Random pretties

There is not much new to report over here. Summer is summering along with warm temps, less humidity (thank GOODness!) and just general niceness. The dog days of summer, as they say! We still have not had much rain to speak of - a couple little showers here and there, so I am still a slave to my plants and must water them again today!

An exciting occurrence in my back yard for the last few days - tons of monarchs and other butterflies have been visiting, but even more importantly? HONEY BEES!!! I could barely believe my eyes a couple of afternoons ago as I was outside enjoying my nice flowers and tomatoes and such! If you have been unaware, the honey bee population recently crashed and our poor farmers have to now import honey bees from England and other places to pollinate their crops. They are essential to the whole system of producing fruit and other crops. SO! Imagine my delight upon seeing about a dozen honey bees enjoying the butterfly bushes in the back! Woooo HOOOOOO! Oh, I was talking to them and telling them to stay as long as they like! They could even build a hive nearby - I would really not mind! Oh, it was exciting.

Wait - let me go look and see if there are any back there today. Maybe I can get a photo!

It's not a nice clear one, but there's a honey bee right there:When I was just out there there were a kajillion of them! Also some butterflies, bumble bees and a wasp. Wasps are not welcome. They are just plain nasty critters.

In other randomness, my grape tomato plant is producing like crazy now! What a payoff!Add water and VOILA, yummy tomatoes to ensue! I'll have to pick a bunch of those today!

I also got another yummy vegetable plant yesterday when I was at Marblehead Garden Center for a couple projects. An EGGPLANT! It's already got baby eggplants on it and it was a totally healthy, great-looking plant with plenty of blooms, so I HAD to get it. It was all of $2.80. I could justify that. I'll photograph it later today for a new post tomorrow, K?

Onto the pretties!

Lantana:This is a wonderful plant. They are a very hearty tropical and just come in so many nice colors and color-combinations. They grow well in containers or in the ground - all-around a great plant for the garden. An annual up here, perennial in warmer climates.

Nice grouping here of my perennial mums, the lantana, annual salvia, boltonia, white tall phlox, and then the jacob's ladder that looks like it might be getting ready to flower again!

The back door is looking pretty:

The calibrachoa I planted in pots last week are finally starting to flower:

Forget-me-not sprouts are getting really big now!

And last for today, but far from least, the gorgeous hydrangeas in the back yard. I LOVE when they turn these colors:They don't even look real they're so pretty!