Summer Images

The 2016 Praying Mantises are about an inch and a quarter long now. Click images to enlarge.

This one was prowling my topiary basket bush. An ant wandered near and was snapped up in his powerful forelegs and quickly devoured.

Purple Loosestrife backlit by the setting sun.

 Black-eyed Susan, always spectacular.

Spider Plant and Coleus, sharing a window box with Purple Oxalis and Purple Queen. Grown indoors from cuttings, the Coleus brightened up considerably once it was set outside.

My flower seeds had to be replanted after the April 20 decimation.

Things are on the verge of blooming, including Cosmos, Echinacea, Four O'Clocks, more Black-eyed Susans, Portulaca and Nasturtiums. Hoping the new owners will let them get through this summer.

The Pieris Japonica and Rhododendron got crushed by snowplows over past winters and then the landscaper removed all but a stump. The Hosta and Irises made it through, despite the largest Hosta having four bags of concrete dumped on it during the winter. Someone removed the bags in time for the Hosta to recover.

Crossing my fingers for luck with the little garden patches that are left. One was obliterated when an underground tank was removed, others got buried under spilled paint and concrete. The Sundrops almost got wiped out in one of the borders. A very  disconcerting year - still cleaning up.

--Bernice