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Buggin' Out

My cannas are doing very nicely.

So I was terribly annoyed when I went out and saw the below:

Canna Leaf Roller!

Grrrrrr!

But not all of the bugs in the yard are bad:

This little guy has been busy! Bugs that eat bugs are the best!

Don't get me started on the mosquitoes. . .

Mother Nature is Hating Me Right Now

Remember my beautiful pentas from this weekend? I came home and found them majorly chewed up. After a close inspection, here is what I found! A good dozen of them, grazing on my local, organic produce. I'm sure they are lovely butterflies, but I determined a while back that I garden for flowers, not for bugs. I won't use pesticides or fertilizers, but that didn't stop for plucking each of these big nasties off my pretties. This whole organic thing is rough.

UPDATE: The Front Garden

Time to do updates! It has been ages since I've posted updates. Mostly because there hasn't been much to take pictures of. Now it is time, and I've had a lot of changes in the front garden. Gone are the white snapdragons and petunias, and in there place are the gorgeous pentas that grew back from the fall planting. It actually drives me nuts when I see all of the snapdragons and petunias on sale at the garden center in the spring. Down here, with all the heat and humidity, these plants don't last long. I've added heat friendly vinca, hot pink coleus and yellow day lilies (not in bloom.)

Love the pentas!

UPDATE: Pool Garden

Please ignore the lime green pool. I don't do pool duty, and with all the rain we've had, my honey has had a hard time keeping up with it. But there are some jems in the pool garden, literally the jewel of the Nile is blooming in the corner. The yellow canna above is beautiful, and hopefully there will be more of these flowers soon. The happiest bit of news? The bird of paradise that frozen heartbreakingly to the ground has bounced right back.

UPDATE: Corner Garden and Shed Garden

The tropicals in the corner garden are just loving the wet weather. The gingers are starting to recover from the squirrel attacks and the crinums look great under the palm. A canna I thought I moved to the pool area is blooming in the corner. Moonflower vines are crawling quickly up the trellis. The spiral ginger is struggling in the circle, but I've found ginger tends to struggle a bit its first year. The shed garden is having a tougher time. The Persian shield is doing well, as always. Maybe I'll change things up. Plant the P. shields along the front, with a line of gingers behind it. The banana on the left and the palm on the right have been slow to recover from being frozen over the winter.

UPDATE: Butterfly Garden

The butterfly garden is looking soggy with all of the rain.