Early Morning in Mid (to late?)-September (in Zone 8b)

My garden has the look of one that has been neglected - wild purple morning glory (Ipomoea cordatotriloba) is wrapping itself around everything it shouldn't:  the bronze fennel, the lingering tomato vines, the self-sown mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia).  This morning I watched one bee fly to about fifty or more morning glory flowers - stopping for only a second or two at each - it's body dusted in pollen.  After a busy summer and a hot August, I am wandering back into the garden - and while my initial (peer pressure-induced reaction) is to grimace at the wildness, the truth is that I love my garden just as it is on this eve of the Autumnal Equinox. 

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If there was any overarching theme of the morning -it was how many flowers were honored (or in the case of one holly, dishonored) by the presence of a guest or two (or thousands).  The large savannah holly, the one that is visited by a flock of cedar waxwings each fall - has a split trunk, and one of them, close to the base, was covered in a fine web.  When I looked up - I saw that it went almost up to the top of the tree, 15 feet or so - and when I disturbed the webbing, underneath were thousands of spider mites (at least I think they were spider mites).  So I did what any self-respecting trying-to-be-organic person would do:  I took the hose and sprayed the webbing off of the tree trunk.  Who knows what it'll be like in a week or so - I'll have to remember to look.

The other thing I noticed, also associated with the Savannah Holly tree - was that at the base of the tree were tiny gall-like structures.  I hadn't noticed them before.  I suppose I'll need to do a bit of research to see what is going on here (you know, in all of my spare time).

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Otherwise, most of the visitors seemed less than hostile - a green tree frog hanging out in the flower of a Cucurma alismatifolia 'Thai Supreme', a tiny spider (most likely a green lynx spider, Peucetia viridans) on the mexican sunflower - the long-tailed skipper moth (Urbanus proteus) on the wild purple morning glory - and all over, there were gulf fritillaries flying around, and their caterpillars, munching on the leaves of the passion vine.

   

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I guess the other obvious gardening activity going on was...rambling.  Cypress vine that reseeded in the asparagus bed - crawling up and around the newly planted (as of spring) purple passion asparagus.  The wild purple morning glory was everywhere - crawling up the remaining tomato vines of the Sungold cherry, which is now producing new, perfectly formed clusters of green tomatoes.  The blue sky vine has covered the front fence - and if I was a more confined gardener, I'd call it invasive and tear it out (instead, I'll continue to enjoy the flowers and live in denial that it is climbing up into the ash tree in the front of the fence).

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Otherwise, there were dogs in the garden.  Can one imagine not having a wild dog or two or three in the garden?  I certainly can't.  They're extremely helpful.  Stanley spent his morning hunting moles, while The Dan continued perfecting her trench (aka the Grand Dan-yon, as suggested in a comment by Annie of The Transplantable Rose) until she was tired. 

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So, besides visiting and dishonoring and rambling and hunting and trench-perfecting - I suppose the rest of the activities could be described as blooming - thus appropriate for Carol's May Dreams Gardens Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  I'm about a week late, but honestly - the way things have been going lately, that's doing quite well.  And as for the blooms, they - as usual - speak for themselves...and this morning, a pleasant late September morning, I once again felt grateful for my garden, felt grateful that even though I have neglected it of late (for over a year perhaps?) - that it was blooming away, enjoying the morning as I was.

        

Comments

[Joan]

Too beautiful. You have so many blooms! Isn't the weather wonderful?

[MikeG]

I don't know what it is about it, but that pic of the bee is the most beautiful and funniest things I have seen in quite a while.

(Of course, I still giggle when I see a duck go bottom up to dig in the mud, so it might just be me.)

[Pam]

Thank you Joan - and yes, this weather is next to perfect. The only problem is that I don't want to go to work at all!

MikeG: I thought it was funny too. If you click on it, and see a larger version - the bee's butt and legs are covered in pollen. That made me laugh. That bee was having a GOOD morning. That's sort of like us mooning someone with chocolate dust on our butts (or not?).

[Curmudgeon]

Here I was so sure I'd posted the latest GBBD post ever! The pups sure look like they are having fun. Wish ours would take to digging trenches in our lawn--we hate our lawn. Our pup prefers sleeping between the rows of tomatoes.