Among the lilies

I love lilies. They are pretty happy in my garden and I love the colors, the fragrance and the way they color the head of a hummingbird who visits them. I have a special lily that may not be perfect in her nature but what a show! This is a shot of two stems. Yes, just two: one has nearly 30 bloom heads and the other more than 50! On a single stem each! Not perfect nature, but I'm keeping her.


And this is my watercolor of a single bloom from another more typical lily.
Among the lilies, it's pretty nice.

Soft mornings on the sound

Despite the stormy weather of late, mornings are quiet on the sound. The winds are still and the clouds hide the sun until a later hour than 'sunrise'.

Red-banded Hairstreak

I did not know there was a group of butterflies called Hairstreaks, even with a handy guide on my shelf, until I spotted this little one. It is about an inch in size and decorated like a Seminole quilt!

Garlic and Pearls

My test planting of the purchased garlic bulbs from Johnny's Seeds was a huge success. I bought a stiffneck variety, 6 heads, which gave me 27 new garlic heads. The heads are very large and I can't wait to try some after I finish off this last head of grocery store garlic in my kitchen. I will keep some for planting and perhaps try another variety next year as well.

My shot shows a few of the harvested heads along with a clump of pearl onions which was also a new try this year. The pearl onions did very well, they are intended for a few recipes of beef bourgignon but I will try them in a salad first.

Dining al fresco

I try to lunch outside at least once a week while the weather is warm. It's a mini picnic with table and chairs. A bluebird pair has been in the yard this week and during lunch I got a good chance to watch them. I thought they were feeding (dining al fresco) but they were busy collecting little green worms to carry off obviously to a box full of babies. They did not fly out of the yard until they had a beak slam full of green worms!

Flycatchers Fledging

Tuesday afternoon this little one was spotted at the box hole. While I was getting my shots it flew! And not just out but up and with a turn to the left into a large tree.

As we wondered if this was the first or last or which, another appeared at the hole and an adult landed with food. The adult pushed this one back in for a feeding, but the fledging was on!

Flycatchers, continued

The Flycatchers are busy feeding the nestlings. They haved timed it correctly: the skies are filled with dragonflies and there are plenty of biting yellow flies about too. I can hear the baby birds chirping but sadly this nest box does not have an easy way to take a peek inside. I took this shot today. The adults take turns feeding and sitting atop the box. Fledging should be this week!