Yo Green Thum!

Robert is a lying panhandler like the Post says, but, can we give someone some credit for respecting gardening and gardeners?



Whenever he would see me, he'd yell "Yo green thum!" One day he gave me a book on houseplants after I helped him solve a problem with an english ivy cutting. Last spring, he stopped to ask how the gardening was going. A few small words between us. Then, as he strode on down the block, he stopped and turned.



"Yo green thum, can I ask you somethin?"



Uh, yeah.



"Do you love what you do?"



Yeah.



"You can tell, green thum. You can tell."



Robert is an alcoholic, fake amputee, panhandler, with mental and/or emotional problems. Yet, I'm going to give him a pass for that one comment.

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The Other Critters from Last Week

My chives are blooming again.  Maybe it's because I cut them back earlier than usual, before seeds had formed.  Well, can you see who was glad they are blooming again?  I saw this last Saturday, after I'd already posted for Camera Critters.

I don't remember if I've seen a buckeye butterfly here before.  I was so excited, I almost did another CC post that day.  This is why I decided to go ahead and post the rest of the photos I had exported for yesterday's Camera Critters and didn't use.

I haven't seen this beauty since Saturday, so maybe it was just passing through.

I am continuing to see monarchs and bees every day. 

I am also seeing wasps, cabbage whites, a blue of some kind, and a few skippers.  A book I have says the different species of skippers are challenging to identify.  The club area of a skipper's antenna is bent, which is different from other butterflies.

I tried to find this in my book, but couldn't tell.  Last year, someone on the butterfly forum at ivilliage had a couple suggestions to what kind of skipper it could be, but my memory is not so great.

I still want to see if this is a male or female of the black wasps that love to feed on my blooms.

This was identified here, I think, last year.  I'll have to look and see.  It sure is colorful.

Here's more sharing going on.

The Virginia mountain mint that I divided and only replanted a small clump of is blooming, and the wasps, who were the reason I only kept a small clump, have found it.

This is either a third kind, or male or female of one of the others.  I did briefly try to find these wasps online, but didn't see them that I could tell.

A whole lot of flies were hanging out on the Autumn Joy sedum.

This grackle, may be giving me a "don't take my picture look" but I did anyway.  (When we cleaned out the garage a week or so ago, we came across some sunflower seeds, and Larry put them in different feeders in the yard.  The critters have been very active around them.)

There were a bunch of sparrows all around at this time.  Can you see the ones on the sidewalk?

While I was out taking photos, I heard a thump, looked up, and saw this squirrel, lying on its side, next to the small branch/stick, which apparently, gave way with the weight of the squirrel.  It sure looked dazed.  After a couple minutes, it slowly walked off.

More sharing:

Look what happened to the katydid!  My daylilies must be very nourishing!

Can you see what I call a hummingbird moth?  I think it's a white-lined sphinx moth.  It was almost dark, and I couldn't get a good photo of it.

These were taken the 14th.

I'm not sure why this goofy squirrel was lying flat, but I'm thinking it was eating sunflower seeds.

I've been chasing rabbits out of the garden areas almost every day.  I'm sure they come right back, but it somehow makes me think I am defending my poor plants from them.  This one stopped next door, and tried to look innocent.

I was surprised to catch Heidi trying to catch a fly, or whatever it was.  It's not a dignified photo, so don't tell her I posted it.

Wherever you are, I hope the critters are good ones, and you are able to get outside some.

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This Week's Critters

I am late to the party, but didn't want to miss this week, because I've seen some cool critters I wanted to post for Misty Dawn's Camera Critters.  The link to see more posts is in my sidebar.

Last Saturday, we met our grandson and daughter-in-law at the cemetery pond to feed the waterfowl.  I know I've posted about the place before, so I just included a few photos of that this time.

It was a beautiful morning, and the view from the bridge was so peaceful.

Here's an action shot of KJ throwing cut up corn tortillas to the birds.

When I looked to the other side of the bridge, I saw a huge frog.

Later in the day, I was amazed to see lots of doves on the wires, because the most I'd ever seen were 3.  I counted 14 at one point.  One or two would fly off, and a few more would land.  It was pretty cool.

Some of them were paying attention to what I was doing, others either didn't notice, or ignored me.

I took photos for GBBD on the 13th.  I also took some CC photos.  I'm not sure it this wasp is the same as the other black ones, because it has light colored bands on it.

This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail appears to be a female.  When they look like this, I'm not sure if it means they've been nipped at by a bird, if the weather has caused it, or if they are just getting old.

I don't see dragonflies or damselflies often, so I am excited when they are in the yard.  I thought I knew the difference between them, but I'm not sure on this one.  It's eyes are not touching each other, like my book says dragonfly eyes do.  Yet, the way it's holding its wings look like a dragonfly.  I have noticed there are spread wing damselflies, so I'm not sure.  Do you know?

I see the skipper has discovered the new blooms on this liatris.

This skipper discovered the newly blooming alium.

I'm not sure what this silver spotted skipper was doing on the morning glory leaves.

The next photos were taken the 15th, while I was taking foliage photos.

The abdomen on this swallowtail looks like those of Black Swallowtails in my book, but the wings look a little different.  I was glad to get a few photos, even though they were not focused well, because these don't stay still for long, and fly off after they notice me.

I love the details of the legs and antennae.

There were lots of birds in the street, and eating insects or worms out of the yards.

The squirrels were active, too.

I love the variety of insects sharing the goldenrod.

Here's a Silver Spotted Skiper on a butterfly bush.

This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail wanted to keep an eye on me, so everytime I moved, trying to get a photo of its back, it moved, too, so I'd see its underside.

It sure was a show off!

Finally, I got a photo of the spread wings from the back.

I've been seeing the White Lined Sphinx Moths a lot.

It's another mover that's hard to get photos of.

Look at how long the proboscis is!

And now, it's time for the caterpillars.  These are swallowtails of some kind.

How many do you see here?  (I see three.)

I see two in this one.

This is a different rue plant, and I see three on this one.  The one on the right is a younger one.

What a beauty!

The asters in the back yard started opening after the 15th, and this sulfur of some kind has discovered them.

The rough goldenrod is continuing to attract a number of insects.

Oh, and this skipper has also found the aster blooms.

I just spent over 2 hours doing this post.  I am so far behind in my blog reading, but need to go to sleep now.  Thanks to all those who leave comments on my posts.  I know there are some questions I haven't answered.  I still plan to.

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