Saturday, September 19, 2009

Summer Blows, Fall Rolls (rate my off rhyme?)

Spring--blah. Summer--over rated, too hot. Fall--many flowers AND dead grasshopper sex.

In bloom are new england aster, aster laevis, aster lateriflorus, aster puniceus, aster tartaricus, aster oblongifolious, sedums, boltonias, butterfly bushes, goldenrods, sages, helianthus, eupatoriums, monkey flower, turtlehead, agastache, penstemon, cardinal flower, and clematis virginiana aka sweet autumn clematis. Heck, some of these are only just barely starting to flower. Bring on the 40s next week.














Welcome. Tickets please. Don't have any? My giant preying mantis and grasshopper bouncers will show you the way out.













If had more than one turtlehead I wouldn't like this nearly as much.













Eupatoriums: 'Baby Joe' and 'Prairie Jewel.'


















Helianthus 'Lemon Queen', eupatoriums, clematis virginiana.














E. 'Wayside'














Look back toward the house.














Boltonia 'Snowbank' begs to be cut back next June. Yikes. Roots aren't even big enough yet to hold it straight up.













Happened to walk by just as it was deskinning.













Push yourself up into the silk. (Unfortunately, a few days later tachnid fly larvae emerged.)













I couldn't open my tool chest for over a week until this guy emerged. Notice the proboscus.













Yeah, sure, he blends in perfectly....













Can a live grasshopper have sex with a dead one? Sorta looks like it.

And finally, we have viceroy eggs on the dwarf arctic blue willow shrub. Easy to spot--placed on the very tip. The young instars will overwinter in silk tubes made around willow stems. I think we may now have more viceroys than monarchs flying about.

9 comments:

Les said...

Interesting to see the black and white picture of yourself, obviously taken in a different time of year - contrasted with the color shot in same place with the fullness of a summer nearing its end. Your garden has really filled in nicely.

Benjamin Vogt said...

Les--Would you believe me if I said that b&w pic was from last October? I swear to you, I do not fertilize or over water (I only water the newer plants for a few weeks). I was thinking of doing a comparison post this fall. It's amazing!

our friend Ben said...

Lush and lovely, Benjamin. I'm with you: welcome, fall! As for the grasshopper thing... eewwww. But on the plus side, at least there'll be fewer grasshoppers in your garden next year! (But it did remind me of that classic Alice Cooper song, "I Love the Dead"... )

Unknown said...

Acrobatic slug sex, grasshopper sex with possibly necrophilial overtones... and people think that gardening is so innocent! ;)

Like Les, I'm amazed at the difference in your garden in just a year. Definitely do a comparison post--please?

Unknown said...

p.s. I'm 99.99% sure that boltonia is one that you should cut back in the late spring/early summer if you want a more compact, sturdier plant in general... I don't think that it has anything to do with the roots on yours, I think that's just what the plant does in general.

WiseAcre said...

Your garden has matured nicely.

Great shot of the grasshoppers. Hope the mantis is preying for them.

Town Mouse said...

What a fun post! Fall here is pretty miserable (though we do get good spiders), so it's great to see fall in other places where it's not quite so dry.

And Congratulations on being among the most popular Nebraska blogs on Blotanical. I've just voted for you so you'll become THE most most popular. Good luck!

Layanee said...

Lushness abounds. You make me laugh...sorry but that dark side is a bit humorous. Sick grasshoppers....

Meredith/Great Stems said...

Great photos of the chrysalis and butterfly -- and those grasshoppers, ha!