Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

On the 15th of every month gardeners take pictures of blooming plants in their garden. Since its so hot here, I don't have many flowers blooming. The die hard tough plants are blooming now--Black eyed Susans, Salvia and Gailardia.

This is Gaillardia AKA Blanket Flower and it is a tough plant! No matter how hot it gets (and its very hot/humid in south Louisiana) it keeps on blooming. Doesn't need much water either.

Butterfly Bush 'Nanho Blue' has light purple/lavender flowers all over the bush. This is my first time growing Butterfly Bush and I love it! To keep flowers coming, pinch off the spent blooms.

I love my Milkweed! It blooms alot and I love the orange color in my garden. Plus, its the only host plant for Monarchs. I had two Monarch caterpillars this year but they didn't stay in my yard too long. They flew away once they turned into butterflies.

This is my favorite salvia, Indigo Spires. The bloom stalks are at least 10 inches long and it stays covered with flowers all season long!

Atchafalaya Basin Fishing Trip

This morning we went fishing in Bayou Sorrell near Plaquemine, LA in the Atchafalaya Basin Spillway. I love going to the Spillway because of the beautiful scenery. There are plenty of bald cypress trees (state tree of LA) and lots of wildlife.

The above picture was our first fishing spot but the boat couldn't pass since the bayou was choked with water lilies.

See the dark stains on the bottom of the tree trunk? Thats from high water when the Spillway was opened to relieve the flooding of the Mississippi River.

Front and back view of an old houseboat.

This is an Egret and we saw these brids all day. They sit on a log and wait for minnows to swim by and strike at them with their long beaks.

These are my new water shoes, they are Keen McKenzies and are good for fishing or canoeing because water drains out but no rocks can go in.

After several hours of fishing and not even one bite, we went home. We had fun just being out in the Spillway.

Baby Mockingbird

While I was at work today, Dave spotted a baby mockingbird in our carport. He was able to snap these pictures and move the bird back to the yard where the mom was waiting.

Stay tuned later in the week for a blog post about fishing in the Atchafalaya Basin! My dad, Dave and me are going fishing Friday morning and hopefully I can catch lots of fish and photograph wildlife.

Rain!

Yesterday we got over 2 inches of rain and my plants look so good!

This is Crocosmia 'Lucifer' and this is its first flower of the year.

Another plant that is blooming now is my Milkweed. Its producing lots of flowers which make lots of seed pods. I've been spreading the Milkweed seeds in my neighbor's empty garden patch in hopes that they will reseed.

Here is Ginger, she loves to walk around the garden with me!

Finally, here is Max. He loves to chase Ginger around the yard, but I think he secretly likes her.

Red Gailardia

Gailarida-also called Blanket Flower-is one of my top perennials for Louisiana. This plant can endure our hot summers and it blooms continually all summer. What more could you ask for? In my opinion, Gailarida's best quality is its drought tolerance. The last thing I want to do is haul the hose out amid 90 degree temps and water plants. Gailarida only gets water when it rains and its fine with that.

Gailardia doesn't grow very tall (about 1 foot) but is does grow wide (about 2 feet across). Its growth habit is "floppy" meaning it likes to lay across neighboring plants. I don't mind, it gives the garden a casual cottage feel.

All you need to grow Gailardia is full sun and a moderate amount of space. I'd say a 2 foot circle for each plant should be adequate. Gailarida is available in a few different colors-- my favorite is 'Red and Yellow' and there is a yellow variety called 'Oranges and Lemons'.

I will end with a picture of my outside cat Ginger. She loves laying beside the catnip (on the left side of the picture). Sometimes I pinch off a few catnip leaves for my inside cats and they love it!

Tomato Hornworm

I was looking at the tomato plants when I noticed a leaf moving....so I looked closer and saw this!

So far, I've counted 3 hornworms but there are probably lots more that I didn't see. They are very well camoflagued! They are the same color as a tomoto stem and are very fat. One of them was at least the size of my thumb!

I'm not going to remove the hornworms because they are not harming the tomatoes and they will grow into the Sphinx Moth. I didn't take the moth picture, got it from Google. Hopefully I will some Sphinx Moths soon!

His little feet are cute!

Black eyed Susans

Black eyed Susans are one of my favorite perennials to grow. Mine have just now started blooming; they brighten up the garden with their yellow flowers. Lately we haven't gotten much rain, but that doesn't bother Black eyed Susans! They grow well in drought conditions.

I have two types of Susans, one that has a dark center and one that is plain yellow. Both kinds grow equally well, but I like the plain yellow type best.

Black eyed Susans come back every year without fail and also grow bigger every year. Mine need to be divided because they are pushing my other plants out the way. They are a great choice for our hot Louisiana summers!