This week in the garden - #21

What's growing in the garden this week?

Mushrooms! Recent rains have encouraged many fungi, like this toadstool, to spring up around the yard.

On the milkweed, there are no caterpillars this week, but there are plenty of these colorful milkweed bugs. They feature the same orange and black colors as the Monarch and Queen butterflies.

The blue plumbago is in full and glorious bloom. I find it is hard to capture the true color of the plumbago  with the camera. It always looks washed out, but its blue is actually similar to that of bluebird eggs.

There's no problem capturing the watermelon red of the crape myrtle's blossoms.

I have several Hamelia patens shrubs around the garden. The ones that are in full sun are now in full bloom. The ones that are in partial shade are slower to bloom.

When several leaves got knocked off one of my succulents, I stuck them in this pot to see if they would root. Many of them did and now I have some nice little baby succulents.

I often find that plants have reseeded themselves in my compost bins. This week I discovered this nice volunteer milkweed plant growing there. Soon I'll move it to a bed.

The Stapelia gigantea is beginning to live up to the gigantea part of its name as it overflows its ten-inch pot.

The bright orange blossoms of the 'Pride of Barbados' draw the eye from across the yard.

The 'Darcy Bussell' rose continues to please me with its many blooms.

And the purple 'Ballerina' datura has been a constant bloomer in the garden this week.

In other news of the garden, I pulled out the last of the spring tomato plants today. They had been ravaged by the heat and by the leaf-footed stinkbugs and it was time for them to go.

I also found time this week to sit under my sycamore tree in the sultry afternoons and listen to the music of the mockingbirds and cicadas while I re-read William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! If you care to, you can read my thoughts on the book here.

I hope you found time to enjoy your garden this week. Happy gardening!