For What It's Worth


Monday, July 21, 2014

Garden Ramblings… Blooms and critters


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Ginger



“Fruit Cocktail” Shrimp Plant – The hummingbirds LOVE this one!

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Monarch butterfly caterpillar

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Monarch just emerged from the chrysalis

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If you look closely, in the center of the picture – that grey-ish blob – that’s a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly in the chrysalis. He emerged the next morning.

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And finally my pal – ok he’s terrified of me (but he likes my dogs for some reason) - Mr. Turtle. He lives in a hole along my fence and heads out every morning to explore the neighborhood and comes back every night.

26 comments:

  1. I love spring and summer because of these sights..

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    1. Me too! It's nice to just sit back and watch everything at this point in the summer when it's too hot to work in the garden,

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  2. You must be very dedicated to your garden...but from what I see, it repays! It's gorgeous. How big is it?

    I can't see a monarch without thinking of Under the Dome these days ;).

    And I used to have a turtle when I was a kid - you made me feel nostalgic LOL.

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    1. I'm a really lazy gardener!

      I used to have flower beds all over my yard but see above - lazy gardner - so I narrowed it down to this one bed which is about 20 ft x 10 ft. There are still flowering shrubs around the yard that bring in wildlife but I don't need to fuss with them.

      Strangely enough, I've had much more activity with this one bed than when I had multiple flower beds. I even have a baby bunny living in there.

      I wish my yard turtle liked me. He runs whenever he sees me but could care less about my husband or dogs. lol

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    2. Quote:
      "I wish my yard turtle liked me. He runs whenever he sees me but could care less about my husband or dogs. lol"
      He actually RUNS? What did you do to him? LOL

      Oh, please, baby bunny pic next time! Thanks :).

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    3. I'm always trying to get a picture of him - maybe he doesn't like yard papparzzi lol

      He DOES run. At turtle speed of course but it's running. He goes back to his tunnel whenever he sees me but will walk across the yard with the dogs.

      I wish I could get a pic of my rabbit. He runs too fast - he does not like the dogs (which is really smart of him).

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  3. Very neat to get the turtle and butterflies, so much fun.

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  4. Gorgeous! Especially that shrimp plant.

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    1. That's one of my favorites. The picture doesn't do it justice.

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  5. Love it! My pups love to torment any poor turtle who makes his way into the yard. I usually have to pick the things up and put them outside the gate so they don't have turtle heart attacks!

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    1. My dogs could care less. They walk and go "Yo - wassup Mr. Turtle?" lol

      Rabbits are another matter - I have to scream like a lunatic to stop them from getting he bunnies.

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  6. Your flowers are gorgeous! And I love the butterflys...so cool. That's a pretty big turtle! :)

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    1. He is. He's lived in my yard for two years now. He's like family lol

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  7. I love this post! Oh we had a couple of hummingbird moths that kept visiting us last year. Sadly, no turtle friends but a bunny totally destroyed my ornamental kale. LOL

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    1. Oh I LOVE Hummingbird Moths. I've tried to get a picture of the ones in my garden but they move to darn fast.

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  8. What a great post. The flowers and the butterfly are so pretty and I totally love the turtle. I have always wanted a turtle.

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    1. I want to put a sign up over his little turtle tunnel. I've already built him a roof to help with the rain.

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  9. OMG that's such a cute turtle!

    I started a vegetable garden this year too. It's productive but something keeps on eating my tomatoes!! Grrr!!

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    1. He's so funny. He wanders all around - then comes home every afternoon. But he HATES me lol *sobs*

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  10. I love the photos! I used to love gardening, but let blogging take over my life. I'm actually trying to reorganize and blog more casually. You're my blog inspiration in that!

    Back to the photos, my mom has a daschund who goes crazy over turtles. He hunts them, and barks and tries to bite them. He's a turtle hunter!

    We have a bunny that lives in our yard, and two frogs who visit my husband in the garage every night. AND we're getting a chick and a duck this weekend!

    Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I was obsessed with gardening. Probably more than blogging so it made me sad that blogging took me away from it. Incorporating it into blogging helped me get back into it.

      I'm definitely learning how to spread out my hobbies now & *try* not to become obsessive lol

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  11. Oh man, I wish I lived somewhere where I could spot turtles in the wild!! Along with all the other creatures featured here, for that matter. That would be so cool. It's peculiar that the turtle likes your dogs though.

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    1. He just walks along right beside them in the yard without a care int he world. I show up - and he makes a beeline back to his tunnel. I'm offended!

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  12. Love it.

    That's what ginger looks like?

    Cool caterpillar.

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