Hummingbirds at last

They're definitely in the pleasure grounds, smaller than the giant swallowtail butterflies. They are of the black-chinned variety and prize Turk's cap above all other sources of sustenance. Beginning this past Wednesday, June 18, we've been harvesting ears of  On Deck corn, grown in large pots. The ears are of medium size, with sweet, tender, bicolored kernels. They filled out quite well, thanks to all the bees, including honeybees and several kinds of bumblebees. There was a corn ear-worm inside one husk. The silks do not seem to become darker than medium brown. We'll certainly grow it again, if only for its ornamental qualities: prominent and ornamental tassels and leaves of a beautiful color green with quite a broad white stripe down the middle. Wax beans were delicious but we'll probably not enjoy many more. The yellow summer squash is done. All the hollyhocks have made seeds. Pride of Barbados is beginning to be very showy, much later than those we see elsewhere around here.

Surprise!

It was delightful to find a stalk of shell-pink gladiolus. The three plants return every year but it's been a very long time since we've seen a flower. We dined on yellow summer squash grown in a pot. The first pride of Barbados is blooming. There are fewer honeybees around now that there are flowers everywhere, but we're seeing bumblebees of three kinds around the corn tassels every day. The large blue bees are especially handsome. There are several ears of On Deck corn beginning to form but not brown silk yet.

Yarden update

A week ago we were home for a late lunch and heard a vehicle suddenly slowing down. It had courteously stopped to allow the largest armadillo ever to cross in front of it. The 'dillo pushed through the gate and marched eastward until it disappeared, perhaps into the burrow among the stump roots of a pecan that's no longer there. The creature had a pinkish splotch on its back toward its neck. We've never seen one in broad daylight before. The On Deck corn now has tassels and silk. A nocturnal creature has been consuming squash as it forms.