Rustic Sphinx

This guy was just hanging out on the breezeway of the apartments.  I didn't see him when I went by later so he either flew away or one of the toads ate him.

I wasn't sure at first what kind of moth this was, not an expert on bugs, but a friend recently told me about the identify function on my iPhone.   If the picture is good enough the photos will have an "i" over the picture and when tapped on will do a search of similar images and can tell you even before that what it thinks it is. This works with bugs, plants, animals, and other objects.  As you can see in the image, I was pretty close when I took the picture. That's the shadow of my phone.

I did see a toad in the area as well, possibly eyeing him for dinner.  The toads are one more reason to water regularly.  They really like the humidity it makes.  Another resident in the area, wasps, also like it when the pots are watered and some of the water collects in the trays.  I've seen three at a time drinking from the water and coming back regularly.  Temps in the mid 100's will do that to any animal.

The plants of course also want regular water and it hasn't rained in weeks.  Maybe a sprinkle here or there but nothing to make the water gauges register anything.  Can't wait for cooler weather and more tomatoes.  The plants are still looking good.

Lavender Growth

The symmetry of plants never ceases to amaze me.  Our little lavender bush has leaves that line up perfectly along the stems.  

You can't see it in this pic but it's even flowering.  I must have done something right this time.

There are other plants too that are flowering but this is the one I'm happiest about.

Other flowers include:

Tomato

Basil

Squash

Poke

Moss Rose

Gerbera Daisies

Okra

Viceroy Butterfly

This little cutie was fluttering around the garden the other day.  Most people think these are monarchs but the black band across the back wings is an easy way to tell the difference.  I think people are used to monarchs as a name because they get so much of the news about butterflies and these guys really do look so similar.

Other visitors to the garden are toads.  We've had multiple toads at a time hopping around looking for bugs.  I keep the garden well watered and thus attract insects like mad.  The spiders know this too and often I have to knock down a web just so I can get to all of the plants.  Sorry, not sorry?

Maybe I'll get some toad pics up soon. 

Pot of Potatoes

One of the many pots I've used this year has potatoes, among other things growing in it.  As you may be able to tell from the picture, it also has mint, beans, and corn.

The potatoes are growing so fast though that the other plants, besides the mint, are not keeping up.

The pot is pretty deep though so I'm hoping that at least I'll have some nice potatoes after the season is over.  

They were started from a potato that I hadn't gotten around to cooking that had started forming eyes.