Thursday, September 22, 2011

Chrysanthemums, Moon flowers and Monarchs


Fall is arriving with great splendor. Yesterday was gorgeous! The Clara Curtis mums are magnificent and buzzing with activity. Atop the stone wall is a moon flower.


Rain  the evening before left the blossom  a little floppy, but a moon flower is a moon flower and here in zone 4 a cause for celebration.


The chrysanthemums, asters and goldenrod are here just waiting for the newly hatched monarchs.  It's a real pleasure to watch them glide over the house to make a brief stop in the garden before they make their way south. It's a delightful scene repeated over and over again. The garden is a beautiful place to be. The only fly in the ointment is mosquitoes. Unimpressed by repellents they are really out for blood. I so hate being on the bottom of the food chain. I'll cover every bit of skin I can, but It's too beautiful to stay out of the garden.

3 comments:

Katie said...

The ONLY way I can spend any time outside is complete coverage -- socks, shoes, long sleeve shirt, gloves and nifty hat with netting! I can lose the hat and gloves when sitting on the deck but we must use 2 fans to blow the little suckers away! I hate the feel of repellents! Weird, but Lysterine (or off brand) works quite well. Katie in the Deep South

WiseAcre said...

Goldenrod is mostly spent here while the Asters are in their prime. We dodged the frost and the warmer temps lately have encouraged the mosquitoes in what I hope is their last hurrah.

Anonymous said...

I just came to your blog from On a Hays County Hill. I'm enjoying your pictures and commentary.

We've had a lot of monarch activity here in NE Pennsylvania this week too, when it hasn't been raining. Not many mosquitos, though, despite all the water. We do have a LOT of bats around here. I guess they must be doing their job!

Also lots of asters and goldenrod along our roadsides. The goldenrod seemed to start early this year, in late July, but it is still going strong.

We get some a fairy circle of bright orange mushrooms in our front lawn when the weather stays too wet for too long. I think they're interesting, but my husband doesn't. He lets me enjoy them for about 2 days before cutting them off. I won't be surprised if we see a new circle pop up soon! (Sorry, I guess that comment really belongs with your latest post!)