Catching up

Summer is for BEING outdoors, not BLOGGING about outdoors. So let us catch up (though it is still almost 80 outside!).

First, before I forget, I looked it up and I'm in gardening zone 7A.

I just ordered some bulbs today, based largely on deer resistance, except for the irresistible tulips:

This was just yesterday, at Reeves-Reed Arboretum nearby. It is small, but lovely, even this late in the year.

Black-capped chickadee, Sept. 17

Sept 17....what the heck? As if I can identify this bird based on this picture? The point is that there are occasionally brownish birds that pass quickly through, I never manage to get a good photo or even a good look, I don't know what they are (and they're not even all the same kind), and it drives me crazy. Sigh.

I don't know what this flowering shrub is - it was here when we moved in. We didn't even realize it would bloom! It was at its peak around Aug. 23, and just gorgeous. Wish I could identify it!

Look at the size of this fungus! This was Sept. 3

This just shows that there was a branch that the tree removal people broke on the live tree, and didn't notice, and now it has brown leaves, obvi. I was going to follow up and ask them to remove it and I, uh, didn't.