That passed over California and Mexico and gave us some much needed precipitation. A very welcome summer rain event which made the late summer garden burst out in blooms much earlier than usual.The front garden is springing into life and so are we. The hose in the picture below is the outline of a xeric style garden addition. More on that later.

Hey, I’m not complaining! And neither are the bugs. Look at this nectar loving beetle with its elegant antennae sipping on the fragrant Kidneywood blooms.

Yellow bells ‘Sunrise’ is sending out it’s lovely blooms serenading the days’ start with dew covered trumpets.

And with the bugs come happy lizards of course. Caught this little guy lurking around the rocks.

Golden Thryallis is finally blooming too. Boy did it ever have a tough time coming back from winter. I almost removed it, thinking it was dead. But I am so glad I didn’t!

And look at these dainty flowers belonging to Pigeonberry. These will turn into deep red berries and keep the birds happy for a while.

Wandering down the front lawn, I found a stream of Catmint flowing past some Mexican Feathergrass and Salvia Greggii, just about ready to bud out.

Even the Buddha is serenely surrounded by lovely blooms – as he should be. 🙂

And here are the beginnings of a new small xeric style garden.  I will be using crushed granite as mulch and only drought and heat tolerant plants will be added. I’ve been having some trouble deciding where to locate the perennials, but the good news about plants is that they can always be moved. 😉 Till later when I willl post the completed garden. We’re just glad the temps are down into the upper 80’s.

Walking the wire….

Ah the pond. The one place all the plants and animals are doing very well in the sizzling heat. Water and sunlight make the magical combination for happy pond life.

And of course the tropical waterlilies love the heat.

This new addition is a hardy water lily, that has a very unique color. Couldn’t resist adding it to my collection. It’s the only peachy pink hardy water lily I’ve seen. The leaves are a mottled red and green too. It’s a nice change from the plain green.

The garden at the back of the pond is looking very healthy, despite the dry weather. It might be even too hot for kokopelli, who seems to be trying to find some shade in the perennials. You can just see his head peeking over the plants.  We see you… 🙂

A banded sphinx moth came to visit our patio this year. These beautiful moths lay eggs on the underside of leaves. After feeding on the leaves for 5 in-stars (stage of an insect between molts), the mature caterpillars leave their food-plant and bury in an underground cavity in the fall. Then the caterpillars pupate during winter, and crawl out of their burrows as moths in Spring. We usually will see them from May through August. The Moths feed on nectar during times of twilight and night.

Here’s what the pond looks like in summer…. Brown grass from lack of rain, but trees seem happy and the pond lilies are taking over almost 90 percent of the water surface. No chance for algae to get any sun here, and the water is nice and clear. Yay!

The grasses around and in the pond look good too, considering the minimal watering I do.

Ah but the bog, now that is in need of a serious trim.. I hate to do it though since it disturbs so many of the frogs who like to hide out in the thick vegetation. I always hear a lot of splishes and splashes as they jump back into the pond. I hate to bother them.

And in closing, lets celebrate the end of summer with these beauties.