Everyday Living

Chasing Swallowtail Butterflies

~ Everyday Living, Faith, Gardening, Outdoors, Summer

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭‬‬

Happy Thursday sweet friends. I hope you are well and having a wonderful week. Tuesday morning I went out to our small cutting garden to cut back the spent zinnias and tidy up everything. Much to my surprise, there were butterflies all over the zinnias, lantana, and sunflowers. I ran back inside to grab my camera, thinking they would all disappear in the meantime. I couldn’t believe more butterflies had joined the party. The next thirty minutes were pure bliss as I stalked them. I discovered that if I stood still and was patient they would come really close.

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.
-Maya Angelou

Last year my Renaissance Man added a raised bed on the other side of our driveway near a wooded area. We planted zinnias and a couple of rows of sunflowers for a late summer harvest. The butterflies were also enjoying our garden, but they much preferred this area.

Butterflies are always flitting about in the garden and the raised bed, but never like they were on Tuesday morning.

I made a couple of observations while photographing the butterflies. They never landed on any color of zinnia but pink. I have purple, yellow, red, salmon, orange, lime green, and white zinnias that the butterflies never once landed to drink their nectar. Note in all the photos, they are on pink zinnias (perhaps Ella Mae told them that pink and preferably hot pink was her favorite color). Second observation, they preferred the zinnias that were losing petals. I am guessing they prefer those because it is easier to reach the nectar!READ MORE

Farm Fresh Flowers

~ Everyday Living, Faith, Gardening, Monday Morning Blooms, Summer

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭4:23‬ ‭

Hello dear friends. Welcome to Monday Morning Blooms where I join my friends Lidy, Mary, and Shirley to offer flower inspiration. We continue our ongoing theme of “anything goes” during these unprecedented times. I am in the garden once again, so grab your straw hat and I will provide a tall glass of iced tea. In the Deep South, we prefer our tea sweet! 

I am so grateful to have farm fresh flowers. Since March all flowers in my arrangements have either come from my garden, wildflowers that have been foraged from our surrounding 250 acre woods, or from two flower farms that are about twenty five miles away. You have met my dear friend Martha that owns the hydrangea farm, where I shared a visit last year. She grows many varieties, but she is probably most famous for snowflake hydrangeas.

I have not officially introduced you to Leah who owns Deep Roots Flower Farm. She offers a wide variety of flowers…ranunculus, poppies, dahlias, cosmos, zinnias, sunflowers, etc!

My colorful arrangement is composed of farm fresh flowers from Deep Roots Flower Farm and my garden.

You will find gorgeous flower inspiration from my friends at the bottom of this post.READ MORE

Simple + Southern Sunday No. 302

~ Everyday Living, Faith, Family, Gardening, Simple + Southern Sunday, Summer

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14:27‬ ‭

We often start Sunday with a sunrise but we were greeted one morning this week by a “bodacious” dahlia and it looked quite sunny!

Some of our crepe myrtles have been spotty and unusual in the way they’ve bloomed, and a bit late also. We wondered if anyone else has noticed something similar on crepe myrtles?READ MORE