This is Furby. Furby lives up the street from us. He’s a strictly outdoor cat… something I’m not thrilled with… but that’s another story.

Furby has elected himself as my new garden cat. Just like Relic did when he first started coming around, Furby suddenly appears when he hears me out in the garden.

He hangs out with my while I work away on the weeds.

And he enforces snuggle breaks! He’s a wonderful gardening companion and I love having him around!

It’s no just the butterflies and their offspring that bring me joy in my yard.

I’m always delighted when I come across these guys! But it’s rare when I come across them when they are still this small.

The pair of them went hopping out of the path of my lawn mower on Saturday. I had to stop the mower and relocate them to a safer spot in the yard.

Later that day, I was weeding in the catio and I came across this big boy on the other side of the size spectrum.

How big you ask?

Here’s my hand for scale.

Naturally, since I had drawn attention to it, Lemmy had to check it out.

He was pretty cool at first….

But it’s Lemmy, so you know it was never going to last…

The bops got progressively more aggressive (he really wanted to make that toad hop!)

So toad got relocated to a safer spot too! Gotta keep my garden insect control safe and happy!

The other week, when I posted about the butterflies, I mentioned that I hoped the Tiger Swallowtail had laid some eggs in my carrots or parsley. But I wasn’t thinking… that’s the wrong kind of Swallowtail. Tiger Swallowtail caterpillars primarily feed on trees and shrubs in the families Magnoliaceae and Rosaceae, as well as other plants like birch, willow, and ash. Specifically, common host plants include tulip tree, sweet bay magnolia, and wild black cherry

The carrot family lovers are Black Eastern Swallowtails. They look like something like this:

This one is actually a Spicebush Swallowtail, but its close. You may recall that I had them frequently at the townhouse. In fact, it was my first interaction with caterpillars and chrysalises… though it didn’t end happily.

Interestingly enough…. I’ve never seen and Black Eastern Swallowtails here. Just the Tigers. So, imagine my surprise when I went out to inspect my carrots and found these guys…

There were about five in total, and already a good size. Almost ready to make their Chrysalises.

I had a couple last year, but much, much later in the year. And I still never saw the parent.

I’ve been checking on these guys every day, and one by one they’ve disappeared… gone off to find a good spot to become a butterfly. If I’m very lucky, I might find a chrysalis – but I’m not getting my hopes up. These ones are really difficult to spot.

But I did get lucky, and while I was out there on the weekend…

And got to see this ragged beauty. By the state of the wings… it’s quite possibly the parent. As I’ve noted before, Butterflies mate, lay eggs, then fly until they die.

And from the looks of things, this one only had a day or two left. I’m honoured it chose my garden for the next generation, and a place to spend it’s last days.

Now I just hope I can spot it’s babies as they emerge just as beautiful!

Another Tuesday….

Another post about how I barely got any stitching done this weekend! I’m really feeling like a broken record here. I just can’t seem to find the time to work on it. I managed to get some more stem work done, but that’s it.

Now there’s only two days left to the end of the month and my self imposed goal. Can I finish it (and block 20) before then? Probably not. But maybe by next Tuesday! It is a long weekend in Ontario after all!

I know I said I was setting aside knitting for a while to work on my embroidery. But Friday there was a little chink in the plans. A while back I mentioned thefts in the neighbourhood – I didn’t go into detail then, but one was of my dress form in the front yard (with the honeysuckle growing up it). Thanks to our security camera footage, and friendly neighbourhood facebook pages, the thief was identified (she’s well known in the town for stealing property apparently), I got the dress form back and police were involved.

All has been quiet since until this past week when the thief decided to retaliate on us for calling the police by vandalizing our property – easily cleaned but annoying. Once again police were involved, and I spent 14 hours going through our security footage. Even on 2x speed, going through 28 hours of footage is exceedingly tedious (it looks much more exciting on CSI). I needed something to keep my hands busy so my mind wouldn’t wander while watching clip after clip of my front walkway.

My cable sock would take my eyes off the screen too much – but a vanilla sock… that was the perfect solution. I grabbed the leftover bits from the original Sanderson socks. I knew they would be enough for a pair of anklets for me. (And JUST enough – there was about 5 inches of yarn of the first ball left at the end). It was just the thing to keep me focused on the footage. And I got a sock out of it!

Charges have been laid again, and hopefully I won’t be knitting the second sock in front of a screen anytime soon… but given her track record… who knows.

Aren’t they looking succulent?

These are Sugar Baby Watermelons. They are basically a personal-sized watermelon (about 5-7 lbs). I’m not a fan of watermelon, so I thought these would be fun to grow for Dave. They are also ideal for my small garden. I decided to grow them on the Squash ladder instead of the tunnel so I could use the steps to support the fruit as it grew.

And so far, so great! I’ve actually had to cut away several vines because the plants are doing so well. We’re probably still a few weeks off from harvesting, but I’m so happy with my first try so far. Of course, the real proof will be in the eating. But Dave will be doing that because ew… watermelon.

My cucumbers seem to be developing a little slower than last year. But I have harvested a couple.

The first is the lemon cucumber I bought from my favourite local nursery. Isn’t it cute! It certainly doesn’t look like a cucumber! But Dave says it tastes like one!

Here it is with one of my Japanese cucumbers. They are similar to an English cucumber.

I’m also really pleased with the progress of my peppers.

These were bought on a whim for Dave, of course (I don’t actually eat many vegetables). I’ve never had much luck with peppers, but I have four plants and all four have decent sized peppers so far

I’ll give them a while longer and see how big I can get them.

And last…

We have tomatoes! Or at least we will very soon. These are Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes. Also bought on a whim as I already have the yellow pear tomatoes growing. Though they may look ready, they aren’t and a clue as to why is in the name. They get a much darker red, almost brown. A few more days.

I’ve said it before… the garden is a strange and mysterious world, with magic known only to itself.

Like… Where the heck did these Balloon Flowers come from????

So here’s the thing. I did plant Balloon Flowers in the garden. But I planted ONE plant, in the sidewalk garden (about 20 feet away from this spot). And that was in 2023. And it never came back. And I had no Balloon Flowers in 2024. Also… that 2023 Balloon Flower looked like this:

So what the heck??? I know Balloon Flowers do spread by seed – but I’d love to know how far that seed travelled, because none of my neighbours in the general vincinty have any!

Another mystery over in the veg garden…I touched on last week. And I actually think I solved the mystery. Or at least part of it.

It’s doubled in size since I showed you last week. It’s on a vine that SHOULD be a Celebration squash. But that clearly is not a celebration squash. But I remembered… I had several squash plants come up in the old squash bed (seeds from rotted squash from last year). So instead of planting fresh seeds… I just dug up the seedlings and replanted them where I wanted the squash this year. And I’ve learned that the squash/pumpkin/cucumber family is very… promiscuous. That means they can cross pollinate with pretty much anything in that family And when that happens… you get a mix of whatever it pollinated with. In this case… I’m guessing it was one of my little star gourds. What does that mean for harvesting…. well… although it’s big… it could be inedible… from just downright bitter, to potentially mildly toxic. Or… it could have the look of a gourd… but be as tasty as a squash. It really is a gamble.

It’s also possibly mixed with a yellow zucchini. Though that would have had to come from a neighbours garden as I didn’t grown any last year. So it’ still a bit of a mystery… even if I mostly figured out what happened. The other mystery is… will all the other plants be like this?

Either way… I’ll be planting from bought seed when it comes to the cucurbit family from now on!

And here’s another somewhat mystery solved.

My double decker coneflowers did not mysteriously dissapear….

Apparently I forgot that they just take some time to develop that upper deck. And until they do, they just look like a regular pink coneflower.

This next one isn’t a mystery… but just Mother Nature showing that she does what she wants. I think I mentioned that I lost my big white Butterfly bush this year. I had it planted more or less where the downspout from the kitchen roof came down. And we had a very wet, cold winter… and it turns out Butterfly bushes just can’t take that much wet. Lesson learned.

I bought a new one, and planted it in a different spot. (It’s going to bloom soon). But looked what popped up in the catio…

Now… it didn’t just “pop up” really. I do weed the catio (which I’ll be doing again today), and I when I first noticed it as little seedling, I thought it might be a Helenium I planted there, that had struggled. But as it grew, it became increasingly obvious it was not.

In truth – it might not be a white one – as I have several colours. But the white one was only about six feet away from where this one popped up, so white it most likely. Sadly, I can’t leave it in the catio. It will get too big. I’ll have to dig it up and find another spot for it. Or maybe donate it to a neighbour.

Either way… it just goes to show… the gardener plans… Mother Nature laughs.

Any good mysteries in your garden?

I showed you all the wonderful butterflies that have been visiting my yard on Wednesday. And as you know, I do as much as I can to help them thrive and survive – especially the monarchs. But, it’s a sad fact that less than 10 percent of monarch caterpillars ever make it to the butterfly stage.  This low survival rate is due to factors parasites, diseases, harsh weather conditions, and predators.

And sadly in our yard, that includes…

Lemmy!!!!! While he doesn’t touch the caterpillars. He does affect their numbers by taking down the adults. I’m afraid he’s become an expert butterfly hunter, and the monarch seem to be his favourite.

So far his kill count is three. That I’ve found at least. There may be more. And probably more to come.

It’s a tough life for the Monarch!

Before I set the cable socks aside, to work on my embroidery for the rest of the month, I wanted to at least get the heel turned on them.

Before I could do that, I had to get the leg to the proper length. It was only about an inch more needed…. but boy did it seem to take forever! I’m pretty sure someone or something was undoing my knitting at night.

But… eventually I got there. And as you can see, got the heel turned as well.

Now, I can pay full attention to my tiny needle without too much guilt.

Although the horrible humidity is set to return tomorrow, I’ve been enjoying the past few perfect summer days. And I’m not the only one. In the afternoons, the backyard is filled with butterflies.

It’s not been unusual to see multiple monarchs in the yard at the same time.

They are makin good use of the milkweed.

We’ve already got a good crop of caterpillars, and the monarchs’ regular presence means there are many more to come.

This big beauty, of course, is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. I only saw her on the coneflowers….

but I hope she made a stop on the carrots or parsley to lay some eggs.

On the other end of the size spectrum, we have the Banded Hairstreak. It’s very tiny – about the size of a dime. And as you can see, it’s mostly grey/brown.

Except for a little bit of blue and orange on its hindwing.

Also in the small range, we have the Summer Azure.

As you can see, it’s a lovely pale blue butterfly. And so small she’s easy to miss in the garden if you aren’t paying attention.

These Northern Crescents are a little bit bigger and much more noticeable with their bright orange colours.

They are usually pretty common in my garden from now until early fall. And they seem to prefer the yellow flowers.

Though not always!

And here’s another common summer visitor…

The comma! So named for that little white crescent mark on her wing. When closed, her wings are dark brown and have a bit of a tortoiseshell pattern.

But the open side is bright orange.

Now these Red Admirals are normally quite frequent visitors to the garden.

But this year they’ve been noticeably absent. This is only the third time I’ve seen one this year. And as you can see, it’s probably nearing the end with those damaged wings.

But this guy….

This guy is a new visitor! It’s a Common Snout butterfly! And I think you can see how it got its name.

It’s a medium sized butterfly, on par with the Red Admiral, Comma, and White Cabbage.

And last… I actually thought this was a wasp when I took the picture….

It wasn’t until I downloaded it and looked closer that I noticed it was something different. Check out those fuzzy legs!

Sadly, as neat as it is, it’s bad news for my garden! It’s a Squash Vine Borer Moth. It lays eggs that turn into caterpillars that burrow into my squash plants and absolutely decimate it! I’m pretty sure it’s the reason I lost my entire squash crop last year.

So excuse me while I go inspect my plants!!!!