The Months go marching one by one...Hurrah...Hurrah

February consisted of more bird watching then gardening....though I would wander through the garden, checking to see if anything new was popping up or blooming.

Cardinal...either a female or immature male. So very striking!





Then we add a little blue to the picture.....Blue Jay that is.

Then a dash of Cedar Waxwing and a sprinkle of Chickadee and Starling

And cute as a bug....or tufted titmouse. Who names these guys?

Now to tie it all together....a downy woodpecker and a red-bellied woodpecker.

The bloomers for the month were the flowering quince and the daffodils (and pansies, but no pictures)
And then happiness abounds when I find my first spring blooms arriving.....

 And then along comes March

First year we get to celebrate Eve's necklace blooms

Thanks to a friend....we have some gorgeous irises

And I love, love, love our red yucca

Snowberry clearwinged hummingbird moth on the now blooming scabiosa

And to top off the end of the month......our very first bee swarm.........

April comes with all it's glory.....and wind.....and flowers.....and pollinators!

Cloudless Sulfur

Common Buckeye

Queen

Red Admiral

The Smoke Tree is in it's puff of glory!

From February.............










To March..........

Into April.........

Just wait till you see what's happening in May! Coming soon!

Take a Walk on the Wildside

This was absolutely the wildest year in our yard......ever! Wild in growth and wild in activity. We went from this in early summer....

To this in late fall.......

And the activity was outrageous....in a good way.....mostly! I've never seen so many butterflies in our yard.....and it has been a butterfly garden for many years now. I think the main reasons for this was the loss of trees that introduced more sunshine, and some really extraordinary pollinator magnet plants! I tried to document as many different creatures visiting as possible but some were too fast, or a little camera shy. I hope you've been working out and are in excellent cardiovascular shape and not easily bored so that you can take this "walk on the wild side" with me. Or just take a short jaunt and come back other days for a visit......(insert sheepish look here).....I'm just trying to warn you that I've got a lot of pictures.....a whole lot of pictures.....more than Johnny's Aunt Annie's slide shows. Soooooooo.....here I go!

The Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) was one of the favorites

Southern dogface on the tropical milkweed.

So many flowers, so little time!

The Bumbles loved the

Henry Duelberg Mealy Cup Sage

Zoom in on this guy....OMG....look at those feet!

Those eyes!

http://monarchbutterflygarden.net/butterfly-plants/mexican-sunflower/

 There were so many different varieties of creatures on the frostweed it was a picture taking event every time I went outside.

The grand finale of the frostweed...how it got its name.

Just because! For some reason this makes me swoon!

 And of course.....in any wildlife habitat, there are those who love to partake of all that is available....whether we approve or not.

We are currently getting our first snow of the year, so this has been an absolute delight for me to reminisce....thanks for taking a walk with me!