Yesterday I was getting lunch for myself and glancing out the kitchen window at the Red-winged Blackbirds having their lunch, when a Sharp-shinned Hawk pounced on one of the red-wings. I guess it was lunchtime for everyone. I felt very sorry for the red-wing, but you can see from the hawk's posture that this catch was very important for it. It seemed to be looking around to see if another predator would take the bird away. The hawk soon flew off with the red-wing. I was glad not to have to see the meal. I took twelve photos out my windows before the hawk flew away (I was kind of hoping the red-wing would escape but it didn't). Here are some of the photos, the rest are in my Flickr account - I have a Hawks set now. Claire

Pixie Lou, you have a lot of nice lilies. I only have a few because of the RLLB. I just couldnâÂÂt keep them clean if I had too many. As it is, the âÂÂOraniaâ this year looked fine until after it bloomed I noticed the foliage has a fair amount of holes in it. You canâÂÂt cut the stalks back to the ground after blooming, right? I would like to have enough to smell them in the house, but nope. The âÂÂOraniaâ does make the whole front walkway a very pleasant trip when they are blooming. And thanks, glad the comparison of peppers was interesting. I think growing hot peppers does make a difference, they seem to be a more vigorous and shapely shrub that produces more and smaller peppers. The large sweet peppers seem to be more difficult to get more than a few per plant. Thyme2dig, what a pretty daylily border! IâÂÂm not always pulled to purchase a daylily and some of that is the way I see them being used. The way you have planted them all together that way without competition from other plants and with that great shrub border behind it, I really like it a lot. What is that dark shrub in photo #3? And is that Nasturtium at the base of your purple tripod? Jane, I donâÂÂt blame you about the FarmerâÂÂs Market next year. I took a couple of yearâÂÂs off from the vegetable garden and I missed it and here I am still doing it. :-) But is this year an exception? I think some years are not the greatest and this year just wasnâÂÂt. IâÂÂm going to try to salvage some of the season and go for some fall crops of Broccoli and Lettuces and Kale and other greens. This weekend IâÂÂm probably going to start. I have three squash plants without a squash between them. *sigh* Spedigrees, thatâÂÂs a good looking lily and the foliage is a lot cleaner than mine. :-)

Greenhaven, I'm so glad you posted pictures. Welcome! You've really done a tremendous job in a short period of time. How lucky to have all that ledge and the way you've incorporated the gardens is really great. It all looks quite natural. PL, Love those sunflowers! I've tried them from seed before a handful of times, but as soon as I get them planted the chipmunks come along and dig them up while mocking me. Jewel weed brings me back to nature walks with my mom. Used to use it on poison ivy. I always thought it was a great cure, but as I got older I realized I'm not allergic to poison ivy, so I'm not sure if my "tests" as a child were valid! It looks great in such a mass like that. I guess I made it just in the nick of time to post for August. Hard to believe tomorrow is September. I know there was some talk in another thread about the smaller butterfly bushes. They're kind of hard to photograph, but I have three in a row forming a bit of a hedge and I really like the way they bloom later. There was also a discussion about heptacodium on another thread where everyone said it would break and most were unhappy with it. That really changed the way I'm treating this shrub/tree. I was planning on limbing it up into a tree, but after reading everyone's experiences I've decided to leave it more as a very large shrub, or at least a non-limbed up tree. The hibiscus are in bloom now on the other side of the fence. Those will stay when we get our new fence later this fall. I've never done annual asters before, but this middle bed of the veggie garden starts as lettuce and once the crop is done I let the nasturtium take over. I threw in some annual asters and I have to say I really like them a lot. One of the back beds with zinnias still going. Another bed back there. Holy cow! The bees are insane with the turtlehead and anemone blooming. Interestingly, the bees swarm to the barely open anemone flowers with 5 or 6 of them all huddled and fighting for space. The open flowers are not touched. The lespedeeza is starting its show. I do wish the clethra would bloom just a tad later so the white would be blooming with the pink. Here's a closer shot of one of the back beds. There's a carpet rose blooming in the bed behind the butterfly bushes. I like the peach and blue combo with the physocarpos mixed in for good measure. Love the fairy rose that comes back strong while so many other plants are withering in the heat! The front slope is filled in with all the colorful shrubs. Lobelia and caryopteris. I put them together because the caryopteris can hold up the lobelia when it flops. Cottage garden gone wild! I really, really, really love amsonia hubrichtii. I'll post this picture again when the amsonia and the climbing hydrangea both turn glowing yellow. Ironweed is great this time of year. Okay, okay, I'll stop! LOL! I get carried away. There is so much going on in the garden now and so much more to come. Such a great time of year.

Kind of funny story - a couple of years ago the guy across the street trotted over to show me this mysterious worm he found on his tomato plant. He wondered if it was something very rare because he had never even heard of a worm with horns and perhaps UCONN might be interested in having this specimen and maybe, just maybe, he had discovered something that could be beneficial to some plants here in tobacco valley and he could breed them and make money! He said there were many of them on his three patio tomato plants. "Whatta ya think, Jane? Should I put it in a jar?" I asked to see it in my gloved hand and as this guy was envisioning $50 bills, the silly worm reared it's head with horns and mouth seeking something to bite. I dropped it on the driveway and with a flash of my right foot, the mysterious money-making dream shrank into a bite-less green blob as my neighbor went into one of the most shocked and crestfallen expressions I'd seen in a while. I told him he had lost the horn worm lottery and to go home and squish all the others. I have a feeling that my reputation as a nice neighbor lady turned into tough old broad that day in the driveway. Squish 'em, Pixie, Squish 'em - unless you're going into the horn worm raising business. Jane (aka Hard Hearted Hannah)