Late fall

Nest

This leftover nest remains in one of the forsythias. The interior is smoothly  plastered with a thin coating of dried mud. I haven't done any research yet but think it probably belonged to a robin or catbird.

I spotted it while wrestling honeysuckle out of the bushes.

Most of the trees have lost their leaves, but our little crape myrtle was still showing some fine color. Earlier in November I cleaned up and enlarged the flower bed around its toes to make room for planting bulbs: mixed tulips, grape hyacinths, and the forgotten daffodils I dug up accidentally. If you think you have spotted a great place for bulbs, you probably already planted some there! The back corner of this little bed is now home to a new, small clematis called Chevalier. It is still green, but has been outside just long enough to begin to show a slight touch of bronze.

Behind this bed, and to the right of the forsythia, is what's left of an old viburnum. Through the years it has suffered from our indecision about its ideal form (small, multistemmed tree or large bush?). In the meantime, the main central group of trunks died and rotted. Now all but the base of the dead center has been removed, leaving a sparse and scraggly cluster of younger shoots coming up from the roots. We hope that pruning will encourage them to branch out and act like a bush again. In the meantime, the leaves are a lovely golden shade. (See photos below. Someday I'll learn how to align them better.)

Crape myrtle "Natchez"

Tulips, grape hyacinths, and daffodils

Clematis "Chevalier"

Viburnum

Mantises

Mantis on fennel

When I stepped out the back door, there  she was on the fennel plant by the step, making her way south. Was she the remaining adult from the little band of mantis infants I saw when summer began?

Northwest of the fennel, on a patch of sedum, I spotted a mantis's egg case near where I had recently seen a different, greener mantis. I've never seen the hatchlings emerge, so I'll try to keep an eye out come spring.

Mantis egg case on sedum

Fall surprise

Late summer was a busy time, and not much attention was paid to the yard. Then, in mid-October, after being away for a bit, I found these late instar Black Swallowtail caterpillars lingering on the bronze fennel next to the back steps. They are gone now, off to winter over (I hope) in their chrysalises. Failing to find them, I leave the fennel uncut. On a sunny afternoon the warm fennel smell still floats above the foliage.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving cactus is blooming right on time:


The lilac in the backyard is hopelessly confused:



And the wreath I got at last week's Garrett Park craft fair is hanging next to the front door:

End of Summer

 
 



Yesterday morning was overcast, windy, and threatening rain, but the volunteer zinnia was still blooming. A lone monarch clung to it, feeding.

Butterflies and others

A lovely sunny day, and several butterflies--skippers, cabbage white, Painted Lady, and a Red-spotted Admiral. Also I startled a large preying mantis into flight.

Cleaning up, continued

We had a nice sunny day. I put in another 2.5 hours digging in the south west corner, prying up weeds, dividing and redistributing daylilies and siberian iris, and dividing and replanting bulbs as I came across them. I also worked in the 75 small bulbs from a bag I bought at Hardware City on impulse, while we were in line to buy a space heater after the furnace died. It seems that perfection in the flowerbeds, or at least satisfactory improvement, is only about 24 hours away. At this rate, I'll finish in February. At least I'll have a nice new furnace to keep me warm between digs.

Cleaning up

Yesterday afternoon was another installment in the flowerbed cleanup saga. This time I worked on the back (south-west) corner. Accomplishments included removal of the big old dead deciduous azalea, digging out a lot of poke weed, and generally digging up and replanting (rearranging) the daylilies in that corner, and the bulbs hiding in their toes. Weeds and weed roots (couch grass, poke weed, and bind weed) filled 2 county-approved paper yard trim bags.
That limited area at least is a lot better but I was rushing. I need several days I don't have to finish and really think things through.
While I was working 3 butterflies came to the purple butterfly bush: 2 painted ladies and a lovely buckeye.