The end of May through early June would normally be when the garden is at peak. Not this year. Instead of flowers, we bloomed with millions of caterpillars. They came, ate all the leaves from the maples and oaks, then disappeared. Either they are all in cocoons awaiting rebirth as moths … or — maybe — they are really gone. I have a professional coming tomorrow to look around. He should be able to tell me more.
NOTE: They were in cocoons. Since I wrote this 24 hours ago, there are a lot of moths. Lots and lots. And if we don’t do something to stop them, they will lay many eggs to make more little caterpillars … so spray we must!
Meanwhile, it is safe at last for me to go outside. I admit it. I’ve been hiding. I have serious issues with many-legged crawling things. They give me nightmares. The kind from which I wake up screaming.
So. It has taken me awhile to get past my phobias and return to the world.
My garden has grown into a riot of flowers while I completely neglected it. A month late, but this is the richest crop of flowers I’ve seen in years. An act of defiance by nature against nature?
FLOWER OF THE DAY | CEE NEUNER
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Categories: Flowers, Gallery, Home, Photography
Pay back time, and you deserve it! Your flowers look wonderful.
Leslie
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They really do look amazing. Apparently sunlight really improves their attitude 🙂
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Sun will do a lot for garden.
Leslie
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This perennials are tough cookies just like you. 🙂
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Thanks! I don’t feel so tough, lemme tellya. I feel pretty beat up.
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Beautiful lilies. I didn’t know that you had flamingos? LOL
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Thank you. I’ve only got one flamingo. Fred. He’s new. Maybe more will show up and I’ll have a flock 🙂
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Well done those, lilies!
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They give me hope.
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It must be even more amazing for you to finally be able to go outside and see all the lovely flowers which have suddenly appeared during the invasion.
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It was more amazing yesterday, before the moths hatched. Oh well.
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Someone needs to create the world’s largest bug zapper. I love the smell of burnt moths in the morning…
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we’re in the heart of darkness……
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Well, as I write, the moths are under attack by the juncos AND those big ugly wasps I usually hate. I never thought I’d find myself rooting for the wasps. It’s kill or be killed out there … an air show worthy of anyone’s air force.
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Except for the caterpillar part, what a wonderful story of the adaptability of nature. May the juncos win!!! Between the birds and the wasps and the spray, the moths don’t have a chance!
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From your mouth …
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Maybe all that caterpillar poo served an ecological purpose — maybe it provided lots of fertilizer for the beautiful flowers in your garden!
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Probably. But also, without leaves on the trees, the garden has sunlight for the first time ever.
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Oh, yes — lilies really like lots of sun! The combination must be good for them!
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The lilies are in hyperdrive!
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Maybe. The dead buggers still litter our place. Hope they’re not zombies.
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