The Next in Line.

Buddleia davidii "Miss Ruby.", a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

Our butterfly bush "Miss Ruby" has finally started to open its little tubular flowers. I think the orange centers make an interesting contrast with the fucshia petals. The flower spike here hasn't filled out all the way, but you can at least get an idea of how much more red "Miss Ruby" is than the other supposedly red butterfly bushes. We planted this shrub last July, and it only gave us a few deformed flowers. It's good to see it doing better this year! It is quite a bit smaller than our other butterfly bushes, probably because one of its parents is "White Ball," a dwarf buddleia.

This one is different!

Daylily "Congo Coral" with a surprise inside., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

I picked this out at our local nursery. The picture they supplied with the plant was a blurry photocopy, so I didn't know it was going to be this bright orange! XD I think it's pretty interesting. Apparently, the bee inside the flower thinks it's pretty interesting, too.

I do have my preferences with flower colors, but I often find myself wanting to buy something that's different from my usual tastes. That probably explains the recent influx of yellow and orange flowers!

July Rainbow.

After the storm, 7/13/11., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

We had a gusty thundershower tonight at around 7pm...right after we watered the plants! The wind whipped the trees around for a good half hour. I was worried about that fledgling robin in the nest in our Rose of Sharon, because the whole tree was swinging back and forth like an amusement park ride. Shortly after it started raining the huge Papa Robin came back to the nest and settled on top of his baby with his wings spread out to protect it from the rain. I thought that was pretty cute! The baby has almost grown too big for the nest at this point. Every morning I see it climbing up to the edge and flapping its wings around like it wants to launch. Once the mother robin actually squashed herself onto top of it to keep it from escaping. And who says that mother birds always kick their babies out of the nest? XD

I know that a lot of baby robins don't live to adulthood. I hope that nothing happens to this one. I can't believe how big it's grown now--if it weren't for its scrawny neck and speckled feathers I'd think it was an adult.

"Lauren's Grape" produced a miniature flower today. I couldn't take a picture because the wind was bouncing it around too much in the morning, and by evening the petals were gone. I picked my first Fairy Tale Eggplant this morning. I'm going to need at least four more to make a dish, though...It feels so smooth and firm, and there isn't a blemish on it. XD

We got our second Anne raspberry today. I forgot to take a picture! It was the second of five berries...::snickers:: It was delicious. Maybe it's because it was a yellow raspberry, but it tasted like a banana.