The Sun is Killing Me: Hawk Moths and Wildflowers

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Hawk Moths and Wildflowers

I finally caught an image of one of the Hawk Moths that has been zooming about my yard. This guy was feeding at one of the purple salvia greggi in my wilderness area of the yard. He was so busy with the flowers, has wasn't paying me any attention at all.

Hawk Moth (A Striped Morning Sphinx, I believe):

This is my wilderness area:

I dug out all the bermuda grass on the west side strip of the house and planted native and adapted plants in its place. Near the back of this image, you can see the desert willow starting to leaf out and near the front, the Granny Smith apple tree that should start leafing out any day now. I love this little section of the yard. It attracts all kinds of birds - just this morning I saw a yellow-rumped warbler hanging out in the apple tree.

An Image of the Damianita that takes a beating from the sun in the summer, but doesn't seem to mind it in the least - it just keeps on blooming throughout it all. One of the best flowering plants I can find for that 'Hell Strip' by the sidewalk.

Here are the Columbines and the Texas Betony that the hummingbirds LOVE:

A closer shot of the Texas Betony:

And the Cedar Sage is just starting to bloom. I really love this plant. The red is really quite intense and I think this is THE favorite flower for the hummingbirds in the spring in my garden:

8 comments:

Anonymous said...: Nice shot of the hawk moth---and they aren't easy to photograph. I have the same natives blooming as you, with the exception of the cedar sage. I haven't seen any hummers yet though. Have you?; April 1, 2008 at 9:38 AM
CanadianGardenJoy said...: What a shot of that Hawk Moth !
I love your description of "Hell Strip" ... I think I will use that for my naughty spaces too ! LOL
It is wonderful to see wildlife come back time and time again.
Joy; April 1, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Robin's Nesting Place said...: They are so hard to photograph, great job. I was so excited last year when I finally got pictures of the clearwing moth.; April 1, 2008 at 11:43 AM
dig this chick said...: Snow may be pretty but oh to have COLUMBINES right now.; April 1, 2008 at 4:18 PM
Lee17 said...: Pam,

Yes, actually we have at least three hummers buzzing about - 2 blackchinned and one ruby-throat. They arrived the second week of march.; April 3, 2008 at 5:05 PM
Lee17 said...: gardenjoy4me,

Thanks! My camera is slow so it is a miracle I get pics of anything that moves quickly!; April 3, 2008 at 5:06 PM
Lee17 said...: Robin's Nesting Place,

Oh! A clearwing moth! Those are even harder to photograph - they almost NEVER stop moving.; April 3, 2008 at 5:09 PM
Lee17 said...: dig this chick,

The columbines are pretty, they are one of my very favorite flowers. I really miss the blue ones I could have up north.; April 3, 2008 at 5:10 PM

Zone What?

Seattle to Olympia is Gardening Hardiness Zone 8.

Zone 8: -12 to -7 C (10 to 20 F)

Austin is Gardening Hardiness Zone 8-9

Zone 8: -12 to -7 C (10 to 20 F)
Zone 9: -7 to -1 C (20 to 30 F)

The USDA map was updated this year - 2012. Some zones have shifted from the previous version.

See the current map here:

http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html

Although both Austin and Seattle are in similiar zone hardiness, their climates could not be more different! Temps top out in the 80's in the summer in Seattle, where in Austin they can top 110 and stay in the 100's for months on end. The same plants that enjoy the Seattle maritime climate will fry in a second in the semi-desert that is Central Texas.

Learn about the heat zone map here:

http://www.ahs.org/publications/heat_zone_map.htm

Check out the AHS Heat Zone map here:

http://www.ahs.org/pdfs/05_heat_map.pdf

Past Garden Quotes of the Month

"The fair-weather gardener, who will do nothing except when the wind and weather and everything else are favorable, is never master of his craft."-- Henry Ellacombe
"The trouble with gardening is that it does not remain an avocation. It becomes an obsession." -- Phyllis McGinley
"The way of cultivation is not easy. He who plants a garden plants happiness." --Chinese Proverb
"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." --Greek proverb
'Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.' - Albert Einstein
"Unemployment is capitalism's way of getting you to plant a garden." ~Orson Scott Card
"I never had any other desire so strong, and so like to covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I might be master at last of a small house and a large Garden." ~Abraham Cowley, The Garden, 1666
"A weed is but an unloved flower." ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
"Last night, there came a frost, which has done great damage to my garden.... It is sad that Nature will play such tricks on us poor mortals, inviting us with sunny smiles to confide in her, and then, when we are entirely within her power, striking us to the heart." ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The American Notebookse
"Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination." ~Mrs. C.W. Earle, Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, 1897 (Thanks, Jessica)
"When one of my plants dies, I die a little inside, too." ~Linda Solegato
"In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death." ~Sam Llewelyn
"Plant carrots in January and you'll never have to eat carrots." ~Author Unknown