critters and flowers

Lovely mix of pics. Nice to see the butterfly ..
more of those please ... :o)

those pictures are stunning SL, love that dark lily; the plumbago looks really good.

The delosperma floribunda stardust has gone on my wish list ~ looks a good little doer for front of border.

Interesting mix SL, and good photos, especially the snail taking air.

Had a smashing day here too Slad. Been sitting on my turf seat and pottering in the sunshine...bliss! Love your insect photos and lots of people saying that Rock Roses are doing well in spite of the wet, which is great!

nice new avatar karen

Ta! Clematis Fujimusume....good for a shady spot Sticki! ;)

thats worth knowing!! thank you

You absolutely caught me with that combination of different grass and Lily. Amazing and I will add Stipa to my Lilies, too :))

Brilliant SL. I've not seen a red admiral at all this year, would the bug be Sceliphron caementarium ? Legs look right and the wings shorter than the body.

red admiral was in my garden today, he spent most of the time sunning himself on a tree trunk!!

Seems like Pim has a shady spot in the garden, lol.

Smashing pics SL! nice and sunny too :)))))

Thanks very much everyone, Terra i've only seen 3 butterflys this year and that admiral was one of them,a real shortage down here this year..

Stroller, the delosperma is a great do'er well worth having..

Karen i'm surprised just how well the rock rose has done, i do love your turf seat :-)

Thanks Kat i do love my grasses and lily's.

Cheers Pimms, just googled your suggestion and it's bang on it, cheers. seen quite a few this year too..

Sticki, nice to see you had one too, i do like the admirals.

thanks Cinders. :-)

Thanks Pixi, glad you had some sun too :-)

THis morning it was..but cloudy warm and windy this afternoon. :)

looks like rain here in a mo...I am resisting going to the Ice cream man , he's just pulled up.

You did make me laugh on that other pic Pimms, with the shower and curtains Bit :-))

Lol... Strange to get a nice day.

yes must admit seemed odd not putting my coat on today....

a very welcome change!!

Yes very welcome :-)

had breakfast and tea outside today!!!

That's good it's nice when you can do that, the girls and me were outside for a while too.

long time since i have been able to!!!

btw SL, i had two lots of eucomis ~ one lot was given cups of tea and one lot wasnt [mainly because i lost them] anyway the result is the lot with the cup of tea have better flowers BUT one of them died, the others did ok and all survived!!

wow quite a result then Sticki, maybe there's enough goodness in your ground then.. mine here is very free draining and little goodness in the ground so the tea supplements it.

it is very free draining, almost sand like but i think there is a fair amount of goodness in it ~ rotted down oak leaves over many years perhaps??

Great photographs S`lad, smashing one of the waterlily and its good to see the butterfly even though in someone else`s garden, haven`t seen any for a long time, even the cabbage whites are missing this year.
Its been a grand day here today, sunshine and fluffy white clouds, a gardeners dream just the right temp for working in.....

cabbage whites!!! i had nearly forgotten about them!!!

Great blog SL....so many different insects enjoying your garden. They started to come back in droves to mines yesterday during the 3 hours heatwave, obviously not really a heat wave but as it didn't rain once yesterday - that's a heat wave as far as I'm concerned.
Love the lily with the grasses - great combination!
I remember seeing a butterfly during April!!
Spent the day today painting some new trellis - borders are still a bit too wet to do anything major other than pulling out the weeds I can reach from the edge.

Great closeups :o) esp that insect with yellow legs. I wonder what it's called ...

Sticki, Yes the leaves hold lots of goodness so it could be that.

Thanks Lincslass, yes a real shortage of butterflys this year sadly.

Thanks Scottish at least you had a little sun and dry spell, i hear on the weather it's not looking good end of next week for you up there...

Cheers Hywel :-)

just takes them a long time to rot down.

yes leaves do unfortunately.

especially oak!!

Lovely pics, SL - especially like the sea-anemone -waterlily! Beautiful. Always enjoy insect shots too and so good to see you had a butterfly. We've had precious few, tho' there was a Red Admiral on the marjoram yesterday. There were more in March when we had the warm spell. Maybe when my buddleia flowers...

Yes very tough the old oak leaves Sticki..

Thanks Tuesdaybear, yes very precious few this year here in Surrey, i have a little nettle patch just for the Red Admirals and still only seen one so i hope they return soon.

I have a little nettle patch too for butterflies and for composting/liquid feed. I have a number of - er- natural areas.Lol!

Lol :-)

a wonderful shot ,Surrey:-))))))))

Thanks Junna :-)