Sunday, August 07, 2005

Cassandra Seedlings

The garden and several pots were sprinkled three times with Cassandra Flower Seeds back in the spring. Just when i had given up on them here they are,,little bright shiny green plants. Three pots of them!

The pots were moved to the shade and the Cassandras are happier. The blooms will be peach colored and against that wonderful shiny green they are a beautiful sight.

A Humminbird perches in the tree above them,,hoping these flowers become a favorite.

ARGIOPE SIGHTING

Early in the summer a young Argiope Spider made a good sized web by the butterfly bush. He disappeared and the web was in disrepair, so my thought was a bird had eaten him. A second web appeared with bundles lined up down the middle, but there never seemed to be a spider near it.

This morning a third good and sturdy web with a Zipper down the middle has appeared with a very large Argiope Spider on it all dressed in bright yellow and black. My thoughts are he is the young one i saw early on and has been well hidden. Maybe morning is a good time to catch a look at him.

SURPRISE VISITOR

This morning as I was spreading Cypress Bark around a Butterly Bush I rounded a corner and collided with something that was making alot of humming noise like Hummingbird wings. We both jumped back and i could feel the air from its wings on my face. Wow,,the hugest Bumblebee i have ever seen was my first thought.

I froze so it wouldn't fly away and discovered it was a Hummingbird/Hawk Moth. It spent alot of time going from one tiny purple flower to the next on the bush. It's head was fuzzy yellow with moth markings and he had short fat and stubby black antennae, black wings and a black body. His tongue was long like a butterflys.

I've only seen these at night on the front porch, so this was exciting.