Floral census

Today brought our first open oxblood lilies! Other flowers are rose of Sharon, Turk's cap, lantana, tithonia (Mexican sunflower), ruellia (Mexican petunia), morning glories, asclepias (milkweed in two colors), pride of Barbados, fennel, hyacinth beans, Bright Lights cosmos, wild sunflowers, bolted lettuce, and one calendula in a pot. Volunteer plants just appearing are chiles (probably serrano) and cypress vines. Garlic chives are covered with buds. All these are more than we could expect, since we adhere rigorously to the official watering days and times, using only two hose-end sprinklers, and don't have much time or inclination for hand-watering. We are happy to continue to see goldfinches, hummingbirds, honeybees and various kinds of wild bees, toads, anoles, tree lizards, and more. Now that our lantanas are in a new flush of bloom, we see that those in a neighbor yard are also putting on a show, with more variety (pink and cream, plus yellow, orange and yellow, and trailing lavender). For the first time ever, we've seen squirrels pulling down sunflowers to eat the seedheads. One squirrel spends part of every day in a particular hanging flower pot, with his front paws and his tail trailing over the sides. As soon as it's just a bit cooler, four o'clocks will bloom again.