Ann and Gramps add some Blackberry Lilies to Bed B3

Julie generously dug up some of her Blackberry Lilies to donate to our garden.  Mac and Ann came by this morning, dug up a burned out hosta (the previous owners disregarded the shade requirements of yet another shade loving plant!).  The hosta was brought over to the back fence under the mini maple tree.  Ann (sister in law AND former Martha Stewart Horniculturist) expertly planted the transplants.  My only concern now is the downspout location which might erode the soil in a major downpour.

Added some asters

I moved another misplaced shade loving hosta out of the full sun bed and replaced with some shorty purple asters (Aster Dumosus).  I'll still need to move a couple more hostas from that bed, and fix up that wacky downspout and relocate that lavender a bit, but overall, once i weed out that morning glory, i'm pretty happy with this bed.  I'm thinking of adding some tall spiky perennial flowers.  Maybe....hollyhocks or monarda?

Finally moved those ferns

And replaced them with Compact Japanese Holly (Ilex glabra) and accessorized with red and orange chrysanthemums.  The ferns moved into the shade by the sandbox. Much better!

Gold finch

One more wildlife post:

We have been spotting gold finches (both male and female) eating the seeds out of the new black-eyed susans.  I added the BES's because they were on sale at Home Depot (end of season sale) and we had a bare spot in the flower bed at the family room window.  The choice of plant and location couldn't have worked out better. I now consider this bed B3 the cutting garden.  I love peeking out the window at the blooms, but I was totally thrilled to find out the the gold finch enjoys perching on the flowers and eating the seeds.  Very exciting!

Butterflies

I found this Tiger Swallowtail on - where else - the butterfly bush! I have also spotted a couple Monarchs and of course the Cabbage butterflies which seems to be everywhere!  (stock photos below)

Hummingbirds

I am happy to report that we spot hummingbirds at least once a day in the backyard.  I bought this beautiful glass feeder from etsy and put in a 1:4 mix of sugar:water and voila  hummingbirds!  We have the feeder right outside the family room window and June gets a kick out of spotting the "hums".  We only get the ruby-throated ones here in SE Pennsylvania, but they are endlessly fascinating.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62566211/the-kennedy-feeder-the-original-one

Praying mantis discovered!

I was happily surprised to find a small praying mantis in the backyard yesterday.  Then I saw this:
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/learn/hummingbirds/mantis-hummer.php?sc=migrate
A mantis kills a hummingbird!?!? Uh oh.