My Butterfly Friends

I've got two Gulf Fritillary butterflies that have been visiting the Pentas lately.

This shows the underside, which I think is so pretty.  I've decided to name these two Gully and Fritz.

I was really happy when this Monarch showed up the other day.  And yes, he's been named too - Monty.  (perhaps I don't have enough to occupy my mind, I name everything, haha)

Here's a pic of them playing nice together on the same plant.  There's enough for everybody!

I've also got a Giant Yellow Swallowtail that visits almost every day.  I've named her Swishy, because she never seems to stop beating her wings.  This shot I took at our previous place.  I haven't been able to get photos of Swishy yet...just movin' too fast!

We have a lot of White Peacocks like this one above.  I also see quite a few Yellow Sulphur butterflies.  

The one I haven't seen yet in our new yard, is our state butterfly the Zebra Longwing.  

So, I'd better get busy and plant some of their host plants (Passiflora incarnata) if I want to increase the odds of having them visit!  

Hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day!  And if you don't recognize Thanksgiving where you live, I hope you have a wonderful day as well!     

November Notes from the Garden

This cute little Phoebe has been visiting the yard lately.  

There's two squirrels that visit every day.  They come for the peanuts and some of the sunflower seeds.  They can be quite the noisy buggers when they want to!  (but that's ok with me)

This photo I took at our previous house, but we have a raccoon coming in at night to drink from the birdbath and eat seeds.  She triggers the security lights, usually around midnight.

Oh, yeah - the armadillos are out here as well.  They're everywhere, making those little funnel-shaped holes.  *sigh* 

Pretty kitty is one of the neighbors three gorgeous black cats.  They're very shy and stay down the street.  That works well for us with our two dogs - one being very vocal!  

I finally got a few new plants for the backyard.  A firebush and tropical sage to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.  And some hot pink geraniums - just because I like geraniums :)  There's also a little rosemary plant to go on my herb shelf garden.

In the background you can see my sad little lettuce seedlings. They're quite spindly, but I'm afraid to give them too much sun as we're still in the 80's.  They get the morning sun for several hours.  Soon they'll get transplanted to the big plastic dishpans that I got at the dollar store.  Put some drainage holes in the bottom and they're great for shallow rooted lettuce.  If anyone has any suggestions for growing lettuce - I'm happy to receive it, thanks!  (Vegetables have not been on my garden radar for a long time.)

I used fresh basil from my little herb garden to garnish this Caprese salad the other night.  What a difference fresh herbs make!

This is certainly not the best moon photo I've ever taken, but it's the only shot I got of the Super Moon this month.  It was so bright and gorgeous - I hope you got out to take a look!