Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Saturday, July 31, 2004
Pictures: seven new pictures of butterflies - eight butterflies in all! I received the butterfly field guide I ordered from amazon.com, and am making remarkable progress in identifying my garden visitors. Except for the little brown skippers, which all look alike. I tried to get pictures of some other garden visitors, but they refused to be photographed - a big pale blue dragonfly (like this?) and a clear-wing moth. Maybe another time.
Astronomy: Today's full moon is known as a blue moon, or maybe not.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
New Pictures: three new pictures of critters (insects are critters too); taken yesterday in the garden and beyond
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Pictures: uploaded a few new pictures; taken yesterday
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Weather: hot & humid; afternoon thundershowers almost every day
Garden Chores: weeded and pruned yesterday until it got too hot
Pictures: a few new pictures, taken yesterday
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Weather: humidity is back - now it feels more like summer
Critters: saw two chipmunks yesterday - had only ever seen one at a time before
Birds: a hummingbird was sipping at the Cuphea 'Tiny Mice' about 4 PM today - this is the first time I have seen them show any interest in that plant, and I bought 4 of those, thinking that it would be a sure-fire hummingbird-pleaser; a hummingbird just came by right now (4:53 pm) and sampled both the Cuphea and the Salvia.
Butterflies: checked out a butterfly field guide from the library last week - Kaufman Focus Guide: Butterflies of North America. It got a rather good review in the latest issue of Bird Watcher's Digest. I'm trying to decide which guide to buy - this one or Jeffrey Glassberg's Butterflies Through Binoculars. I had checked that one out a few years ago and thought it was good, but never got around to buying. My only complaint about the Kaufman guide is that it covers the entire US, and so if you are trying to identify a butterfly by scanning through the book you will be looking at a lot of pictures of butterflies which don't live in your area. But butterfly season is heating up here - I've seen at least 5 different ones in the last day or so, but still don't know what they are.
