Native passionflowers

Passiflora tenuiloba    (Given to us by friends Ron and Linda...grows in Blanco County)

Passiflora incarnata  (Purchased at a Llano plant sale)

Passiflora lutea (Transplanted wild from adjoining neighbor's yard...definitely from Blanco County! Ignore the seedling; likely a hackberry that's gone now. )

Darn, I realized I don't have Passiflora affinis. I need to put that species on my wish list!

Herbs for caterpillars

A fennel plant for black swallowtail caterpillars.

Two of our three rues bit the dust so I planted three more. Some plants came with black swallowtail caterpillars. Fun!

Stock tank pond update

We love the new parrotfeather. So pretty!

Two of my many new gambusias, hanging out near the dwarf water lily.

Two beetles, pesky and pretty

Two years ago, I blogged about "Life on a silverleaf," which shared about the critters who host on the species. Today, I got some nice photos of eggplant tortoise beetles on some silverleaf nightshades. They're such a pretty beetle.

Then I got a photo or two of this pesky beetle that's been eating our heartleaf scullcap. It's some species of flea beetle in the genus Phyllobrotica. The beetles aren't completely destroying the plants so I'm letting them be. 

Grackles wash their food?

The grackles are so annoying and pushy. They show up around this time of year to dine on caterpillars, which we don't mind. We also find it interesting to watch them dip and wash their food in our bird baths. I tried to catch a photo of one. You can barely see the tidbit in her mouth, but it's there!

Seems to be a common behavior: "Food washing by grackles."

I love nightshades

Silverleaf nightshade

False nightshade

Yellow ground cherry

One of several buffalo burs that I transplanted

Thirsty bees

In the last several weeks, we've noticed a LOT of bees on our hummingbird feeders and bird baths. So anyone know what they're doing with all that water?