June Visitors to the Americus Garden Inn

This interesting looking "guest" was a mystery. It is called an "eyed elater". In the click beetle family, it is the only click beetle whose larvae are beneficial as they eat other troublesome pests.
The lubber grasshoppers, however, are another story. They are not welcome guests. In a very short period of time, they can do a tremendous amount of damage. If you have never seen one, this one was about 4 inches long.

The following photos can be clicked on for a larger view, if you like.
This interesting spider was brought up to the porch by one of our cats.

I flipped it over to try to identify the spider. Haven't figured it out yet...

We found these spider egg cases in the sago palms.

Kim was trimming the brown fronds and came across the eggs. Never saw the adult spider.

The pink echinacea and the bee balm have been enticing hummingbirds, butterflies and bees.

A butterfly has landed on the echinacea.

A bumblebee and a butterfly were side by side enjoying the flowers.

Another butterfly made an entrance.

Two butterflies landed at the same time.

A long time ago, my grandmother gave me a cicada watch necklace. Today, I held a real cicada in my hand.

The cats were playing with something that was making a lot of noise. It turned out to be this cicada.

I held it for quite a while. It did not want to leave my hand.

It had a very interesting face with large compound eyes on either side.

And, its wings looked like beautiful stained glass.

I released it on the plant behind me in the photo.

Thanks for checking out our blog for today. Hope you have had a wonderful June.

June 1st in the Garden

What a busy weekend it was! Although there is lots to do, I wanted to take a stroll with you through the garden. It has been raining the past few days and everything is growing like crazy.Looking towards the koi pond, the vitex tree is on the left, sago palms in front, and the canna lilies in the far back.
The bee balm just started to open. Last year, the hummingbirds adored these flowers.

In context, the bee balm neighbors the pink echinacea which is loved by butterflies.

On the side of the house, the oakleaf hydrangea has turned from white to pink. The plum tree beside it is loaded with fruit. I'll post those photos soon.

The white crepe myrtle trees all over Americus are in full bloom. Downtown is beautiful as the crepe myrtles line the streets. The pink crepe myrtles are just starting to open.

Through the stone arch in the front of the house, the pink echinacea is filling out the space along with some wild gladiolas.

In the side yard, the orange canna lilies ridiculously tall and the red have just started to bloom profusely.

These are the Mexican petunias. The flowers open in the morning and drop off towards the afternoon.

The hydrangeas are so happy that we have had all this rain. We have had really hot weather and they do not tolerate the heat unless they have lots of water.

My absolute favorite variety of black-eyed susans.

These daylilies showed up amongst the Happy Returns daylilies, which are pure yellow. I hope these continue to bloom all summer like the others.

The miniature gardenias have responded to the rain with lots of flowers.

This was truly a surprise! One of the saucer magnolias is blooming, again.

I'm ending today's tour with "little business" daylilies. Speaking of which, I'd better get back to work.

All of these photos were taken this morning right after our guests had breakfast. Thanks for sharing a few minutes of your day with me. Come stay with us at the Americus Garden Inn Bed & Breakfast to enjoy the garden for yourself. You can check availability online or call us at 229-931-0122 for reservations. Hope to see you soon.