Nature around Us…

These days, with the Covid-19 pandemic a constant threat, in-person socializing is rare but there is one constant.  Mother Nature continues to do what she has always done, albeit sometimes with the help of others.

Since we aren’t exploring the countryside or dining in one restaurant after another, nature and the greenery around us has become my primary focus.  Well…sort of…food is still number one, but how many sandwiches or eggs on top of something can I write about?

After a recent 'safe' dining excursion with friends Linda and Norm, we stopped at their home for a little dessert and a tour of Norm’s garden and plantings!  As you can see, their home backs up to one of our local golf courses providing a pleasant view… It’s also fitting as Norm loves golf!

Norm’s vegetable garden occupies a large section of their yard…with raised beds full of a variety of fresh produce.  Norm sent us home with a huge zucchini (which I grilled) and a number of jalapenos.  Based on all the young beans on the vines, his green bean crop is going to be outstanding.    He was still harvesting tomatoes too as well as some blackberries.

The pink hibiscus shrubs were doing their ‘thing’ too.  They could brighten up anyone’s back yard!

The hibiscus genus/family is very large.  It includes several hundred species that thrive in warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions world-wide.  They are sometimes also called rose mallow or rose of Sharon.  Interestingly, the genus includes for annual and perennial plants as well as woody shrubs and small trees.

This is a cluster of the eye-catching star shaped flowers displayed by Laurie’s latest acquisition for her plant room, a hoya carnosa plant.  The photo is a little blurry…

Hoya is a genus of 200 – 300 tropical plants in the dogbane family.  Most are native to a large number of South Asian countries as well as Australia and various Pacific islands.  In temperate zones, hoya plants are an indoor resident.  These evergreen perennial creepers need a fair amount of bright light to bloom although they can survive (no blooms) with minimal lighting.  Studies have shown that these plants are excellent in the removal of indoor pollutants.

Given the risks of Covid-19, safe visitors (or any visitors) are few and far between.  Nature and, in this instance, a lone turkey are the exception.  It was fairly dry here for most of July, and these big birds like to visit yards that feature a sprinkler system for more productive pecking.

Kids!  Time to strike out on their own.  Laurie caught this photo of an immature female house finch at one of our watering sites, still screaming at mom, begging for food rather than looking for something to eat herself.  Mom ignored her…

Laurie’s cone flowers are very popular!  Here we have an Eastern Black Swallowtail stopping by for an extensive feast… I think that I’ve properly identified this visitor but I’m no butterfly expert.

Swallowtail butterflies are large and colorful.  There are more than 550 species around the world.  The majority of them are tropical but members of this family inhabit every continent except Antarctica.  North America is home to at least 40 different species of swallowtails.  Note the forked appearance of this butterfly’s hindwings…hence the common name “swallowtail”.  However, just to confuse things, not all swallowtails have swallowtails...

The cone flowers also drew in every variety of bee, large and small, that lives in our neighborhood!  I didn’t even try to identify our bee visitors but Laurie says it's a honey bee.  We did see honey bees, bumble bees and carpenter bees feeding on these flowers.

Our final visitors for this post were these 2 does who stopped by one early evening, grazing through the green space at the back of our house…and then stopping by one of our big boulders for a drink.  This particular boulder sits under our big oak tree and it has a natural depression in it that holds water.  In warm weather, if Mother Nature doesn’t replenish the little pool, Laurie does.  The birds, squirrels and the deer do appreciate her efforts!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Stay Safe and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave