Compost bin + rain = ?

A frog! This fellow decided to park in the bin for weeks, using the submerged trash bag to rest when not swimming. I assume the mosquitoes breeding in the water took care of lunch, dinner and an afternoon snack... he even got some weedy grass to grow in his "pond"!

The king of Lepidoptera

After several years of putting up with our wild (i.e. not intentionally planted) milkweed patch, I finally saw a Monarch butterfly flitting about them yesterday! And just in time too, since I had made up my mind a day earlier to pull out the milkweed so the day-lilies became visible again...

The butterfly spent some quality time in the milkweed and butterfly bushes. I wanted to stay longer and watch the show, but had to back up the car and get to work...

All jasmines on deck!

One of the jasmines we bought a couple of years ago is finally going bananas on our deck despite the persistent heat wave and intermittent watering: