after rain

"Distant Drums" shows its odd, subtle coloring well in this cooler weather, and drops cling to the blossoms of a native sunflower .

The Garden in Fall

I haven't posted photos from my own yard in quite some time it seems, and it turns out to be Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, too!










(click over to see what's blooming in gardens across the country, & in fact world)

1 mums on the front steps.

2 Roses! "Hot Cocoa",

3 "About Face",

4 "Distant Drums"


5 mums again


6 helianthus august-ifolius, aka swamp sunflower

7 "sneezeweed", helenium

8 a blackberry vine-- not technically IN the yard

9 Rosa "Yankee Doodle" against the sky

10 out front: 'Blackbird' euphorbia against limey greens, & smokebush


11, 12
scenes off the back deck, looking towards studio

13 not quite as big as he looks, but these guys are busy all over the yard.
click to enlarge him if you dare!

Monarch Migration... & movie

I just finished reading a book called "Four Wings and a Prayer"-- about Monarch Butterflies & their migration. So I was particularly interested when I started seeing more of them around, over the past 10 days, say. I took a look over on Monarch Watch, & it turns out we've been in the peak migration window for our latitude.

Nova has made an excellent film about the migration phenomenon, and you can watch it here online.
(It focuses on migration east of the Rockies, which is different than the West Coast Monarchs.)

Butterfly at left was in our garden mid-September of 2007.