Back From the Dead?

I make no pretense to be a gardener. In fact, I struggle to keep the plants in my patio plot alive. 

Last year a plant started to grow unplanted by me. I finally decided it was a sunflower that sprouted from a seed from the bird feeder. I considered it a gift from God.

This summer when a plant near where it had grown came thru the soil, I thought maybe it was another sunflower. I didn't treat it as a weed and didn't pull it up. To my amazement, it got taller and taller and branched out. It looked something like the Rose of Sharon that had been in our plot when we moved in in 2011 but died in the harsh winter of 2014. We had cut that bush down in the fall of 2014. My husband calls it the Big Weed.

 I found on the internet that Rose of Sharon usually doesn't flower the first year, but it had a late start so I was hoping maybe in August there might be a few blooms to verify its identity. Wednesday morning when I opened the blinds I found many of the tips of its branches chewed off. There will be no proof this year. If it is a Rose of Sharon, it is a miracle. A plant cut down suddenly reappearing 4 years later!

The hoof prints indicated a deer had eaten this bush. Unfortunately, it also ate all of the colorful pretty portulaca blooms as well. The landscaper had planted on Tuesday a hydrangea bush in the middle berm between the condos. It also was pretty badly chewed up. I'm thinking the deer saw that nice tasty specimen and then wandered over to my plot to see what else might feed it. I have never had my moss roses eaten. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.

The rudbeckia are blooming now in the front corner of the condo. The Stella d'Oro lilies did not open when my neighbors' did in June, but are blooming in July. The front corner looks nice. 

The time a few hours before sunset when there are long shadows is my favorite time of day.

Here you can see a sidewalk in the background behind the geraniums. This sidewalk was something the residents have wanted for a long time. Lots of people walk on the easement from the condos over to independent living and health care. If the grass was wet even from dew, lawn clippings stuck to shoes. Muddy places also weren't conducive to walking nor the uneven contours of the ground.

Since we live at the end of the cul de sac, we had quite a show of the construction work. Trucks and machinery parked where my husband usually parks his pickup. It took two weeks to make this sidewalk. A middle-aged man and two teenage boys started it when we had outside temperatures in the 90's with heat index above 100. They even worked on July 4th. They used with our permission our outside faucet and sat under the shade of our front lawn pear tree. They stacked boards used as forms for the width of the concrete next to the west wall of our house and stored a wheel barrow there. 
They finished while we were in Michigan so we missed out on a few dusty and noisy days. I've only used the sidewalk once because of rain or because I had heavy loads of books to haul to and from the library necessitating the car, but I am sure it will get more use. We don't know whether Grace Village will clear it of snow; if so, that would mean being able to walk in the winter.

Fort Wayne Botanical Conservatory

We went to Granite City restaurant in Fort Wayne for brunch this morning, then drove downtown to the Botanical Conservatory.

Right now, the conservatory has a special exhibit of butterflies. Next to the butterfly tent was a cocoon nursery so that new butterflies keep hatching throughout the several months of the display.
The gauzy tent was entered carefully thru an anteroom and exited through another "room" with mirrors so you could check yourself for stowaway butterflies. They did land on people from time to time. They also sat on the ground so one had to watch where one stepped so as not to crush any butterflies.

 The Owl Butterfly thought my husband's tan pants were a swell place to perch.

 We finally took the butterfly ID paper and transferred it so we could blow it away.

 The common morpho was gorgeous in flight as the top of the wings were blue, but I could only get a photo with the wings folded.

This great Mormon was easy to photograph. The plants and dishes of sponges with something sweet really did attract the creatures.

 God created such diverse beauty in these butterflies.

The Clipper

 A Scarlet Mormon I think

Great Egg-Fly Butterflies

 The separate gardens of the conservatory didn't take long to stroll through. The conservatory is in the middle of downtown.

 

 The Showcase Garden which held the butterfly tent had bug statues in the flower beds around the tent.

The humidity of the Tropical Garden was high. Mostly bromeliads and orchids and bird of paradise and ferns in this room with a waterfall.

 It felt good to get outside to the Terrace Garden and the Exploration Garden. The terrace pool had metal grids filled with pieces of colorful glass meandering through the water.

 I have never seen such large peony blooms.

 The Exploration Garden had nice shady spots to sit on benches. It would be a lovely place for office workers to bring lunch and worth the annual membership fee. A single visit is $5.
Lots of daffodils with spent blooms and currently irises.

 Our last garden to visit was the Desert Garden. Plenty warm in this room. It was fun to see vegetation that reminded me of Texas.

 Prickly pear starting to bloom.

 My own home "garden" has lots of portulaca blooms to enjoy.

 Though the day started out gray and overcast, we had some sun at the conservatory. Kind of gloomy at home for awhile, but now in late afternoon we have sunshine. 

It has been an upbeat weekend with the butterflies and flowers. I even saw a bit of the royal wedding before heading out to garage sales. I bought "flowers" there, too.