It Bee Fall

 I know according to the calendar it is not officially Fall, but around here it certainly is beginning to look like Fall.  I have already shared my sweet autumn clematis that engulfs the scrubs in the backyard.  In the front yard it is the lavender stonecrop that foretells the coming of Autumn.  (I have always loved the sound of that word - autumn - it seems to "fit" the season!)

Molly is exceptionally frisky this time of year busy chasing bees and flying leaves.


Here she sits on her brick barrow surveying her kingdom.  No other cat or dog dares to enter the yard while Molly is on patrol.  She never fights, but gives them the evil eye instead.

 As you can see the new buds on the stonecrop are white, then turn this glorious lavender-purple. (Are you reading this, Gail? See her Autumn garland at Purple Hues and Me! )  The bees, moths, butterflies, and other insect critters love this stuff.

 I have scads and scads of stonecrop - in containers or in the ground.  It doesn't care as long as there is sun.  It is not too fond of shade. 

It all started with one piece several years ago that a lady gave me out of her yard.  She warned me to be careful and only put it where I wanted it.  I did not heed the warning.

The flowers will gradually turn brown and dry.  Every year I say I will save the stalks for in the house, but they are so attractive in the winter landscape that I just leave them.

They die back and return beginning in February here. That is when the butchering starts.  I dump each pot out, take a serrated knife, and saw each clump into four pieces and repot in new soil.  They become pot-bound in one season.

Distressed Donna stands at the end of the driveway immodestly lifting her skirt!  The pots behind are filled with begonias, potato vine, sedum and stonecrop.

Sorry about her dirty feet, but this is the first week we have not had downpours.  I forgot to wash off her feet after the last rain washed soil out of the pots.

I can never tell the difference between a moth and a butterfly.  I have a host of whatever species this is.  It was so engrossed in getting the nectar that I could get up close and personal with the camera.

I know - it is overkill, but I had to take another picture to show.  Plus this little flutterfly could be part of some sort of Halloween decor! 

Black and orange on purple and green - oh, yeah, that's Halloween-y!

This is my favorite of all Autumn insect critters.  We have always called them orb spiders.  Someone correct me if I am wrong.  I do like spiders and find them fascinating.  This one especially.  She weaves a perfect web each night - one of those that has exact dimensions. Then all day she sits to collect delicacies that become trapped.  This was late afternoon when I took these photos so the web was tattered and torn.

 


Tonight she will patiently start all over again.  Tomorrow morning will reveal another perfect web.  


Nature thrills me.




When I taught, I would send my students out in the wooded area beside the classroom in the fall to find a web.  We would carefully remove the spider then spray the web with white paint.  Two students would hold a piece of black poster board and gently move forward until the web was affixed to the poster.  It made great art pieces.  Miss Spider was probably upset about us stealing her web.

Gosh, a whole post without any ravens - what has gotten into me.  Well, I needed a little piece of serenity so Molly and I just sat outside in the sun and watched it BEE Fall!

See y'all!




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