Amphibians, butterflies and figs. . .

Busy days in the garden again this week. 

The tree guys were back to prune the fig, some overgrown privets, 

and limbing up an oak tree encroaching on our neighbor's tall conifer. 

All looks so much neater now, especially the fig tree which had

 become more like a gigantic shrub!

Before and after. . . . . much better now we can see the trunk again.

Eastern Black swallowtail on asters.

While emptying pots of summer annuals, herbs etc., I also moved the pots

 of asters and was surprised by this rather large frog in the bottom of a planter.

I think my visiting frog is a Carolina gopher frog. 

Very handsome, about 3" long with beautiful markings. . . . . the first

 seen here in my garden!

If interested in frogs you can read more about him/her here.

We tipped him out of the planter near the bee bath as he obviously 

requires water - then he hopped into a pot of ivy. I haven't seen him since

but hope he stays around and devours unneeded insects!

Have a great weekend.

Stay safe - be well.

 . . . . plan a visit to a lovely garden or a pumpkin patch!

Southern sounds and Autumn colors -

I told you recently about these noisy insects - and today I can

 actually share a photo I managed to take of a '17 year cicada' hanging

 out on the back deck. If you touch one of these guys - about 2" long - their

 shriek is quite startling!

Along with donning face masks, some North Carolinians may also be wearing

 ear plugs! 

After nearly two decades underground, a wave of periodical cicadas

 emerged this summer and they are a noisy bunch! 

Last spotted in 2003, hoards of 17-year cicadas, referred to as Brood IX,

 have arisen from the soil and they are deafening. When one whizzes by your

 ear you are startled at the noise it makes. 

Then, when several thousand start 'singing' together in the trees

in the early evening, you really could use ear plugs!

With evenings now starting to cool a little, at the weekend we enjoyed

 grilling outside, then eating supper in the gazebo. . . . . .serenaded by

these creatures!

Sunday, before the heat set in, time was well spent doing a lot of front garden

 late summer chores.  These consisted mostly of working with pots of annuals,

 herbs etc. all of which had seen better days. I've kept a couple of pots of basil

going for a bit longer - just have to have fresh basil outside the door while the

 good tomatoes are still coming!

At Home Depot I picked up a couple of pots of asters for some much needed

 color outside the front door - chrysanthemums will be added a little later,

still too hot for them.

Bees and butterflies found the asters immediately. 

Noticed today Blogger is playing with us yet again regarding font

 and photo sizing - have you noticed? 

Getting the type sized to match in each row of a paragraph is often a pain.

I must say though I do like being able to do a final resize of photos by 

dragging the corners. Do you like this new feature? I wonder if it will

remain. I hope so.