give you a box so you can see it?):

Is it a katydid?  It's really pretty: 

And this one is definitely calendar worthy:

Isn't it funny that I just said I haven't seen many butterflies and then poof there's a monarch on the zinnias.  I just love that last photo of the mystery bug.  I think I'll go make it my wallpaper now.

Comments

[rosemary]

great pictures , interesting bug an lovely garden.

[Katie]

Love the red dahlia! Yep, it's a katydid.

[Blackswampgirl/Kim]

Ooooh, I LOVE the picture of the katydid! He couldn't have picked a better background plant for himself if he tried, and you took a great photo of him.

What's your secret for photographing the butterflies, seriously? They always fly away just as I get them in focus... *sigh*

[Heather's Garden]

Rosemary -- Thanks!

Katie -- Thanks for the confirmation of the katydid.

Kim -- I know, I'm so happy that I saw it. Butterflies...they're tough. I try and sneak up on them really slowly from behind. Then I hold the camera out away from me, keeping my body as far away from the butterfly as possible. It cracks VPH up to watch me, so I'm guessing I look pretty ridiculous doing it. I also use the macro setting on my camera, the focus option where I half press the shutter and it focuses (is that auto focus?), and just snap away as quickly as I can, not worrying about framing much.