Yesterday, I showed you the pictures from the day before of the monarch chrysalis… with one VERY close to hatching. I thought it might hatch the day I took the pics, but it didn’t.
I wanted to sleep in Sunday morning, but I had read that monarchs tend to emerge mid-morning. So when I woke up after 8 am, I pulled myself out of bed and went down and outside to check on things.
It was definitely the day!!!
I hung around outside, taking pictures of the gardens, other butterflies, birds, bees and whatever else caught my fancy – checking for movement every twenty minutes or so.
But then… I guess I got distracted and took a little longer than twenty minutes because when I came back…
The monarch as out and his wings were almost completely unfurled! (They come out all crumpled up and have to pump blood through their wings to shape them)
Isn’t it neat how they hang off their chrysalis? Normally, they would hang from their chrysalis for a few hours until ready to fly. But this guy was low, and too close to a certain ginger feline. I didn’t want him to start flexing his wings, and start attracting the attention of the Mighty Monarch Murderer. (His body count is five so far… that I know of!)
So I got the new baby to hook onto my fingers, and took him to a safer spot…
I put him on the new butterfly bush – it’s in a fairly sheltered spot, and would give him easy food when he was ready.
After that, I tried to check on him every hour or so. But after 1 pm, I got caught up in my sewing. When I came out again, around 4:30, he was gone .
I’m sure I’ll see him around the garden in the weeks to come!
And there’s still the second chrysalis…
So I have another chance to witness a monarch birth! I’ll definitely be keeping a close watch on this one!
Well my friends… the most wonderful thing has happened. I was noodling around in the yard and by complete chance, came across….
A Monarch chrysalis!!! Don’t ask me how I saw it, because it’s tucked away, under the siding, and behind the corner trim, outside the catio on the corner of the house. Very well hidden. (Thank goodness it’s OUTSIDE the catio – Lemmy has been an absolute monster to the butterflies!!!)
And if that wasn’t enough… I looked a little lower…. and on the very last row siding…
A SECOND chrysalis!!!
I couldn’t believe my luck. And aren’t they just so pretty? Like little pods of jade with just a touch of gold leaf – nature is amazing. And if you look close, they are somewhat translucent, so you can just make out the shape of a creature inside.
I found them on August 25. Monarchs take 10-14 days to emerge, and since I’m not sure when these guys made their chrysalis, I’ve been checking them everyday.
Yesterday, I noticed the lower one is just starting to change colour.
So that means today or tomorrow, we should be able to witness the birth of a monarch!!!!
I have to say… this whole veg gardening experiment has far exceeded my expectations.
The peas are pretty much done now, but it was non-stop snacking for Dave almost all summer. Same with the tender beans – we even got enough to cook up at dinner a few times. There’s been a regular supply of cucumbers since mid-July that has only just slowed down. We even had enough to trade with the neighbour for a couple of his red cabbages
This particular cabbage got turned into a Cabbage Roll Casserole for Dave. I prefer my cabbage steamed, or in coleslaw, so that’s what I’ll do with the second one.
The tomato plant continues to grow ever larger, and get more tomatoes
I finally picked the first red one, and there are more “colouring up”. We are going to be overrun with the darn things soon enough!
It was super exciting to harvest my first carrot last week! Just look at how nice, big and ORANGE it is. I’ve never grown carrots at all, so I’m extra thrilled with this. I have to wait a little longer to harvest more – this one was from my first sowing, and most of those died. My second sowing should be ready in a couple of weeks.
And speaking of long….
Have you ever seen beans like these??? They are a Chinese long bean…. and I’m not going to lie, when I bought the seeds, I really had no idea what they were. I was just looking for long, skinny beans. And I got them!
That said, I won’t plant them again. Dave doesn’t mind them raw (I’m not a fan of raw beans regardless), but neither of us were a fan of them cooked. They didn’t have a lot of taste. I’ll stick with my “bush” beans from now on.
But I’m happy to report, that while they took their time getting started, both the catnip and the chives have made a respectable showing. I know next year, they will be just spectacular!
The raspberry patch is still new, and quite small, but I’m finally getting some ripe fruit. I’ve got a traditional red, everbearing raspberry, and then a fun, golden raspberry, which was a gift from my neighbour. I’m hoping to expand, and add some blackberries next year.
And as delighted as I am with that….
This makes me absolutely giddy with anticipation! These are my acorn squash… just two so far, but there are lots more blooms with the promise of fruit! I can almost taste these guys… but I still have several weeks to wait!
One last thing before I go… I can’t believe I keep forgetting to share this bit of awesomeness with you…
You may recall, several months back, I was making an attempt at rooting a pineapple plant from the top. Well the experiment was a complete failure… mine just rotted.
But at the start of the summer, Dave and I were in Walmart and you wouldn’t believe what they had!….
Yes!!! That is a potted pineapple plant… complete with actual pineapple.!!!!
It’s not very big, and honestly doesn’t seem to have grown much in the few months I’ve had it.
I have no idea when I’m supposed to pick it. But for now, I’m just tending to it… amazed that I’m actually growing a pineapple!!!
While today is not the anniversary of the day we found a certain little wet, dirty ginger kitten in a parking lot… it is our best guess of what his birthday could be.
It’s hard to believe that sleek beast on the right was ever as round and puffy as the little thing on the left!
His is, however, just as loud and demanding.
It’s a theme that’s only gotten worse as he’s grown. Seriously, he is the yelling-est cat I’ve ever had! And Burton is quite the talker. Even Rupert is quite vocal. But neither of them have anything on Lemmy!
But… he’s also very sweet.
He purrs at the drop of a hat, and loves a good lap session. More often than not, we find him in the bed with us in the morning.
He hasn’t lost his curiosity…
And he continues to make me laugh with his antics.
His coat had darkened with age, and he’s now very close in colour to Rupert – although he’s double the size of his diminutive doppelganger.
He loves to be out in the catio, chasing bugs, murdering monarchs, and yelling at birds.
Or just chilling on his toadstool.
But he also loves just hanging out with us. On workdays, I can pretty much count on him showing up in my office around 2 pm.
He gets a little loving, then retires to the cat tree, where he naps until it’s quitting time.
He’s fit in so well with our motley crew…
and we couldn’t be happier our paths brought us together that fateful October day.
We don’t often get to the ReStore in Sarnia often. Sarnia is a 40 minute drive from the house, and the Re-Store closes at 5 during the week, making it near impossible with my job. I avoid any large city like the plague on the weekends because I don’t like dealing with the crowds (I don’t even like Strathroy on the weekend, and it’s population is only 20,000).
So when we found ourselves in Sarnia on weekday for a health appointment, Dave insisted we stop. I didn’t want to, but recalled that I almost always find cool stuff when I don’t want to go.
And this time was no different.
Yes. It’s a cauldron. And it’s cast iron! It’s not super huge… maybe 20″ across. It wasn’t in great shape – the inside was quite rusted.
But it was only $20. And if you’re looking for these types of things, you know even the small ones go for hundreds of dollars. And I knew Dave could clean it up enough to use it in the garden. It had four holes in the bottom already, so that’s probably what the last owner was using it for.
When we got home, Dave put a wire brush on his drill and got to work. Once the rust was cleaned out, coated the inside with liquid rubber and gave the whole thing a good thick coat of paint.
After that it was up to me.
On our last trip to Rona, I got some fire pit bricks. Then I cleared a little corner just outside Edible Alley. I pulled up the celosia I had planted in the catio, and the calibrochoa from the white boxes out front and…
My little cauldron is brewing up something wonderful!!!
Isn’t it so cute?
Next spring, I’ll figure out some perennials that give the same effect, but for now I’ll just enjoy my little witches brew as is.
After several weeks of neglect, I finally got back to stitching on my chicken
When I started stitching the chicken, I didn’t quite get her exactly centred. I wasn’t in the mood to rip it out, so I designed some flowers to help balance her out.
Burton gave it a full inspection, and declared it a success.
There’s still some more work to be done in the top, but with any luck I can finish that up next weekend!
It was another perfect weekend weatherwise. And while I wanted to sew all weekend, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be out in the fresh air.
And as always, there’s always something to be done in the garden. Mostly because I just can’t stop collecting plants. It seems like every time we’ve gone out the last couple of weeks, I’ve picked up another plant or two for the garden.
And I really needed to get them in the ground.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been tracking the sun exposure where the old fence used to be. And it actutally gets quite a bit of sun… and it extends much further into the woodland garden now that the fence isn’t there.
So I decided to take all the new plants, and build some “walls”, giving the woodland garden more of a sense of enclosure. I got out my tools and started stripping turf. The area wasn’t too hard to clear, but I soon learned that digging for planting was going to be a little more challening than I first thought. I came across some large areas of concrete (probably footings from another, long-ago fence) too big for little ‘ol me to dig out. There was also the stump of a walnut Dave had cut down not long after we moved. It was a tree that obviously wasn’t planted on purpose and was way too close to the house.
But, I persevered, worked around the obstructions, and soon I had two new garden areas.
The area on the left was an extension of the border garden that runs the length of the fence. Then I mirroed it on the house said. I only had enough black mulch to cover the left garden, so the right side got plain, undyed mulch – which was free courtesy of the town council.
After the big storm, they asked every one who could to bring their broken trees and branches to an empty lot on the edge of town. They brought in some industrial wood chippers, and turned it all into a big pile of mulch, and we’re all welcome to take as much mulch as we want for free until the end of the month.
Next spring, I’ll get more black mulch because I prefer the look of it, but this will do for now.
And I know you’re dying to see all the new pretties I planted.
I’ve been thrilled to discover that my beloved Tickseed doesn’t just come in shade of yellow and red, but also pinks!!!
So I have FOUR new ones!
Despite my trouble with beetles and sawflies, I don’t have near enough roses…
So a trip to Rona saw this buttery beauty come home with me. Her name is Mellow Yellow, and long time readers will recognize her from the townhouse garden. She didn’t survive a revamp I did there, and I’ve missed her ever since.
I added several new sages. The first is a pretty pale blue. The last two are “Baby Sage: and while they are perennials, they will require some extra love to get them through the winter.
The big greenhouse on the way to Sarnia posted about Butterfly bushes on their Facebook page
And I couldn’t wait to run there and got get one! I picked out this lovely pale lavender. This is my fifth butterfly bush and it won’t be my last.
While there, Dave took a shine to this pretty thing.
It’s called Bluebeard and will become quite shrubby as it ages. Dave liked that it had several bumblebees on it in the nursery, so it was definitely a good candidate for our garden.
I also relocated a few of the Cherry Brandy Susans that were taking over the catio yard..
and planted several of the foxglove seedlings, since I still had so many!
Eventually, these two gardens will grow tall and full and help the woodland garden feel like a separate space. And I plan to get another arbour for the space between the two gardens.
But that can wait until next year. I’m done digging for this year!
Although the days are still quite warm, there’s a cool breeze in the evenings that just hints of autumn on the horizon.
And there are other signs in the garden.
All my Susans are in their full glory. And I have to move some of them around before the weather turns – like the foxglove, they’ve re-seeded themselves all over and are in places I never intended.
My catio Chrysanthemums are all starting to bloom. There’s a fourth one in Willow Grove, but I need to move it. It’s in too much shade and is not doing well.
The native Helenium (Sneezeweed) is just starting to bloom too – and it’s just so darn cute with those button tops!
And the pink Physostegia is standing tall and proud.
The more common Sedum (Autumn Joy) is just starting to pink up, but my new dark one (Jose Aubergine) is blooming beautifully against those purple leaves!
And there’s still more to come – the asters have yet to bloom, and the toad lilies are still a few weeks out.
In the mean time, several of the plants are having a second go…
Clockwise from top left: pink Foxglove, white Foxglove, pale yellow Columbine, pink Lupin, purple Clematis, and blue Delphiniums.
And as long-time readers know… we get flowers right to the first hard frost…. which is usually mid-October, but sometimes can be all the way to early November!
You know from my posts that I’m fascinated by insects of all kinds. I love my butterflies and moths, but I equally love spiders (and always have).
So you won’t be surprised that I have allowed a spider to take up residence on our side porch (and main entrance). She’s a Furrow spider (a type of Orb weaver). I’ve named her Ophelia and she’s about the size of a nickel
She only comes out at night, by day her web is empty, except for whatever bits of her meals from the night before are left hanging about.
So I was surprised when I came out one afternoon, and there was something rather large and brown hanging in the web. It didn’t take long to realize it was a hummingbird moth! And it was still alive!!!
As much as I like Ophelia, I just couldn’t let her munch on the fluffy guy!
I gently freed him from the sticky strings. He must have been pretty tired from struggling, because he hung out on my hand for several minutes… just vibrating his little wings, but not flying off.
But eventually… gathered enough strength and flew off into the sunset.
And don’t worry about Ophelia. She’s not starving by any means…
Isn’t she a pretty girl??? (Long lens is great for taking spider pictures too!!!)
Wandering Cat Studio 