Berries, Bees, and Buds

It rained last night and when I wandered the garden this morning I realized the nandina are covered with berries. (Remember to click on the photos to enlarge.)

There was this beautiful cauliflower mushroom growing on the stump by the school house. Last year we had one that became enormous. From what I have read, it may be edible. Don't worry. I won't be serving it for breakfast. The Mexican petunias responded to the rain by blooming profusely.

The hollies by the pond are loaded with berries, too.

We have 2 fig trees in our garden. The Celeste fig is the one that had the figeater beetles all over the fruit. There are only a few immature figs left on the tree. The other tree is a brown turkey fig, which I photographed today.

If you look closely you can see that it is full of figs and, so far, there are no beetles.

The vitex tree is like a bee magnet. We have watched the bees fall asleep on the branches, but, never have I seen them fighting over one particular bloom. One of the bees was ready to challenge me - see the bee in the center of the photo hovering!

Now, see it on the left. There were 4 bees fighting over these flowers.

In this photo, they are jockeying for position.

And then, all was quiet. It was really interesting to watch.

Thumbelina (one of the neighbor's cats) brought us a lubber grasshopper as a present. I regifted the lubber to the spider in the sago palm. You can see that she has wrapped the "present" - she is in the center and the lubber is below her.

I looked more closely and saw something familiar in the web (remember to click to enlarge).

In an earlier blog post I had mentioned the egg cases on one of the sago palms. Well, now I know who they belong to.

I went over to the pond to check on the tadpoles and was greeted by this dragonfly doing a headstand.

Then, I saw there were 2 others behaving in a similar fashion. Must have been gymnastics time.

We have had many guests ask what the identity of the plant below is. It is "purple queen", with purple foliage and light pink flowers.

The oleander is blooming through the canna lilies and is offset by the white crepe myrtle.

Through all the heat we have had, the Mickey Mouse plants continue to thrive and add a splash of color to the garden.

A lot of the flower beds could use some dead-heading, but, when it is so hot outside, I just can't go out there. This bed of black-eyed Susans is in full bloom.

To finish, a beautiful water lily from the pond.

I hope you enjoyed the garden tour for today. We would love to share it with you in person. Wishing you a beautiful day.

Breakfast on a Beautiful Wednesday in Americus

It is my philosophy on life that you have to allow yourself brief moments everyday to feel connected to the world of nature, "to smell the roses" literally. In this hurried world, it is so easy to get caught up in the rush that you miss the beauty around you. Kim's knee high echinacea is distinctive due to its short stature and pink centers.
Often confused with the much smaller butterfly bush, the amazingly fragrant vitex tree is a butterfly and bee magnet.

On to today's breakfast menu

How about some date nut muffins? Today's variety were vegan, made entirely with whole wheat flour, containing no eggs, butter or milk products. Definitely not ordinary, but decidedly delicious. Want the recipe? I'll be posting it on the recipe page of our website in the next couple of days. Go to www.americusgardeninn.com and click on the "recipes" tab on the left.

The Farmers' Market is now open in Americus Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. I found some beautiful local cantaloupes, watermelons and peaches. Today, we had fresh cantaloupe topped with blueberries from our garden. The blueberries are just about finished in our yard, but, everyone else's are on the verge of ripening. So, hopefully, we'll be able to get some more soon.

The main course was an egg and cheese pie with mesquite smoked turkey accompanied by oatmeal raspberry pancakes topped with raspberry maple syrup. This recipe for oatmeal pancakes does not contain any oil or butter making them considerably lower in fat than many other varieties. By using a smoked turkey instead of a pork product in the entree, this was a very healthy and satisfying meal - low in fat, high in whole grains and fiber and plenty of protein.

Thanks for visiting. Hope you'll visit again, soon.

Buds, Berries and a Dragonfly

This dragonfly insisted on posing for me. You can see its sweet face. Here is the side view.

The vitex tree is full of buds.
I was looking at the nandina buds and realized there were clusters of bright red berries hidden in the foliage.

The oakleaf hydrangea blossoms have started to change color from white to pink.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted this photo of the sago palm which had just shown signs of life.

Can you believe this is the same sago palm today?

Absolutely unbelievable!

Wishing you a fabulous day.

July in the Garden at Americus Garden Inn

The gardens at the Americus Garden Inn Bed and Breakfast are looking beautiful. Here are some photos I took recently in the garden.

This is a beautiful example of Little Business Daylilies.

Here is a photo of the view from the back porch on a recent sunny day. The vitex tree is in full bloom and absolutely gorgeous.

Here is a variety of echinacea you might not have seen before, Kim's knee high.

We have crinum lilies in white and pink.

This variety of canna is called canna tropicana. The foliage is brightly colored as are the flowers.


Hope you enjoyed the visit to our garden. I'll try to post some additional photos soon. If you would love to see the garden in person, make a reservation to stay at the Americus Garden Inn Bed & Breakfast. We'd love to share our garden paradise with you.