dragonfly

i wish this guy had landed on a different colored background but i couldn't resist the beauty of the brown in the wings.

goodbye bees

well, the bee swarm was gone the next time i checked on it, maybe two days after i first saw it. i have no idea what happened to them, hopefully someone came and gathered them up and put them somewhere safe. i wonder if this one visiting my larkspur was part of that crowd?

i really never tire of watching the monarch caterpillars munching away at the milkweed, i have yet to discover any chrysallis though--still looking for those.

this iris, that i have had for at least 2 years now is finally blooming. i believe i got it at our folsom native plant society booth but i honestly am not sure.... it's very similar to our native louisiana iris except the leaves are different and the blooms are all clustered down around the bottom of the plant instead of shooting up and out of the leaves. i haven't tried looking it up yet to see what it really is. it was exciting though, to finally see it in bloom.

bees and babies

my husband discovered this bee colony(?) near our neighbor's driveway today while he was mowing the grass. i've never actually seen a whole mass of bees like this out in the open, usually they are in a nest or hive or whatever. very cool. i'm sure some of these must be the same ones that visit my garden.

and here are my babies on the yellow asclepia i recently planted. so cute! they are very small, fingernail cuttings size. thank god for macro settings!

bloom of the dutchman's pipe vine!!

i really don't think many words are necessary.... how cool is this??

a new bud getting ready to open!