Before the Rain Comes Again

This afternoon when I came outside, I noticed this little fellow *hanging around* in a blue barrel I left outside! Isn't it pretty? I just loved the stripes on the shell.

When we first built the house, I went down to a local market store that sells vegetables, flowers, and local goodies. As I looked around, I spotted some miniature roses that were so beautiful. I asked the woman how much care they required, as I had no good results with roses in the past. She assured me that the bushes were quite hardy, so I bought three of them for $10. One was a yellow color, one red, and the third a beautiful yellow center, with a salmon orange halo surrounding the centers. Well, within a couple of years, the yellow rose died. The red produced every year; but, the most beautiful of all was the most prolific of all! After 13 years, this little bush still is faithful to give me so much joy as well as color!

The "only" special care my little rose gets is a fresh blanket of cedar chips every spring and I do trim back the dead canes in the spring. Before winter comes with its icy cold winds and snow, I also build up the chips to kind of "insulate" my special little bush.

While we were gone, the back hill decided to put on its spectacular little splash of color! I had forgotten about this, as Mark usually insists that we weed whack the hill before it grows up too big. This year, he just never got around to the hill, so the "weeds" took over! As I was admiring the new Aster plant I had bought, I realized that the "purple weed" growing with the Goldenrod sure looks a good deal like the Aster, albeit MUCH taller!

So, are these actually wild Asters?

As I was happily snapping pictures, I noticed the BIGGEST, juiciest Bumblebee! This one was a real prize....but, as I came close, off it went....I caught up with it once again, but this Bumble obviously did NOT want to be photographed. Ah well.....It sure would have been stunning sitting on these plants.