This summer, I increased the numbers of containers and the types of things I'm growing, as you saw in my previous backyard post  in April. It has been very relaxing to watch everything grow. Lots of my flowers had to be moved into larger pots, which I also purchased from the Dollar Tree .  We have already eaten several of the tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. The corn is just now starting to come onto the stalks.  We have also had lots of our normal backyard visitors. And a few new ones! First, is the Great Spangled Fritillary that visits the butterfly bush and occasionally the roses. This is the first time I have seen one of these. Next, everyone's favorite backyard visitor and pollinator - the adored honeybee. I actually hadn't seen a honeybee in our yard for a few years, so I hope this is a sign that their population is recovering. Next is the tiger bee fly that had landed on one of the gnome's beard. New to our backyard. It is about three times larger than the housefly ...

I've been waiting and waiting for spring temps to arrive for more than a couple of days without rain. And this is the week! We finally have some color in the yard and on our deck. So, I want to share what my husband, son, and I have been up to for the last few days. First of all, we had our first cookout on Sunday, April 28 to celebrate our younger son's birthday. That officially kicks off spring. I mixed the first batch of hummingbird nectar a couple of weeks ago, hoping the males would take advantage while the females were tending to their nests. As far as we can tell, 1 male has visited twice. Of course, we can't look out the window all of the time. But we do look out frequently. And we hang them in 2 locations that we can see directly from the kitchen windows. The rose bushes started blooming about a week ago, and I finally had time to take pictures of them. I pulled out the grass and weeds that were growing around them a couple of hours after I took the front-facing ...