From this…
To this…
Well, that about does it for the autumn colors.
Posts Tagged ‘garden’
first snow
Thursday, November 8th, 2012the front hill, 9 wks later
Thursday, September 6th, 2012It’s been a little more than two months since the front slope got planted. Here’s what it looked like at the end of June (click to biggify)…
And here’s what it looks like at the beginning of September…
Not bad, I suppose. I haven’t lost any plants yet, so that’s a plus. Off to a decent start — must constantly remind myself to be patient — but still needs a year or two to grow in completely and begin to resemble a meadow. Next year it will look fabulous. The third year, golden.
Want a closer inspection? Rollover the images for deets…
Remember this shot from back in June?
That Caesalpinia gilliesii (Yellow Bird of Paradise) has come a long way. She’s now taller than I am!
The crazy looking blooms, whose scent on a warm evening remind me of Indian food, are generally swarming with bumbles. But I shot this right after a big rain and the bees were nowhere to be seen…
For those who care to obsess, you can find my entire front hill plant menu here.
butt-thra babies!
Saturday, August 25th, 2012You’ll never guess what Bix and I discovered this weekend! Butt-thra, our monarch butterfly, had babies!
Here it is just 20 days later and the eggs that she laid on our butterfly weed have already hatched and grown. I had no idea it all happened so quickly!
After I spotted the one above, I came across a few more babies a little while later…
What you don’t see is a tiny caterpillar who hasn’t made its way into view yet. So four babies counted so far!
From what I’ve learned, there are three generations of monarchs during the warm season. The last generation — the one born in August-September — is the one that makes the 2,000 mile flight to Mexico. That makes these fellas future travelers.
Isn’t that exciting?
monarch midwifery: day 13!
Friday, August 3rd, 2012Hatch day! Got outside at about 5:20 am. Just me, a cup of tea and my iPhone. Right after 6 a.m., the monarch crysalis started to open. The stupid camera couldn’t seem to focus on the right thing, but you can just make out the split starting from the bottom…
Seconds later she popped out!
Note the tiny wings and the huge abdomen. Over the next hour and a half, Bix and David and I watched as she hung there pumping fluid from the thorax into her wings…
You can see her wings gradually grow while her abdomen skinnifies, all Jenny Craiglike…
Then she opened her wings. I could barely fit her in the shot!
Scarcely over two hours after she began her transformation from pupa to butterfly, our baby took her first flight…
* INSERT TEARS OF JOY HERE *
This evening I discovered the newborn fluttering around our sumacs, so she’s still here. Hopefully she’s enjoying our butterfly buffet before she heads south.
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Addendum #1:
After watching Godzilla vs. The Thing (also known as Godzilla vs. Mothra) last night, Bix and I dubbed our magical monarch “Butt-thra” in deference to our favorite winged monster, Mothra…
Addendum #2:
Bix requests that you join us for a song before you go, okay?
FYI, If you’re not familiar with the Singing Science series by Motivation Records, check it out. Fantastic and fun. (Space Songs and the two Nature records are our favorites.)
monarch watch: holy moly!
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012At about lunchtime I posted that there wasn’t much going on with our butterfly friend. But look what she’s gone and done in the last two hours…
Can you believe it? It’s almost butterfly time!
projects update: built-ins + butterflies
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012Let’s see… when we left off on Day 9, it was almost time for our monarch butterfly to bust out of her chrysalis, fan us with her awe-inspiring wings and flutter on out of here. So what’s up?
DAY 10
DAY 11
DAY 12
So much for the 10-day cycle. Ever waited for a cat to have kittens? It’s kind of like that. I go outside and check the chrysalis throughout the day. When something happens I’ll let you know.
In other news that might actually be news, David and Joe are downstairs banging out the built-ins. Here’s your sneak-peek…
Once they’re in, David can tell you all about them. Also waiting in the wings: our murphy bed hardware. So there’s that to look forward to, as well.
One last note: the wallpaper decision has been made. I’m saving it as a surprise. All will be revealed with the fullness of time.
monarch, day 8 + 9
Monday, July 30th, 2012Our monarch butterfly is still cooking on days 8 and 9…
I let our very rainy weekend stop me from snapping a shot on Day 7. But I have a feeling our friend looked quite similar to the above.
So is Tuesday hatch day? It will be 10 days since she climbed into position and that’s supposedly how long metamorphosis lasts. I may have to hover over her all day tomorrow to capture her emergence!
monarch, day 6
Friday, July 27th, 2012I think I see the green beginning to shift a little. Perhaps our butterfly friend’s change to orange is beginning? Or I’m imagining things…
Looking quite a bit different from Days 1 and 2. Four more days to go!
monarch, days 4 + 5
Thursday, July 26th, 2012Our butterfly friend is looking fairly unchanged from day 4…
to day 5…
But I imagine there’s a lot happening in there. As it turns out, the pupa is clear and the color you see is the green butterfly on the inside. As she gets closer to “done,” the color will change to the bright monarch orange we know and love.
Only five more days to go!
