As you read this, I’m at Mom’s quilting away. I will have several finished quilt posts next week, but for now, let’s take a stroll around the garden and see what’s new.

The Black-Eyed Susans are blooming and this small patch was a small few roots I brought from the townhouse. Last year, it go shaded out by the Cherry Brandy Susans. But they are biennials, and the big plants died off over winter – they gave me some new seedlings which will blooms soon, but they are much smaller, so this one had some room to shine.

To me, Susans are the sign that we are on the downside of summer. They make up for it by blooming right until the first frost. Because of this, I added two new plants to other garden (out front and around Edible Alley) and have a bunch of other seedling to plant out. They help bring that colour right to the bitter end of the gardening season.

I certainly didn’t expect it since, I just planted it this year, but my Rose of Sharon “Marina” has bloomed. And you can see there are quite a few buds. The shrub is still quite small and low to the ground, but I just love that etheral blurple!

Caroline de Monaco, Quicksilver and Good as Gold are the only roses blooming right now, but Chicago Peace, Chrysler Imperial, and Prairie Princess are all budded up. I’m very excited about that last one as she’s the newest rose and I haven’t seen her blooms in person yet.

I can’t remember if I showed you the Sundrop plant I got this year. A woman in Strathroy was having a little plant sale in her yard. I’ve never seen Sundrops at the nurseries, so I was happy to pick this one up.

All of the Butterfly Bushes are in bloom now. I have four.

Black Knight, Royal Red, Queen of Hearts, , and White Profusion. I am starting to see more butterflies, but it still doesn’t feel like a many as last year.

What we do have a lot of are wasps…

Especially this Great Golden Sand Digger wasps. I won’t go as far as to say they are “aggressive” but they are big. And they do like to fly right at you! If you are uncomfortable around bees or wasps, these are not the wasp for you. Personally, I don’t mind them. And neither do the monarch caterpillars, who are sharing the Swamp Milkweed.

This guy has plumbed up nicely, and if I’m not mistaken he should be pretty close to getting ready to go off and make a chrysalis. I’ve been keeping the mulberry in the catio trimmed right to the trunk this year, so I doubt I’ll get to stumble onto another cocoon like last year… but who knows… he might set up shop in the Butterfly bush.