glory fish

Tucker has eaten nearly all the snails in his tank. A few trumpet snails escape him because they burrow during the day- but now a lot of plants are getting too much algae on them. I've put up background again. Makes it easier to take photos, so I tried for a few good ones of Tucker- but he moves so quickly it's difficult as ever!

He's grown a lot. Tip of anal fin reaches half the length of his tail!

I've started feeding him one earthworm (red wiggler) a few times a week- he really likes that.

how are the angels

Angels doing fine together now

Shirley's condition the same (no fungus on the lip, small pale spot on tail fin, lingering redness . . .) 

same with her golden sister Precious

Not sure about Miss Beautiful. One one side, she no longer has redness where pectoral fin meets the body- 

and the lumps on corners of her mouth are much smaller- mostly because Precious has been nipping at them- but now she seems to be unable to close her mouth quite all the way. I feel this is a bad sign.

out front

In the front bed, my sweet alyssum plants have grown into decent clumps and flowered after all. Pinks:

and purples. Still not very visible from the sidewalk, say- but enough I'm encouraged to try growing more next year.

Also pleased well the chrysanthemums look, since their move forwards- the additional light has helped. Even though think I forgot to do the second pinching, I'm hoping the flowers do better now (not so leggy).

Also doing better is the row of 'main street rodeo drive' coleus. So bright!

The sedums are looking grand, though deer have started to eat them- I need to put out deterrents. Columbine are still green behind the coleus, peony foliage nice, cranesbill filled in, and I've started trimming the small creeping stonecrop to spread around the edge- but didn't take more pictures of all that.

a few garden things

My lovely scented geranium looks recovered now, and is even blooming.

Kale was cut back down to the ground (because I ate it) and new leaves look better, just a few bug holes (I caught the caterpillars)

Zucchini is a grand thicket, but some of the fruits are rotting again before I can pick them. Turn yellow and shrivel, don't grow out nice. My sister says they do this if fail to get pollinated.

I am still not fond of marigolds, but I do appreciate their job- the scent seems to keep away the deer and rabbits (who have eaten all my hostas again). I wonder if I could plant a low wall of marigolds around the hotas. But there's not enough sun. Or at least in a spot that would deter the deer from entering the yard? Hm.

Made a new recipe (from a borrowed library book): lemon bars with thyme in the crust.

I thought it was delicious! 

color progress

Crown of thorn flowers have gradually been turning pinker-

two days later

few days later- one is nearly solid color

yard plants- in flower

I walk across the yard just to look at the 'little kim' hibiscus. It's like pale blushing crepe paper.

The other one has bolder color, not as pretty form (and this one particular flower is a bit ragged).

My sedums are lovely too, in a different way- these on the smaller sideyard are quite green still

while those further down the slope flanking the hydrangea have more bluish leaves, and reddish stems. Not sure if it's just from the difference in sun exposure, or are they different varieties. (The green ones I bought from the nursery, the reddish/blue were a gift from my mother-in-law).

First turtlehead bloom!

Joe pye weed going crazy with flowers, but the midnight salvia I moved (just in front of the stump) looks dead.

the big sideyard

I have to differentiate the two. The first sunny sideyard, which is narrower, I think of it as the smaller one. And the second sunny sideyard, which was in shade before we had those huge maples cut down, is wider and more open, so I think of it as the bigger one. I spent half a day out there, pulling crabgrass and the worst of the weeds. Left some things alone, like the wild violets

Found a few bugleweed (ajuga) that survived the tree-cutting

Yanked out a bunch of wild rose that was all tangled behind the beautyberry (those thorny stems had grown a lot thicker with more sun) and now it looks so nice! Anticipating the purple berries

Lungwort also impressed me how much it grew!

Ostrich ferns are doing way better now, too.

And the sensitive ferns seem to be reviving from the heat, and the bugs-

there's new fiddleheads under there

My shady 'purple corner' looks promising- I need more persian shield!

I like how the wandering jew has done, need more of that also!

Spiderwort is blooming again- floating above the green

shared tomatoes

I'm picking tomatoes green, to ripen on windowsills again. Not because it's cold outside, but so I can eat them and not the critters.

Most of the large tomatoes in my garden get holes in them, and then start rotting. If I pick 'em quick enough, I can cut out the bad spots. It looks bigger than damage a bug would do- chipmunk or squirrel? bird? (I've seen a bird stabbing its beak in one).

However, this plant that I still think is a wild reverted coleus, now overwhelming one end of the tomato bed, 

has also nicely protected a few tomatoes. I found several of the large ones hidden under its leaves, ripened and completely untouched. 

View from the back side, through screen. An unexpected bonus of letting this plant grow!

critters

I have enjoyed seeing the small wildlife in my yard lately, when sitting quietly near the garden, or down on the ground pulling weeds. A toad (or frog?) that hopped away just too quick for a good photo-

glimpse of a fat skink-

Even happier to find, on this very sad-looking broad-leaved milkweed

Monarch caterpillars!

and quite a few aphids.

I have not been over on this newly sunny second sideyard much- the stand of tithonia is mostly left to its own devices. About once a week I clip off dead flowerheads, but haven't needed to wipe off aphids or strip the lower leaves that get blackened. They stand straighter, too. Healthier I think. It's true what I read, they just needed more sun. Even though I thought the other side had plenty of sun.

I wonder if same is for the milkweed. Is the swamp milkweed on the first sideyard not quite as healthy, is that why the caterpillars are all on this side, even though there's far fewer plants? or did the butterflies just happen to find these three isolate plants, and not the others? Well, at least they're notorious for spreading so next year I'll have more (milkweed)!

Other things I've been glad to see, though not gotten photos of: bright yellow goldfinches feeding on my dead echinacea again. I can recognize their high, twittery voices now. Hummingbird- one day I saw it twice, so pretty like a hovering jewel. Leopard frog in the grass by the vegetable garden, with striking, neatly-arranged pattern on his back. Tiny jumping spider that approached me crawling across the bench cushion. Catbird making its way through the garden beds, if I sit very still it doesn't notice me. Wrens poking around the potted plants on the upper deck. Swallowtails and skippers and hairstreak butterflies. 

I haven't seen any preying mantids this year, though. Where are they.

tank news

I'm glad in the angelfish tank, to see the pothos roots all extending down branching, healthy and fast-growing. Nitrates are remaining below 10 every time I test, now. Still doing the twice-weekly wc.

Sad that I lost one of the minnow fry- I only had two, in the ten gallon. Was doing a partial wc today and one accidentally got sucked up by the hose. Not a problem- small enough it didn't get any injury in trip to the bucket, but when I went to catch it, the little fish darted at last minute and got pinched against bucket side by frame of the net. Looked okay, but couldn't swim straight. Hanging at the surface, or spinning in circles head up. I think either its swim bladder or its brain got injured. 

Also sad that the best, close-up photos I ever get of these fish is when they're sick or hurt.

I watched it struggle for a while, (and the other one immediately hid, probably alarmed by the unusual movements). Then feeling very morose and guilty, I netted it (far too easy this time) and dropped in the big tank. Miss Beautiful had a quick snap. 

So now just one. It's only a few months old and I'm still leery to put it in the 33L with the adults. Sometimes, particularly when he hasn't eaten in a while (although I feel like I feed him well), Tucker now doggedly pursues a white cloud around and around the tank.

I'm pretty sure he's trying to catch and eat one. They're too quick and agile, but I don't know if this younger one could evade him.