Garden Bloggers' Muse Day - August

Carolyn over at Sweet Garden and Home Chicago has started the poetry circle of Garden Bloggers' Muse Day. On the first day of the month. If a muse takes hold of you please join us by posting on your blog a poem and then go to Carolyn's blog and leave a comment so we can all enjoy your muse.

When I see this ocean of lavender monarda I am so entertained by all the bees, wasps, butterflies that are drawn to it as I am.
Emily Dickinson must have had such a muse. She always has something to say about most everything in the most interesting way...

South Winds jostle them-

Bumblebees come -

Hover - hesitate -

Drink, and are gone -

Butterflies pause

On their passage Cashemere -

I - softly plucking,

Present them here!

Sunday Outside

Today was one of those lazy hazy days of summer. Even though we were out early to bird a breeding block we knew it was going to heat up. Despite the heat or most likely because of the heat there were quite a few bugs in the garden when we returned home.
One of the prettiest was the Blackswallowtail butterfly. I was wondering when it was going to saunter through and deposit eggs on our Bronze Fennel. I looked to see if I could find any eggs I didn't see any. Maybe she was just fueling up for the big day.
There were so many bees and moths on the blooming Curly Mint that I could hardly get a picture. If I wasn't annoying them by trying to get too close they would disturb one another jockying for the best bloom.
I have no idea what kind of wasps and bumbles were here. I just thought it interesting there were so many different kinds. On the picture below if you look in the lower right corner you can see one of the moths that come out during the day. This Wasp is large enough to be a cicada wasp, which is what I think it is.

The photo below is another type of wasp. I don't know what it is either.
The bumble bees in the back garden appeared to be larger than the bumble bees out front. These in back also appeared to have a smoother back section.

Here is a twofer. These smaller bumble bees weren't quite as territorial as the bees out back on the monarda.
I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Hollyhock Walk

The past few days I have been having a difficult time getting into work. No, not because of the flooding but because it is the time of year that the Hollyhocks are a bloomin. It is such a cheerful sight to greet us when we walk into the back door. Every year at about this time the Hollyhocks get together and have a fashion show. Which has the prettiest frock? There is a deep red one that I didn't get home with a decent picture. The other colors run from that deep red to several shades of pink to white. These hollyhocks are a testament to the hardiness of these old fashioned plants. They are never watered or fertilized. I have worked here 11 years and they have never failed to bloom. The colors dance from side to side and back and forth in their beds. They never look the same. They even escape into the little patch of lawn that surrounds the back of the building. I have tried to get a patch of these started at our house but I haven't had any luck. Hmmmmm My friend says I am too nice to them. Ha.. The rest of this post is dedicated to all of my bee loving blogging buddies especially Cheryl and Sherry. If you all were able to come here you would have a fine time of bee watching. Many of them approach the flowers with their bottoms up. Luckily my Dearly Beloved was here with me this evening and took the rest of the pictures on this post.

We were on our way to the river to get a look at the flood waters as they passed by Vincennes. That will be a different post. For now I hope you enjoy the Bees...

I think there were two different kinds of bees. Or maybe there were male and female. I don't know much about bees. I try not to get in their way of pollen collecting. They are always so busy.

They get the pollen all over themselves. This one looks as though he was rolling in it.

This is the only picture we got of the Bumble bee. It looked like a little piggy wallering in a wallow of pollen.