First Full Day of Summer 2021

We had a rainy summer solstice this year, but the next day (June 21st) was hot and gorgeous. Okay, actually we were dripping there was so much humidity, but it's sunny! I've taken a few photos over the last few days. It's been a great year for the daylilies as usual. It is so pleasurable to dead head the spent blossoms and admire the new ones each day in June.

The unusual purple daylily.

We had an unexpected, but welcome visit from a Zebra swallowtail on the twenty-first. The bees have been all over the chaste tree next door. I thought I caught movement of a whiteish swallowtail as I was looking at the tree. Yay! It was a perfect Zebra swallowtail. He was unblemished, so he must have recently emerged. Their host plant is the paw paw which unfortunately, I don't have the space for. He actively beats his wings as he feeds so please excuse the blurriness.

Not only is his coloration dramatic (ivory and black striping with red spots near the tail), but look how long the tips of his tail are.

A summer solstice bunny peacefully munching in his clover patch next door. We deliberately leave a few unmown patches of lawn for the rabbits and possibly wild host plants for butterflies/moths. Plantain is also growing in this patch which is a host plant for Buckeye butterflies.

Ian's mid-summer project: the wire fairy. We ordered a small fairy form from a company in the UK to build our own little bit of garden art . I was inspired by a feature story about Trentham Gardens and Robin Wight's fairies in the English Garden magazine.

We are looking forward to many summery blooms, now that high summer is officially here. I hope that you are too!