As I was clearing out a bit of trash and leaves near the garden, I came across this beautiful moth.  It was almost as wide as my handspan, which is 8 inches.  I've seen moths like this before, and remembered that it is an Imperial Moth.  I checked with Seek to be sure.  

 

Of course all moths have larval stages, and the larvae eat plants, but the Imperial Moth caterpillars eat various species of pine, oak, maple, sassafras, and sweet gum leaves.  Not my tomato and pepper plants.  

 

Ok, they can stay.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

And here is our first BIG hornworm of the season.    Fortunately it was not in the garden.  I found it on the extra pepper plants that never got planted in the garden.  They are still in six-packs on the bottom deck.  

 

When I went to water the plants one day I noticed a bunch of chewage on the ends of the pepper plants.  So I began searching for the culprit.  It took a few minutes, but I found him, and look how huge it is...was.  As big as my index finger! 

 

My Seek app called it a tobacco hornworm because of the stripes on its back.  Tomato hornworms have V-shaped lines and red horns.  I love to give you the correct names of the things I find in the garden.  But, whether its "tomato" or "tobacco" I DON'T want ANY hornworms anywhere near my garden.  

 

 

STILL A HAPPY GARDENER!!!

 

 

That is one BIG tomato.  Isn't it beautiful?  

 

Really, I'm just bragging.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

Last week we decided to go for a Jeep ride down to the Ocoee. The Ocoee is only about an hour away, so it's a nice little day trip for us.  We pack a little picnic, put the top down, and go.

 

I know that the river isn't always open for recreation, and I wasn't sure of the schedule, so I looked it up.  It turned out to be a good day to go watch the rafters, so we headed out.  It turns out that even though the river was running, the weather wasn't that cooperative.  We got 5 miles down the road, and the bottom fell out!!  The Jeep doesn't care if it gets wet, be we got soaked!!!  So we turned around and came back home.  Of course, it is July, so getting caught in a rain storm wasn't too bad.  Actually, I thought it was kinda fun.  Maybe we will do that again.

 

Anyway, I thought you might like to have a copy of the schedule, in case you want to take a little trip.  

 

 

YOU'RE WELCOME!!

 

Last week, I showed you the Sumacs getting ready to bloom.  Well, they are blooming now and you can HEAR them before you even see them.  The pollinators are all over them, and the buzz is quite loud.  We saw about 30 bumblers and honeybees on this single bloom spike.  And there are hundreds of bloom spikes on just this one hedge.

 

LOVE IT!!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Can you believe this?  These are the same sunflowers that I showed you last week.  They just keep on blooming!!!

 

I guess there are worse things that could happen in a garden, right?  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This just shows you how cool this park really is.  When they rebuilt the handrail for the little bridge, this tree was in its path.  So instead of removing the tree, they cut out the handrail to accommodate it.  I love that!!!

 

Who was there first?

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We are on our second crop of arugula for this year.  The first crop, that we planted in March went to seed.  So I took it out, along with a ton of chickweed, and replanted the bed.

 

I didn't have many seeds, so it came up kinda patchy.  I bought another package of seeds, and overseeded it just this week.  It only takes a few days to germinate, and we will have harvestable leaves in a month.  

 

We love arugula.  I hope you grow it in your garden.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Walking the park the other day we saw these sweet little flowers.  They are Rosepinks, Sabatia angularis.  We've seen this patch before, and learned that Rosepinks are native to eastern North America, and widespread across the southern U.S.  They bloom from June to September, and are fragrant.  Hmm, I didn't know that until just now.  I will have to check it out next tip to the park.  

 

I love learning new things about things we see all the time.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I know you've seen this grass growing along the roads and everywhere.  It is all over our neighborhood.  The reason I am addressing it today is because of some interesting things I read about it.

 

Its botanical name is Microstegium vimineum, and is commonly known as Japanese Stiltgrass, packing grass, or Nepalese brown top.  Interestingly, it was accidentally introduced into the state of Tennessee around 1919 as packing materials in shipments of porcelain from China.  It has since spread across the southeastern U.S. and has become invasive.  And because white-tailed deer do not browse it, (they eat competing plants) they actually help it to grow out of control and choke out native species.

 

I also MISread that it harbors deer ticks.  Actually, what it said is that Stiltgrass is an unfavorable habitat for ticks due to higher temperature and lower humidity.  Sorry, Tom for misleading you on that.  Sky can roll in it if she likes.  

 

There are some benefits, though.  Stiltgrass can serve as a host plant for some native satyr butterflies, and it provides cover for some native amphibians.  And that thing about being an unfavorable habitat for ticks leads to their increased mortality.  That sounds like a good thing, but we probably don't want to grow it in our yards.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!