Tending to the garden this morning, I couldn’t help see the frenzied cabbage butterflies as they flit about the place. We saw two cabbage butterflies mating on a tomato leaf.
Butterflies mating on a tomato leaf.
Then we saw two more butterflies mating on the same tomato leaf!
Two others using the same leaf!
Sunflowers are composite flowers of many blooms. See the individual blossoms near the center in the close up.
Individual blooms in the composite sunflower.
Beautiful symmetry in this sunny flower.
Blue giant hyssop is growing in the garden from seeds planted a few weeks ago. It is not yet giant, nor blue. The flowers will appear next month and should attract butterflies and bees. The leaves of giant hyssop have an anise-like taste and can be used in salads.
Giant blue hyssop will flower in the late summer.
Peppers are maturing in the vegetable garden. Summer salads await! Baby cucumbers are hiding under their canopy of cucumber leaves.
The Stevia plant that was purchased at a local greenhouse is doing quite well in the garden and now is about two feet tall. No visible signs of bugs eating this Sweet Leaf plant. Not a single chew! This member of the mint family can be used as a natural bug repellant by rubbing the leaves on your skin. Certainly worth a try as the smell of DEET is very offensive.
Stevia, or Sweet Leaf, growing in the garden.
The Japanese beetles would probably like my girl’s pesto judging by their appetite for the basil blossoms and leaves. For fun around here we go around knocking beetles off the plants into a vessel of soapy water so they never to return to their nasty habit!
Basil leaves and flowers are devoured by Japanese beetles.
The Roma tomatoes are green and looking very delicious.
The greenery of the Canna Lilies is about two feet tall and it’s not quite immune to the culinary tastes of the Japanese beetles. The canna lily bright red blossoms should attract a few hummingbirds later in the summertime.