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.
As I mentioned yesterday, I did not have much time for anything crafty on the weekend. But I did manage to finish block 18
And I think this might be my favourite block of all of them! I just love the simplicity.
In addition, I even got a small start on Block 19.
As I said last week, I’d love to have these blocks done by then end of the month. I may just have to start stitching on week nights to accomplish that.
While I did get to spend some time in the garden, the day job spilled over, and took up a good chunk of my weekend. As such, I don’t have much crafting to share with you so I’ll have to get creative with my post this week.
Today, I’d like to share a garden friend I’ve shared before. It’s one of my personal favourites.
The friendly, neighborhood Flower Crab Spider!!! Here are some fun facts about them?
Ambush predator These spiders don’t build webs. Instead, they lie in wait on flowers to grab unsuspecting prey like bees, moths, and flies with their powerful front legs and inject venom
“Crab-like” appearance & movement Named for their crab-like look and sideways movement, they have front legs that extend sideways and resemble those of crabs.
Colour-changing masters Female flower crab spiders can shift between white and yellow over several days to match their floral backdrop
Vision-based colour change They rely on visual cues—not scent—to decide which colour to become. In fact, they may even pick up pigments from prey!
Males track females by silk draglines Without emitting pheromones, females leave silk trails as they move. Males follow these draglines to locate potential mates
Parental investment & lifecycle Females create leaf-roll nests with silk to lay eggs in mid-summer, guarding them until hatching. Mothers die soon after their young emerge. Females typically live ~2 years; males less
But the most exciting thing about them, I learned just recently!
They can capture and kill the Dreaded Japanese Beetle!!!! Now I just need about 20,000 Flower Crab Spiders and I just might keep those flying jerks under control!
We finally got a bit of a break from the humidity, if not the heat. That meant yesterday morning was ideal for working in the gardens.
Edible Alley was in need of some attention – mostly the paths needed to be cleaned of weeds (the downside of the mulch), but also got to do some harvesting.
The shallots were ready for bringing up, and I’m thrilled with the result. I got over 50 bulbs. They are about half the size of a cooking onion. Since I don’t eat onions, and only cook with them for Dave, they are an ideal size. One is usually just perfect. These are now laid out in the sun porch to cure so they keep for a good long time.
My green onion harvest wasn’t quite as good.
To be honest, I think I left them too long. I’ve got big bulbs, and almost no greens. Oh well, I’ll try again next year… and these can still be used. I’ve cleaned them up and popped them in the fridge.
The pea harvest has been pretty good so far. I’ve eaten everything we’ve had so far and now we are in a bit of a lull before they produce again.
The strawberries produce on and off all year, and I’ve currently been enjoying a couple berries each day. They are a bit on the small side, so I think I need to invest in some new plants next year.
The raspberries on the other hand, are just going gang busters. I’ve started freezing some because I just can’t keep up. I’ll be making jam again soon!
That’s it for what we can eat now, but there’s lots more coming.
My potatoes are starting to show signs of wear, so I expect I’ll be harvesting them soon. I hope there’s lots of treasures under the soil.
Baby melons are looking good. These vines have gone crazy! I’ve had to cut some back! These are sugar baby melons – a small watermelon that should get to about eight inches around.
And this one is a bit of a mystery. It looks like a yellow summer squash…. but I didn’t plant any yellow summer squash! So is it a rogue seed? Or some weird cross pollination that popped up from last year?
We are just over halfway through July, and the garden looks amazing. Of course don’t look too close or you’ll see all the weeds I’ve been unable to dispatch because of the heat. But having a metric crap-tonne of plants does make those weeds are harder to see at first glance!
Right now, the big show offs are the daylilies
I have a few several more, including a new one added this years, that are still to bloom .The show with these guys usually goes well into September.
The Asiatic and Oriental Lilies are blooming their hearts out too. A few of them (especially the Yellow Stargazers, have really been ravaged by the little red asian lily beetles, but the are still blooming their hearts out.
Marina, my beautiful blue rose of Sharon is starting to bloom. It’s really grown and filled out this year. I’m so glad I got my hands on it.
My native bee balms are in bloom. These guys really attract the humming birds. I did the Chelsea Chop on the puple one, and boy has it made a difference – usually it’s flopping all over the place, but it’s nice any tidy this year. I did it on several other plants, and the result is the same! I will be expanding it to a few others (daisies, and yarrow) next year!
I”ve been meaning to share this neat plant with you for a while. It’s called Cleome – or Spider Flower. It’s an annual and I got a white one from a local nursery last year to try out. (I’d seen seeds before). I planted it in the catio and it grew HUGE! (Taller than me) and bloomed all summer long. It was amazing.
So when I went back to that nursery this year, I was thrilled to see she was selling them again. I got six! As you can see, they come in three colours, white, pink and purple. And they are gorgeous! They also reseed.. after I bought these ones, I found several coming up in the catio. The hummingbirds like these too.
The only downside they have small hidden thorns, so you have to be careful how you grab them. Still, they are going to be a staple in my garden from here on out.
In other news, the yellow coneflower didn’t get pushed out – he was just hiding! I’ve got to dig him up and give him a better spot.
And last, the Butterfly bushes are starting to bloom. Hopefully these bring in more of my winged beauties, I feel like they’ve been noticeably absent in the garden so far this summer.
Like many of you, we are suffering through a horrible, humid, disgusting heat wave (think 40 degrees C most days). I’m able to hide out in the climate controlled out (we’re loving the heat pump we had installed in January). But the birds are stuck outside.
I have three birdbaths to help keep them cool, and I’ve been making sure the water is fresh and clean for them. I had fun watching this little robin take advantage of one of them on the weekend. The pictures were taken through the window, so I apologize for the quality.
He was having a grand time splashing about by himself.
Now… I’m hoping we get the rain they promised today…
The first Monarch Caterpillar has been spotted – this one on the Swamp Milkweed in the catio.
This one was a good size – and within a few days of taking the picture, he disappeared. Which means he’s probably headed off to make his Chrysalis! I have to keep my eyes peeled.
This is actually a couple weeks early for caterpillar spotting here. I usually don’t start seeing them until August. In fact, I’ve only seen two monarchs in the garden at all. One about a month ago (which may be this one’s Mama), and this sad specimen.
Once the caterpillars become butterflies, their only goal is to mate and lay eggs. And then they literally just flit about until their wings deteriorate. They literally fly themselves to death. But they are so beautiful until they do!
As mentioned yesterday, another hot and sweltering weekend meant more time spent indoors. It should have meant plenty time stitching, but….
While I made good progress on Block 18, I couldn’t quite finish it. I spent the majority of Saturday working on the quilt. And Sunday I spent most of the day doing some deep cleaning I’ve been putting off for the garden. By the time the evenings rolled around, I didn’t have much energy to ply the tiny needle. But I’d love to have these blocks done by the end of the month… so I think it’s time I gave myself a deadline!
Wandering Cat Studio 