Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Nov. 2

Greetings, everyone! It rained a little this morning. It's been a while.

Something different in the photo above:

I was really not expecting the rose bush at my stepson's house in southeast Georgia (about 20 miles or so from Ft. Stewart) to have anything in bloom this week. I was even more surprised to see what had taken up residence:

Thanks for the posts, even though my thumbs are far from green, I enjoy the content.

tankdemon.

Do you see them?

Reprise, Carnivorous Plants

We just had Halloween. Here are a couple of photos from Tony Litwin, from October 28 of last year. More, plus SCIENCE, at the link. Hope things are okay in that part of Florida.

And here's another I like, a Sundew:

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Tree-ripened Utah apple.

Featured Plant

Temple of Bloom

The Temple of Bloom is like the tree of life to everyone who gardens for pollinators. It is a more compact form of Seven-Sons Flower known botanically as Heptacodium micronioides. The Temple of Bloom’s native habitat is China where its wild populations are under threat of extinction.

If you live in zones 5a to 9b however, and you are looking for butterflies, bees and hummingbirds, then this is a must-have plant. I started out with a whip of a plant 3 or 4 years ago and this year it reached 10 feet tall with several blooming branches. I am developing mine as a multi-trunked small tree that I am expecting to be about the size of a redbud or medium-sized crape myrtle. Those grown as a wide deciduous shrub, though a little wild looking, certainly have an appeal.

I mentioned the tree of life at the start and this year’s bloom was a prime example. The butterfly year was pretty incredible March through May. Then once June arrived it was miserable, excessively hot and dry. Though I had an abundance of lantanas, agastache, salvia, zinnias and gomphrena, it just failed to live up to potential. I never even saw a single hairstreak butterfly.

The Temple of Bloom erupts with fragrant white flowers in August and September. Wherever the butterflies had been hiding, they suddenly appeared. Last year it was the White M hairstreak, a lifer for me that showed up with countless others. This year Red-banded hairstreaks, and two that I hadn’t seen in years, the Great Purple hairstreak and the Olive Juniper hairstreak. Then to make it really seem like a wildlife extravaganza, the little Green Anole lizards climbed the tree for their chance at a happy meal.

Ah, Nature

Hi KT,

I saw this fellow in my grapes after a light sprinkle. The dog saw him first, thankfully she left it alone. I thought it may be fun for Halloween? I hope it's not too late.

B.

Cat faced spider. We get quite a few of these this time of year as long as you don't walk through their webs.

No mixing dogs and spiders, please.

Puttering

Decor - You can take cut pumpkins to wildlife areas for the animals. They are safe for wildlife.

You could probably take tater jack-o-lanterns, too.

This is cute. Okay after Halloween.

Adventure

Gardens of The Horde

What's happening in your garden?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Oct. 26

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.