Cocoons

I am seeing the success of my butterfly-attracting gardening this fall.  Often, I look out my window and see a pretty orange or white blur fluttering by.  I can see how the caterpillars are loving my milkweed and passion vines (although not the vine that bears fruit for some reason).  I don't know if you can see the little orange lines allover this passion vine:

Another effect of all the caterpillars is the smattering of cocoons around my yard.  Here is one that took up residence on a fence rail.

The oddest place I find them, though, i son my new lanai screen!  Does anyone know if this will damage my screen?  I have three right now.

One:  



Two: 

And with number three, my boys and I got to watch the caterpillar form its cocoon.  There was a lot of wiggling...

and flailing...

like trying to put on a too-small turtleneck...

which is a lot like what this cocoon-creation looks like.

 

 

*** Ok, I just have to update a few hours later.  I juar did a google search about this to see if it will hurt the screen, and the first search result was...  my blog post!!  Am I seriously the only person who has had butterfly cocoons on her screen room?  I'll definitely update after they open up and let everyone know if there are giant holes in my screen or anything. :-)



Veggies growing

Hello hello!  I'm back.  Sorry for the unintended break there.  So much excitement with
summer and the beginning of school.  Let's get right back into it:

This is the first growing season I've filled up all three 4x8 edibles beds.

I think I got started with them a bit late, but it just seemed way to hot to plant earlier.

First, we have carrots on the left (barely sprouted), peas climbing their fences, and soon-to-be planted more green onions.

Next we have the herb garden in front, and towards the back, two tomato plants (one big tomatoes, one cherry tomatoes), blueberry bushes, and some cantaloupe vines starting up.

Last, we have potatoes in the front have and lettuce in the back (with a bit I still need to de-grass to plant some more lettuce).  Not too shabby for only year two.

This isn't a veggie but I'm happy to see this little passionfruit growing steadily on the vine that was nearly dead 6 months ago.

 

I'm still here.

I have this habit of going on vacations and, with all the craziness of packing and preparing, forgetting to mention it.  I did it again, but I'm back after 3 1/2 glorious weeks with my parents and sisters and their families.  This is when being a stay-at-home-mom is so fantastic!

I came back to an overgrown jungle out back, thanks to a tropical storm and regular summer rains.  It's been exciting to dig out the weeds and overgrown grass and get to the good stuff.

Here are the fruits of my labor yesterday, some lovelies for my dining room table.  My boys (5 and 3 - hubs is away) and I totally lit those candles for a candlelit dinner last night.  :-)

Perked up porch

This pink beauty caught my eye at WalMart.  It came in a hanging basket, but I just popped it inside this big pot and removed the hanger part.  Easy peasy, and it makes my front porch much more inviting. 

A few new photos

I need to get some metal tomato cages.  My plants are breaking the little plastic ones they came with. 

 The Don Juan roses continue to grow quite strangely.

 I'm excited to see some new blooms coming out of this beauty.

 This passion fruit vine was half dead for a while, but now it has a few fruits growing on it.  Exciting!

4 Things about Growing Corn... not good

4 things I've learned about corn this spring:

1.  Corn needs a LOT of water to stay healthy.
2.  Corn is very vulnerable to pests.
3.  Puppies love to dig up cornstalks.
4.  Corn is so cheap in season that I can buy a bunch that was locally grown and prepare and freeze it just as I would the corn I harvested here.

I've given up on the corn. 

Buttery Garden

I planted my little butterfly (and, dare I hope, hummingbird) garden on Tuesday.  I still need to clear out some grass and re-bury the edging, but so far, so good.

 The half-dead hibiscus (still not fully recovered from a frost) and Coarl Honeysuckle along the fence were already there). 

Let's see if I can remember the names of the others without checking my notes...
The tall one on the left is "Lady Di" Heliconia (Parrot Flower)
The big bushy ones in red and yellow-orange are Ixora.
The little yellow ones are Golden Shrimp Plant (had to look that one up).

 My Heliconia had a bit offshoot which I potted for future planting or gift-giving.

 One of my new bulbs I planted in the early spring has a bud.  So exciting!!!  Lots more have popped up, but this is the first flower.