on Tuesday we counted twenty monarch caterpillars on the milkweed in the garden…
they were all over the newest batch that was recently planted and have nearly decimated all the leaves…
they were also on the ones near the waterfall which were planted last summer… we’ve now taken out all the poppies so there is more room to be able to see the caterpillars…
there were none on the ones from last year which were located around the edge of the pond… these were the ones that I planted in a spot where I could see and photograph any butterflies, eggs and caterpillars that came along, lol…
there were some chives next to them so when Hilda the Gardener was here the other day I had her take them out… maybe the butterflies don’t like the smell…
yesterday I went into the pond to take out the small pump and clean it…
it was very dirty, ugh… the process of getting in and out of the pond involves a chair, towel, watershoes, and this time, a bucket to put the bits that needed to be cleaned…
then I used the hose to clean everything… dirty business, lol…
after I put the pump back, it was working better, but not as well I was hoping for…
and I cleaned out the main pump while I was in there;-)… glad that job is done…
this morning I started my day with a wander around the gardens…
I started with the vegetable garden and checked on the two tomatoes, miriad of peas, beans, and the couple of cucumbers that appear to have made a go of it…
the cucumber and butternut squash seeds have yet to reach the surface…
the columbines are getting ready to flower and it appears that the ones with double petals are happy in their new location along the house…
the dahlias are growing taller every day and the ivy slips from the house are holding their own…
next I checked out the pond garden, where the irises are blooming and the poppies are raising their heads slowly to get set to open… I had to detour back around the deck so that I didn’t brush against any of them… the hanging baskets are filling with flowers as they recover from the hail storm…
the petunias around the deck look good, but I need to find a way to raise up the new planter boxes as they are just a tiny bit too narrow…
the begonia and orchid in the back shady area seem to be doing well and the pansies by the bathtub pond are growing nicely…
the hibiscus is still in the shade since coming outside recently and the begonias and verbena are happy… sadly the pansies in between them are not doing well…the strawberry pot and dahlia next to the back door look excellent as do the morning glories as they come up…
on the deck the mandevilla seems content in its new location and the clematis continues to wind its way up the obelisk… the lobelia and alyssum on the table are doing very well…
after that lovely stroll, I brought out all the cushions, uncovered the deck chairs, and sat with my tea and read some of my book as the birds sang their morning welcome;-)…
for whatever reason (that I can’t figure out) the pump at the end seems to keep tipping up… I decided to put a fair-sized rock in to hold the edge of the pump down and give the fish somewhere to hide under, other than the bridge, lol…
and I removed the two dead water lilies which were clearly not coming back…
we will see if it works… well, look…
it seems as though the fish have finally decided that they can swim around the entire pond…
I enjoy spending time in the garden watching the birds that come to the feeders, and the pond, for a drink and maybe a bath, lol…
sometimes I will see a new visitor but can’t quite identify them, but the Merlin sound app often gives me something to compare them with…
yesterday I’d seen a cute little bird, about the size of a chipping sparrow, but didn’t have time to look it up… today I was sitting in the garden with the sound app on and discovered it was a pine siskin…
took quite a while to empty out the water and leaves… used a pail to scoop out the majority of the water and then the wetvac to finish collecting the debris…
did it in a hurry on Thursday, as it was supposed to rain a lot over the next few days… left it empty after I put the pump in so it could begin to fill with rainwater…
on Sunday it finally got filled up using the hose, then the pump was plugged in and started running…
today, pansies made it into the flower bed in front of the pond;-)…
in a few days I will pop the last four fish, from the smallest tank, in…
