The Garden of Bogturtle

A new solar powered camera and bird feeder has captured many videos and photos. This shows a Black Capped Chickadee with a black Sunflower Seed. Other videos are to big for blogger The only Euphorbia marginata or Snow on the Mountain that grew, for some reason. But it is perfect. I should have lots of seed to plant for next Summer.  An old Cottage Garden plant, although a midwest native, to my knowledge. I recall it from the garden the nurses planted, that our windows overlooked. The nurses actually lived in the building, with the hospital just across the street from their home.  Moonflower, or what I think is Ipomea alba, is another annual vine I save seeds from, and plant the next year. The first photo is of the flower as it has opened, at night. Generally, I assume, pollinated by moths. And after one night, it slumps and fades, as the second photo shows at 8:30 AM. On the web there is probably a time lapse of the flower opening. This happens so fast you can almost detect it...

The little Frog is pretty shy. Best photo to date. Usually it jumps into the pool when I approach. Not bothering the fish, to my knowledge. I added Guppies to the little pool, to keep moquitoes down. Very successful, and now I notice a second, almost microscopic crop of baby fish. Its good Guppies tend not to hunt down the babies for food.  interesting to me is that a good many plants, after massive seasonal bloom, give little, scattered repeats. So the Crossvine, Bignonia capriolata has continued with a few flowers, all Summer. It has taken over one end post of the fence around the pool deck.  A European species of Honeysuckle, I think, Lonicera periclymenum also grows on the end post. Scentless to me. I have limited our native, hardy Passionfruit to one sprout on a side of the fenced in veggie garden. It cannot rob light from the garden there The fruit is useless to me, being a mass of seeds, but I suppose one could seperate out the pulp. Buddlea weyeriana 'Honeycomb' also i...

  Among the annual seeds I save are those for 'Four O'Clocks' Jalapa mirabilis , that open every evening. I have a good number coming on, in many pots, here and there. Only this white one is full sized and blooming like crazy, now. Always amused that Lilium tigrinum, the 'Tiger Lily' is spotted like a leopard, with no stripes. Another old fashioned flower passed from neighbor to neighbor, generation to generation. And I mentioned, years ago, that mine came from the little bulbils I picked off a neighbors plants. Those form in the axels of the leaves and even show rudimentary starts of roots.  Here it is, rather late in July, and the deciduous Azalea 'Weston's Lemon Drop' is going strong. Generally, videos I try to post fail. Usually the message is that they are too long. This time, maybe not. I think the little Green or Bull Frog, that has taken up residence in the little pond is safe, although not sure. The Guppies, two adults and many babies, seem to s...

 The Trumpet Vine hybrid, probably Bignonia radicans, but the clone called 'Jersey Peach' is blooming beautifully on one end post of the fence around the pool deck. I had tried to eradicate it by drilling holes in the cut stump and pouring weed killer, as the plant was producing seed and spreading from underground runners. But it survived, and continues with its wonderful blooms, along with a thorny climbing red Rose called 'Winners Circle' some Virginia Creeper that came uninvited and the beautiful Honeysuckle called Lonicera Tellmanniana(if that's the correct spelling).  I have learned, the hard way, to introduce any vine with the most extreme caution, as a good many are pests. Speaking of vines, this is the rare white flowered clone of the Southern native species of Passionflower. Passaflora incarnata 'Constance Elliot' is my guess. It never seems to stay in place, from year to year. Sending up sprouts several feet from where planted, with the original go...

Crowded in among the well developed shrubs in the drive circle, near where we park the vehicles, the deciduous Azalea known as 'Weston's Lemon Drop' has been blooming.  No doubt to be shown again, as this photo is not so good. Buddlea weyeriana 'Honeycomb' is starting. Killed to the ground by our past, eratic and sometimes very cold Winter, it came back, was set back by Deer browsing, but is rather too tall for them now. And I have Crocosmia 'Lucifer' blooms in several places on the property. Slowly increasing, while I have, dependably, lost a multitude of plants that never caught on. And the deer don't seem interested at all.  Magnolia grandiflora 'Bracken's Brown Beauty' has these bowl shaped flowers. One Winter heavy snow broke out the top, so the plant is no longer a neat pyramid shape. But it carries on. The name refers to the heavy brown indumentum on the bottom surface of the leaves. Supposedly one of the hardier of the sorts available...