Lovely morning in SE Texas.

Beautiful.

SpookyShoe you must be the Queen of the Plants. You have so very many beautiful varieties and then you have the time to change them out with the seasons too? Your just amaze me with all of this awesomeness.

A Gulf Fritillary caterpillar on Passiflora "Inspiration."

I’ve killed 2 passionflower vines. I’m going to try again though. Great photo!

Not exactly fireworks on the 4th, but these sunflowers are about 10-12 feet in the sky, they don’t scare the dog anyway like the explosions do.
Otherwise, the various vegetables are either barely hanging on, thriving, or someplace in between in a typical July hot and humid weather pattern.

The frog was $9.99 on clearance. Her name is Fernanda.

Trying to hang in there.

Today's harvest. First cuke & pepper of the season. Plenty more coming on

Getting a handful of purple hull peas every other day. I freeze them without blanching, just shell them and throw them in with the previous batch. Taste fresh when cooked.

Bananas growing in my neighbor's yard over my back fence...

karstopography wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2020 10:17 am D120CC0E-1A50-4EBD-99A3-98AE5667DF21.jpeg
Getting a handful of purple hull peas every other day. I freeze them without blanching, just shell them and throw them in with the previous batch. Taste fresh when cooked.

My husband from Arkansas eats purple hull peas with hot chow chow. I make and can the chow chow using his Aunt Golda's recipe, which he insists I do. It is a pain in the neck to make.

Passiflora "Inspiration." Fragrant.

Plumeria "Elsie." This cluster has been blooming for many weeks.

A small and very eye-catching perennial shrub called Cat's Whiskers. Attractive to pollinators.

This big girl seems to be carting around pollen from just about every plant in the garden. It's no wonder I rarely get the same winter squash from saved seeds.

I brought home dozens of these from the testing lab a couple of years ago before I retired, but this is the first one that I spotted in the garden. They never call, don't write...

pondgardner wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 2:13 pm I brought home dozens of these from the testing lab a couple of years ago before I retired, but this is the first one that I spotted in the garden. They never call, don't write...
mantis.jpg

Yeah, came face to face (ugh) with one nearly that size in my fence o' crowder peas. He didn't move and I backed away to let him work.

As some say down here...

"they ain't skerrid a nuthin"

pondgardner wrote: ↑Mon Aug 24, 2020 2:13 pm I brought home dozens of these from the testing lab a couple of years ago before I retired, but this is the first one that I spotted in the garden. They never call, don't write...
mantis.jpg

You got yourself a nice lady there so hopefully you will have more next year.

Isn't she pretty!!!