It was a chilly 44 degrees this morning. Me and my wild-a** morning hair, my camera, and a little ol’ pup with a nose for adventure, headed out to see if the plants survived the chill of the night.
The irises haven’t bloomed yet. My hand wasn’t as steady as I hoped, but I did get a couple shots.
And this wild effect was a pleasant surprise.
Copper headed to his favorite edge of the lawn.
The bunnies, the birds, and whatever other kinds of wildlife that stroll through the yard, always stop at this tree. It’s Copper’s go-to spot.
I headed the opposite way to check out this monster sized bleeding heart plant.
It is still blooming, and still producing more buds. The branches are so loaded with buds they hang down and touch the rocks.
I’m in awe of how well it has done this year.
I checked out our “Honey, I saw this cool thing on Facebook to attract butterflies, do you think you can build one for me?” banana holder. Mr. did nice work.
I’m thinking we let the banana go too long before hanging it out there, it looks petrified instead of just bad. And…nope…no butterflies yet.
Then true to me and my camera play mode, I got down low to the ground and caught a blade of grass with the sun shining on the edges.
Then I heard a commotion. Two hummingbirds were fighting at the bottom of the tree. One is sitting on the branch close to the base, and the other one was dive bombing and flying back and forth. It would’ve been a cool video.
For such small birds, they can be quite ferocious. And loud. I was fascinated by their little battle. And then I saw a shadow of something big in the sky.
Our neighborhood hunting eagle…who happened to notice a small pup in the yard. I dashed to make sure he wasn’t scouting out an attack on Copper. I scooped Copper up and we headed to the back yard, away from where the eagle was flying.
In the backyard, Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird were on the hunt for worms. Trading spaces in this spot on the tree branch. I even caught the Mr. with his mouthful.
Once we were back in the front yard, I discovered some of my favorite wildflowers are starting to get big enough to hold water droplets on the edges of their leaves.
The rabbits have been munching them off as soon as they’ve started to grow. These two plants are survivors. YAY!
The chives have gone wild before we even had a chance to cut any to eat.
The flowers will attract bumblebees, so I’m good with that.
Just when I thought my adventure should end, a moth flew into my view.
Perched itself on a leaf. Not on the banana holder, mind you, but right there in my wild violet patch.
I wonder if the moth came from this spot hanging on the edge of our garage door?
It was a mildly wild adventure – and look…my seedling marigolds were waving Hi as I walked by too. The little spiders have built a web across them. Charlotte would be proud of their handiwork.
Post Inspired by – Lens-Artists #48 – Wild – Check out the prompt at Tina’s blog here and Sunday Stills – Edge prompt hosted this week over at Hugh’s Website here.
PS – Thank you for stopping by! Hope you’re having a wildly fun weekend. Have you tried the banana thing for attracting butterflies? Did you like the wild effect photo of the irises? Oh, and, I’ll be traveling early on this week, so I might not be posting much. We’ll see…! But, don’t worry, I’ll be on Instagram…hint, hint, if you’d like to follow me there.
Hi Shelley, I had no idea about the banana trick to attract butterflies. We’re quite lucky in the UK because our garden centres sell lots of bee loving and butterfly loving plants. Our garden was full of bees and butterflies yesterday (when we had one of summer), but they have gone today because of the wind and rain.
I’ve not heard of the bleeding-heart plant, but it looks like one that spreads well.
Lovely photography. Thanks for the tour of your garden and introducing us to all it’s wildlife..
Best wishes,
Hugh
Hi Hugh – thank you for stopping by to share your words of wisdom from the UK. I hadn’t heard of the banana trick before, but the post on Facebook looked convincing. Maybe once our butterflies find other flowers as they grow, we’ll have more. Hope the sun is shining for you tomorrow. Thank you for your compliments, glad you enjoyed the tour of my little ol’ gardens. Best wishes to you too!
Thank you for the beautiful nature walk around your yard! (I’m thinking that the banana might turn into a science experiment if the butterflies don’t find it LOL…).
You’re welcome. LOL – I was thinking the same thing. I’m guessing the ants will find it soon too. But that might be interesting to document………
I bet a bird will attack that nana! Lovely photos Shelley, so much bokeh! Safe travels this week. 😎
I can’t wait to see what will attack the banana. The ants might win too. Thank you – glad you enjoyed the photos. I appreciate your well wishes for travels too, thank you!!
Thanks for bringing us along with you on your morning search for interesting and beautiful things, Shelley. The pictures are wonderful. I love water drops, and bright edges. Kudus to your hubs on the banana holder – nicely done.
Thank you for taking the stroll with me and Copper. We appreciate your kind words of encouragement. Mr. is smiling too at your kudos! 😉
Loved your fun post this week Shelley – all of your images are terrific as is your story to go with them. I hope your little dog is safe from the eagle – they tend to focus on somewhat smaller critters here but one cannot be too careful! We watched a battle between a bald eagle and a red-tail hawk the other day and suspected the eagle had taken one of the chicks. Survival of the fittest for sure. And oh, I loved your wild effects photo!
Thank you, Tina, I appreciate you stopping by to take a stroll with me and Copper and your feedback about the photos. 🙂
The eagles here go for anything they can pounce on – they do go for rabbits and Copper is about that size. They have never swooped in on him, but when they start circling above, I tend to worry. It is crazy to watch the hawks and the eagles fight – they do that here too. The screeching is eerie sounding. You’re right, it is the survival of the fittest. Thanks again for stopping by!
I so enjoy this set of wild edge photos. Thank you for making a slide. Beautifully done, Shelley!
Thank you for checking the post out, Amy. WOW – your eagle photos are awesome, I’m sharing the link so those who want to verify that my quick shots this morning are really an eagle can do so with your pictures! https://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/2019/06/01/lens-artists-photo-challenge-48-wild/
Love the sun on the blade of grass. I really need to get to ground level once in a while for my pictures too. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. I find such interesting things at ground level. 🙂
Thank you for the wonderful tour. The Blue Bird photo was awesome. (wish I had some around here) g
Thank you, g 🙂 I appreciate you stopping by. They are pretty birds, wish we had more of them around.
Wonderful 😀😀
Thank you, Brian!
Great photos as always. Your bleeding heart is amazing! Mine has some great blooms this year, but yours is a real WOW. I have one iris but a lot of buds, so it’s coming. Just drove back from the Upper Peninsula visiting my mom and it was like a slow motion blooming of spring…they are several weeks behind us. And it was 45 degrees with a north wind right off the Big Lake. But it was a sunny day and a lovely drive. Long, but beautiful. 🙂
Thank you, Laurel. I do have to admit that bleeding heart is a WOW this year. I’ve never seen it so big. A sunny day and a perspective drive like you took helps us realize how far away from winter we actually are. My dad lives North of us, and when I visit him, I’m always surprised how slow spring arrives there too. Glad to hear you had an enjoyable time. It warms my heart to hear from you!
Amazing pics…and I’d seen the info about bananas. After seeing your luck, think I’ll pass. LOL!
Thank you, Donna. Yeah, so far, the banana is just a yard ‘decoration’ ;-)!
Such wonderful pictures. Fun post.
Thank you, Anita!!
Love your take on Wild, Shelley! And thank you for the walk and look into the dangers and wild effects that can arise in your own garden! Love all the droplets and bokeh too. Our neighbours here had their tiny poodle taken by a bird of prey – they could not say what species – but they ran after it, and as the poodle seemed a bit too heavy for the bird, he finally dropped it to the ground. The little dog survived, but had big marks in the skin from the talons.
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed my take on Wild. 🙂 Yikes, that’s scary for the tiny poodle. Animals can be so territorial and mean sometimes. Glad the little dog survived!
I think he is happy too!
I like all the photos and especially the iris special effects Shelley. I had not heard of the banana in the banana holder trick for butterflies. I’m thinking maybe it was cold and you were out at 44 degrees and that was why no butterflies (perhaps moths are hardier). I was surprised to see the butterfly in the Park about a month ago – I’ve never seen one there so early. I saw a bumble bee Saturday and was amazed for that. Your Bleeding Hearts are just amazing. The bunnies must have blinders on to have missed them – that’s for sure.
Thank you, Linda. We’re going to try a fresher banana and see what happens. Not many butterflies are flying around yet, you’re right.
Maybe this weekend or today you’ll see some butterflies. We had a sunny and beautiful day today and it hit 80 and the same for tomorrow – hopefully you have the same forecast coming up.
We discovered we were supposed to slit the banana…LOL! The butterflies like the juices of fresh fruit, not just bananas. Yes, we’ve had beautiful weather – today we’re supposed to get rain. We actually need it.
Oh that’s funny Shelley … minor details! I never knew that butterflies liked fruit or their juices. When I had the butterfly garden I thought I was offering them the world by giving them a “puddling dish” (sand in a clay saucer and you put water in it so they can alight and sip moisture from the wet sand).
They would have been over the moon if I gave them a banana! Your Orioles may like that banana too. We had a good weekend weather-wise … very sunny and warm yesterday and as of 8:23 p.m. rain is coming in by 9:00 p.m. They said it would rain this afternoon and I was sure it would rain at today’s 5K race, so I took a poncho and umbrella. Rain all day tomorrow, but I might get a walk in tomorrow night after work.
LOL – it’s so fun to learn things while admiring nature. Our weather was good here too – we weren’t supposed to get any rain according to the changed forecast, but then it did rain. It’s been bizarre weather. Hope it holds out so you get a walk in today!
It’s pretty windy here now and we never got that rain til late last night. I laughed at myself packing all my rain gear … that helped us NOT to get rained on at the 5K!
LOL – being prepared always helps!
Great exploration. Nicely done.
Thank you!
I really like how you responded to this theme.
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Gorgeous shots from the edges of your yard, Shelley!
Thank you, Terri!
Love your bleeding heart plant! I miss having that varietal around, southern California has a different type that isn’t as reminiscent of its name 🙂
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Aw, thank you. I saw a completely white version this week, it was intriquing to see. Thanks for stopping by – I need to head to your blog to see what you’ve been up to!!