Saturday, October 17, 2009

October obsessions continued...

The olives have begun to ripen and fall from the big old Olive tree, that stands just outside my front door. I think the branches are beautiful, waving in the morning sunlight below, but I could do without squashed olives all over the ground.


Click on this next picture to see a bee in mid flight- deciding which of the little Queens Wreath (Pink Coral) flowers to land on next.


I never tire of the dahlias and the fascinating way they open their petals one by one.


The drama between passion vine, butterfly and caterpillar outside my office window continues. Here is a winner on the caterpillar side.


I initially planted the passion vines near the bird feeder, thinking that the birds would be a natural solution to the caterpillar problem. I then read that this type of caterpillar is actually toxic, and the bright colors let the birds know as much. I was sure surprised to see this bird who eariler had been perched on the vine, quickly snapping up every little caterpillar in sight...sure hope she knows what she is doing. I can't say I wasn't happy to have some help keeping them in check though.

A Lavender Lady Passion flower in the morning sun.

And more buds marching across the vine.



The Cape Honeysuckle has grown wild over the summer and probably needs to be trimmed. The flowers are so pretty though, I've been ignoring the chore, and have just enjoyed the wildness.






October is really a beautiful time in Tucson and I've tried to spend as much time outdoors as I can. I'm starting to look ahead to winter though, and make plans for protecting my potted cactus, on those really cold nights when it can hit freezing. I also need to check on which native plants need pruning in the fall/winter as I missed doing that for a couple of mine last year. I wish there were twice as many hours in each day!

2 comments:

Sue Catmint said...

lovely post, especially love the caterpillar.

Pudgeduck said...

My Grandmother grew Queens Wreath-it would cover the house and orange trees in the front of the house. It was beautiful! Dahias...I think I will try that. You have a lot going on in your garden-thanks for the tour!