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lesdvs9

Hummers & Butterfly

lesdvs9
16 years ago

Caught a couple of Hummers chasing each other while getting a pic of a butterfly on my crispy butterfly bush last Sunday.

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The cooler weather has been nice the last week. My Sedum is finally deciding to flower, maybe. It's like 2' tall, very leggy and quit being attractive a foot ago.

Here's a rose for you:)

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How are your gardens and you all doing, haven't heard anything in a long time?

Leslie

Comments (12)

  • CA Kate z9
    16 years ago

    Mine are mostly dormant, with only a bloom or two here and there. The next big show will be end of Sept.

    Great Photos, Leslie. My Hummers have all gone over to my neighbors... I haven't a clue as to why.... I guess they don't like my cooking anymore.

  • calpat
    16 years ago

    Leslie, your photos are great, that rose is just gorgegous.
    I'm finally getting a bit organized, will post later today with updates. Keep up the good work, but don't overdue when the temps go up!

  • lesdvs9
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks for the complements, I try, I would like a newer camera.

    Westelle, The Hummers aren't really at the feeder I have up. I noticed they're more at the plants and bushes around the yard. They keep visiting the lantana and the butterfly bushes.

    The bulk of my roses are minis and most of them are continuously in bloom and the large roses are also taking turns blooming. One stopped blooming in flushes and now just keeps blooming as long as I keep deadheading it, which it did not before.

    Pat, I look forward to your post and I try to hide out from the heat as much as I can.

  • youreit
    16 years ago

    Beautiful pics, Leslie! Actually, your butterfly bushes look pretty healthy! The leaves, anyway. Are those just old blooms on there, with new ones still going sporadically? You could cut those off if they're driving you crazy. :D I love the scent of old butterfly bush blooms! It's almost concentrated.

    That butterfly looks a LOT bigger than the hummers! Are my eyes playing tricks on me? I LOVE the color of that Fragrant Plum rose! I bet it smells so yummy. :)

    Brenda

  • lesdvs9
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    You know Brenda I thought the same thing, the hummers showed up and chased the butterfly off but they were smaller than the butterfly:) That butterfly is about the size of my fist. I got pretty good pics of those hummers considering how old my camera is. Then I went over to the hummer forum and my face fell, LOL* They have some really good closeups. Now I really want a new one for Christmas, if it works out, or my birthday which is right after. My husband doesn't get that, why do you need a new one, you just got that one 5 years ago:)

    Anyways, the hummers hung around chasing each other around the butterfly bush for about 5 minutes until grandgirl walked out and scared them off. These two show up together all the time, I just happened to be taking pics of the butterfly and got lucky. The leaves at the top of the bush do, at the bottom it looks bad. Like the roses the flower spikes are small now in the heat. I still can't get the watering down on them, too much or not enough. I try not to water and it's so hot the leaves droop and then I worry they're stressing and try watering more often. We were talking micro climates back during the freeze, the two bushes on the other side of the yard look really bad, still flowering some though. I don't know, I just scratch my head, as long as they come through the summer I'll be happy. The hummers and butterflies like them. I'll try harder next spring to get a handle on them when I cut them down and they start growing again.

    Yes, the Fragrant Plum does smell really nice, I had 4 buds about to bloom at once and I thought aha, that's a great name:) This is the fastest growing of the 3 roses I planted in May as hot as it's been. I've been fighting both the rose slugs and the budworms off of it. Some of the leaves are a little worse for wear. It's the best purple I have, all the others are lavender and paler.

    Thanks Brenda, I'm looking forward to seeing some more of your pics. I really enjoy these exchanges:)

  • youreit
    16 years ago

    You know, I have a feeling that my aggressive hummers are one main reason I don't have butterflies in my garden...let alone the fact we live on two-lane Hwy. 113, which gets a lot of commuter traffic between the Yuba City area and Woodland/Davis/Sacramento. I can just imagine poor Fisty the butterfly trying to fend off hummers. LOL

    I notice that on really hot days here, even plants that are well established wilt in the afternoon heat. I told my mom not to look at her plants in the afternoon. LOL One sure-fire way to tell if your plant needs water is if it's wilted in the morning after the overnight cool down. It sounds like you've been getting a LOT of heat there, so I agree - if your BF bushes can only make it until the rainy season, I think they'll be good to go! Next year shouldn't be so hard...for you OR them. :D

    There's a lady over on the Pond forum who takes THE most wonderful pics! Birds are her specialty, but she's just a great photographer, period. She is always so kind when those of us who don't have her experience post pics. I've linked to her site below, just to share. :)

    So my point is...LOL...I'm glad you're not shy in posting pics just because you're not a National Geographic photographer, Leslie! I love your pics!

    Brenda

    Here is a link that might be useful: Jean's bird gallery

  • lesdvs9
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks again for the complements, you're so nice:) If I ever got rid of the headaches I'd take classes in photography. I've had a camera in my hands since I begged my first camera in the 5th grade. I've always enjoyed it, just not that good, every once in awhile though I get a really good one.

    I got that butterfly again last night but my hands were shaking. Evenings are hard for me and I'd been taking some other pics for a few minutes. I do better in the am.

    On the Butterfly bush, I haven't cut the old blooms off because they do still bloom sporadically off the old blooms. I like the height and the privacy factor on the fences for the summer.

    I'm still waiting for my Sedum to bloom, it's getting uglier and uglier sprawling on the ground mostly. It has little tiny buds on the ends for the last week or more but not giving anything up yet. This was an attractive plant back about when it was about 8" tall, LOL*

    I've still got some daylilies hanging in there repeat blooming here and there.

    Mostly everything is still stubbornly blooming if not a little raggedly looking in the hot heat. When it cooled off some it's like they all breathed a sigh of relief and I got a growth spurt.

    I'm still scratching my head over these summer hydrangeas I planted too, they grow new leaves and die every day. I think one will bite the dust of the two. Sooner or later I'll figure out what will grow in that corner of the house in that flower bed.

    How are all of your plants and shrubs doing, especially with the brief cool down?

  • lesdvs9
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Got this pic this morning after I posted of this butterfly, probably the same one.
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    Almost so good looks like I pasted it on the flower spike:)
    I do like profile shots, they're so large to be so graceful. These just fascinate me. The small butterflies and moths dart here and there, these just float.
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  • youreit
    16 years ago

    Leslie, you're not kidding when you say the butterfly looks pasted on! Amazing pic!! I bet if I had some 3D glasses, it would be all in my face, too. LOL

    My 'Autumn Joy' is being attacked by aphids, and it looks really nasty! I cannot believe the number of praying mantises I have in my yard this year (at least 20....that I've found), but I don't think they munch on aphids. I need more lady beetles! For the sprawling, you can use wire cages to help prop it up. It also doesn't like much water. I planted mine in the wrong place (not enough sun, I don't think), and it's ready to be divided, so I'll move the divisions into more sun then.

    Brenda

  • calpat
    16 years ago

    I can't get over the clarity, sharpness of your pictures, Leslie you do a fantastic job with that camera. My eyes have gotten so old that I have to rely on the automatic focus and sometimes it leaves a lot to be desired.

  • lesdvs9
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks guys, I lost the camera book, these are all lucky shots with the macro auto focus:) I take A LOT of shots to get a good one. They are many that get deleted because they're too close and blurred. Then there is that hand shaking thing, LOL* That's ruined a lot of my pics. I had almost 5 minutes with those hummers, if only I had a better camera and KNEW how to use it, one day.... The other thing with the headaches is that I forget stuff, have a hard time comprehending technical details and if I don't use it constantly, I loose it:) It's that terrible disease, CRS, Can't Remember Shoot, LOL* So when you see one pic, I've probably got a couple dozen I rejected to show you that one. Sometimes I think I've gotten it and I walk away and find I didn't get it at all and lost the moment.
    Like a pic of this guy. Luckily he was still hanging around this rose yesterday.
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    He's supposed to like budworms, I went looking last night for budworms now that I have a predator that will eat them. After voracious eaters destroying my roses, I couldn't find a single one after a month of finding them 3 times a day on roses. Well, that's good news, but why are my solutions in the garden too late?? Like the toads, I had rampant spider mites last of April that too late I noticed and most of my roses defoliated and THEN the toads showed up. IF they'd been around a couple of weeks earlier I wouldn't have lost 4 weeks of growth.

    Sorry Brenda, it's not funny, more ironic that I was just thinking about aphids yesterday and wondering with the heat why I don't have any. Knock on wood! It's got to be the toads. So maybe I do have nature at the right time for once this season after all:) I don't have any ladybugs, just keep seeing the occasional cucumber beetle.

    Oops on the Sedum, as a succulent I thought it needed more water...I'll have to know to cage it next year, if I do it now it'll break, it's grown into these curves now.

  • youreit
    16 years ago

    I go through about 10 images before I get the one I want, Leslie, so you're not alone there! I get the too-close, blurry ones a LOT. I would love to be able to share pics of some of my more delicately flowered Salvias, but it's hard for my camera to focus on the colors.

    I love the color of that rose! It goes well with the green of the praying mantis. :D I really enjoy having them in my yard! I just wish they could say, "Hey, I'm down here. Don't let me startle you. And PLEASE don't 'dead-head' me!" LOL

    Brenda