A stroll through the gardens after a gentle rainfall reveals a soft, peaceful atmosphere. The local dragonflies were out and about in the warm, humid air.

It’s a wonderful time to play with all the cool tricks the new camera has to offer!! I was intimidated before, but now I am really enjoying all the nifty toys.

This was shot with a soft-lighting effect.

The bog garden truly lends itself to this effect.

But I was simply mesmerized by all the water droplets catching the evening light.

Evening primrose was just opening up for the evening, sending some sunshine into the dusky garden and generously offering it’s sweet nectar to the evening pollinators.

The Texas Betony has an amazing leaf texture, and lends itself wonderfully to this soft-lighting effect too. The hummingbirds were a bit grumpy about sharing this plant with me this evening, buzzing around waiting for me to leave. It is a very prolific nectar plant.

All manner of birds appreciated the rain this evening. 🙂

And the Four-Nerve-Daisy was really just so happy to see some moisture.

What a beautiful, peaceful evening it truly is.

Pine Siskins and Lesser Goldfinch galore! Nothing like a little thistle seed to drive the birds crazy.

Create a bird feeder puzzle! How does one get to those seeds???  This little fella was very determined to figure it out.

It’s like he was thinking: “Oh look, there are plenty of seeds there! I have to go get me some. Oooh and peanuts too. Just delicious!”

“But how do I get to them??? Is the door here? Hmmm….no….”

“How about here?….noooo I guess not…”

“It has to be here somewhere…”

Getting closer!

“Aha! Victory!”

“Bounty found!”

Smart little fella. Nothing like keeping those clever little bird brains working! 🙂

He’s doing his pre-breakfast stretches.

Just one little old lonely Carolina Anemone.

Hopefully he will have lots of colorful company soon!