In a Vase, on Monday – Weighty

I’m joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden today with an ancient milk jug filled with too tall ironweed and grey coneflowers…they needed to be snipped as the ireonweed, in particular, was in danger of being smushed into the gravel driveway my an ill-aimed car tire or two. I was very happy to read that […]

What I Learned Today – Manduca quinquemaculata

Sounds like a cheery song from a Disney movie, doesn’t it? It’s the scientific name for the five spotted hawkmoth, which, of course, is what emerges from the pupa of a tomato hornworm. What I learned on Monday is that the caterpillars eat everything in the Solanaeae plant family. That includes tomatoes, yes, but also […]

In a Vase, on Monday – Purple

More than 24 hours and 100 mm of rain later, the air is clear and skies are finally showing a bit of blue. Until the next round, it seems. The pattern most summers, this one included, is for rain clouds to travel north or south of us, leaving our soils parched and our trees and […]

In a Vase, on Monday – Daisy-like Plus

This morning’s light drizzle has ended leaving an overcast sky – perfect for picture taking. I’m joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden with a vase of daisy-like flowers. Echinacea purpurea is mostly past its prime but almost perfect blooms are still to be found, and pair well, I think, with Rudbeckia fulgida, which is […]

6 on Saturday – 15AUG2026

Back in May I splurged and purchased a trio of fairly large foxgloves. I’ve had them over the years, even started them from seed a few times, but they are the truest form of ‘short lived perennial’ that I’ve encountered. Even with leaving flower stalks and seedheads to stay, and drop seeds below the parent […]

In a Vase, on Monday – Pinwheels

All weekend long, my weather app was screaming ‘Rain on Monday! Thunderstorms on Monday!’ Its tune had changed when I woke up this morning: ‘Cloudy with sunny periods. Sunny with cloudy periods.’ I should’ve known better. No excuse not to spend the day in the garden, watering, deadheading, planting autumn radishes, maybe a bit of […]

6 on Saturday – 08AUG2026

I could almost have titled this post ‘Tall Flowers’ – all the blooms here are making statuesque statements in various locations in the garden this week. I’m joining Jim at Garden Ruminations with these six things – pay his site a visit to see sixes from other parts of the world! First up are these […]

Flower Friday – 2 Clematis

Clematis texensis, the species vine, is native to Texas, specifically, the Edwards Plateau in the middle of the state. The ‘Gravetye Beauty’ hybrid was bred in France and introduced in 1914; here’s a smashing article about it if you’re interested, in which you might read that the adjective ‘smashing’ has also been used to describe […]