Warm days in Americus

It is May and it feels like August, here in Americus!

The echinacea has started blooming in the rock arch garden.
The wild gladiolas have just begun to open.

The Mexican petunias are multiplying rapidly.

As I was checking the plants, due to the excessive heat, I felt something crawling on me and as I reached to brush it off

I realized it was a very small praying mantis!

Once it decided to climb on my hand,

it did not want to leave my hand.

Maybe, it was because I had moved into the shade and it was cooler.

I'm glad that I didn't hurt it.

We looked each other in the eye and said a prayer together for cooler weather.

The men are supposed to come work on the December/January... project tomorrow. Stay tuned! :)

Thanks for visiting. Stay cool and hydrated! Love from Americus.

Susan

Early November in Americus

Is the weather really unusual everywhere this year? Today, it is almost 80 degrees, so, I took a walk through the garden to see what is new. A lone daylily shines amongst the fallen leaves.
A few echinacea continue to bloom.

The Celeste fig tree still has figs. Maybe with the cooler weather the "figeater" beetles will not devour them before we can.

The brown turkey fig tree has a few barely ripe figs along with lots of immature ones.

Although the leaves of the Mickey Mouse plant are browning, the flowers are still abundant. Can you see the "face" in the flower in the center of the photo (it's facing towards the left).

If you click on the photos, you can get the true view. This mushroom is really interesting, isn't it?

A view from inside one of the oak trees.

The leaves of the oakleaf hydrangea are turning red around the edges.

Prompted by the cooler temperatures, the paperwhites are beginning to appear.

The leaves of the red dragon Japanese maple are so frilly and delicate.

The knockout roses continue to bloom.

We have several varieties of ruby lorapetalum in the garden. This one is really beautiful right now with the leaves showing green and ruby along with the almost fuschia blossoms.

That's the garden tour for today. Speaking of tours, Kim and I took a tour of the local coffee roaster today. Cafe Campesino specializes in fresh roasted, fair trade, organic coffee. We were treated to a "cupping" and enjoyed sampling quite a variety of coffees. If you visit us in person, we recommend that you take the tour. It was very interesting.

Thanks for visiting the Americus Garden Inn. Come back soon.

The First of July Hummingbird Tour of Americus Garden Inn

While waiting for our guests to arrive, I saw a hummingbird and grabbed the camera.I followed the hummingbird around the garden.
The hummingbird went from one bed of flowers to the next.

I followed and tried to get a good angle.

The hummingbird seemed to sample every type of flower in the garden.

But, every time I tried to take a picture, he had already moved on.

However, I didn't realize we had new buds on the saucer magnolia.

Or that the lythrum has really filled in beautifully.

The bed of stargazer lilies has exploded with blooms so fragrant you can enjoy them throughout the garden.

And, the crinum lilies continue to flourish in several beds scattered through the garden

Last, but not least, a single water lily is closing its petals for the evening.

Thanks for checking out the hummingbird tour. Hopefully, next time I'll actually get a picture of the hummingbird!

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.

Father's Day in Americus Georgia

We have been extremely busy and I have not had time to post any new photos. While awaiting our guests arrival today, I just took the following photos to show what is in bloom TODAY! pink echinacea
red rocket crepe myrtle

lantana

blue hydrangea

pink hydrangea

daylilies

lily of the Nile (agapanthus)

Mickey Mouse plants

kim's knee high echinacea

These were all taken in less than 5 minutes around the back garden of the Americus Garden Inn Bed and Breakfast. Guests are arriving so I've got to go for now. Hope you are having a Happy Father's Day.