Summer 2019: Miraculous Marigolds

Miraculous Marigolds

Among my Christmas presents seven months ago was a small envelope from my brother and sister-in-law, Tony and Peggy.   They sent me and my siblings, too, each some seeds from a marigold plant that miraculously appeared in their 2018 summer yard.    I decided to get my hands dirty and here is a record of their gift....miraculous I would say.  Thousands of more seeds.

April 7

April 20

May 25

May 25

June 21

July 1

July 31

August 

Summer 2019: the Butterfly Garden

Summer 2019: The Butterfly Garden

 I have let the summer go be without a single post.    Fortunately there were plenty of things for me to note personally.   But for this record just a few photos.   ( If I can find a paragraph or two of an interesting sermon I will post it!  ) 

Friends of the Spiritual Center who are naturalists with a keen interest in butterflies and their habitats have found our property to be an ideal site for a garden attractive and helpful to monarchs and other butterflies.  Since an early summer installation, the flowering plants in the garden, including milkweed have flourished.    And the butterflies were quick to find this stopping place.

These butterflies (called Red-Spotted Purples) were sunning themselves not in the garden but along a park walk not far away!

The more prolific flying creatures on the property are the spotted lantern flies.   Thousands of them appeared on a set of young maples.  Fortunately our pest control company dealt with them.   But the pests are keeping that company busy!