shamu torpedoes out of the water onto a platform with his trainer barely holding on...

k, we're on vacation and i've fallen in love with shamu!

we are on vacation in california, and the dogs are probably missing us while they are at pet camp. luna injured her thigh a few weeks before this picture was taken, but she's fine now.

monarch feasting on buddeleia 'ellen's blue'

a small diversion from my garden - my mother has asked me to stop complaining about our ravenous white tailed deer, as her friend's friend in Maine photographed a mother moose with her 12 hour old baby in a neighbor's front yard! i imagine the moose poops would be a bit larger than those left by our deer.

gentle coloring appears on allium buds

the "big bees" are back! actually cicada killing wasps, these regal insects are about 2 inches long and are seen here only in august. the wasps dig long tunnels into a bank, and deposit their eggs and cicadas to feed their larvae. once temperatures drop below about 70 F, the wasps die. we have had to limit the population in our yard, as these wasps will dive bomb you, and in a group of about 30, it makes being outdoors hitchcockian. however, the wasps are really not agressive; none of us has been stung. i allow a population of 5-10 wasps each year. in this photo of 3 wasps, a queen and male are mating, and the male on top is trying to sting his competitor, or mate with the female, i'm not sure which.

lily scheherezade is still going strong

allium evolution

day lily bermuda coral lit by the morning sun

everyone is humming in "verbena bonariensis town!"

this butterfly is smaller than my thumbnail.

this is the batwing begonia in my office.

the dwarf oakleaf hydrangea old flowers serve as a dramatic backdrop for the new flowers.

crocosmia lucifer has been blooming for about a month

the flowers of brugmansia 'pink beauty' start out ghostly white during the day, but by late evening they will be pink and tropically scented. here is the same plant the next day, with the two flowers pictured above on the right side of the plant. i am allowing a passion flower to climb the trunk of this brugmansia.

the square garden from our 2nd floor. on the left is a crape myrtle, a japanese maple is center, japanese blood grass is on the right. in the foreground is the alpine planter with pink alliums and other small flowering plants. here is a detail of the square garden with prostrate baby's breath in the foreground, alliums and then japanese blood grass in the background. luna is there on the left.

busy bee on blue wave hydrangea

"i'm going to put one bud into the air to see if it's the right temperature!"

arisaema activity! the deer came in last night and ate many things. i'll have to go out and spray smelly solutions on the plants today.

many alliums are blooming now, these are in the square garden.

hybrid lily 'sheherazade' is a phenomenal 8 feet tall and indestructable!

buddeleia dark knight, which is really darker than this photo shows.

the japanese stewartia in bloom...

i know that all flower photos are just pornography, so in that vein, here is the seed head left by the southern evergreen magnolia flower. oh, also, i'm jazzed because my passion flowers have bourne fruit for the first time. i'll take a picture when they are ripe.

white daylily...

hydrangea 'blue wave' is impressive this year, but hard to show in a photo.

trumpet lily 'summer palace' on a dewy morning

mom's puppy, vasco, on our last visit! what a cutie!

luna can be so shy...

when my daughter saw this picture i took of aurelian lily 'white henryi' she said, "how could you take such a good picture when you are such a bad photographer?" our neighbors have a dilapidated shed that makes a rustic backdrop for the lilies.

yet another gorgeous daylily!

my northern friends, please be jealous of my crape myrtle!

here's a pretty pink allium by mark mcdonough.

passiflora in the morning sun...

this is show-off time for the day lillies!

stokes' aster is blooming now...

one of my brother's friends, Mark McDonough, is breeding alliums for new colors. my brother gave me two of the early plants. here is one, which is a dusky canteloupe color, as it opens. i like alliums just as they open more than when they are fully blooming. this little umbel is about 2 inches long. Mark's website is http://www.plantbuzz.com/.

ok, you are probably tired of this arisaema, but i am in love with taking its picture!

The day lilies and roses are showing off again!

the passion flowers are blooming on the deck now...
this one is called pura vida, and is my favorite.