Birdfeeding

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today is cloudy and mild.  It drizzled again last night.

More cicadas have hatched.  Again they are everywhere, clinging to the grass and trees.  In places I can see the pencil-sized holes where they emerged from the ground.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few house finches.

EDIT 5/15/24 -- I planted tricolor sage and chocolate mint in the strip garden.  

The Iceland Poppies that I planted yesterday are blooming orange and yellow today.  I know, one was supposed to be pink, but it's very orange.  They are beautiful.

EDIT 5/15/24 -- I planted an 'Electric Blue' penstemon in the wildflower garden.  Its flowers are actually many shades of blue, purple, and pink.  It's among the prettiest penstemons I have seen.

The savanna is full of cicadas today, along with the tulip and daffodil gardens.  :D

EDIT 5/15/24 -- I planted a pink bergamot and a dianthus pink in the wildflower garden.

EDIT 5/15/24 -- It drizzled briefly, then quit.

EDIT 5/15/24 -- I took more pictures of cicadas.  This time I got some of their little emergence holes.  Clearly the birds have been feasting, because discarded wings litter the ground like golden pennies.

EDIT 5/15/24 -- I planted a 'Double Redstone' Superbells in the barrel garden.

EDIT 5/15/24 -- I planted catnip and chives in the cistern herb garden.

EDIT 5/15/24 -- I planted a Korean rock fern in the forest garden.

I spotted a recently emerged cicada and took pictures of it.

EDIT 5/15/24 -- I watered the newly planted things.

The next round of nymphs is emerging!  :D  Clumsy and heavy, they crawl out of the ground and up the stems to find a place to shed their skin.  I took more pictures of them.
 
I found this cool photo-essay of a cicada nymph shedding.

EDIT 5/15/24 -- The cicada nymphs are eclosing!  :D 3q3q3q!!!  I've been running back and forth outside every few minutes to try taking pictures.  The lighting is terrible because of the flash, but maybe I'll get something good.