I spotted this blue beauty in the garden on Wednesday evening and am confused on it's identity. It is small so looks like a common blue damselfly but all information I read on them say they hold their wings together on their backs and not spread out like a dragonfly.
Information on the common blue and the azure damselflies both say that the males are blue and the females green but this guy was clearing laying eggs, I observed him curving his back-end up under the leaf several times. It wasn't until I downloaded the photos this morning that I saw I actually captured an egg in the upper right hand corner of the next two photos!
Dragonfly or Damselfly...what do you think?
More blues to show you in the form of the 2nd of my three favorite annuals and that would be Victoria Blue Salvia.
I just love these plants and grow them because they attract butterflies and hummingbirds but mostly because they make every other color in the garden "pop". I make sure to mix them everywhere - don't they look great with the lisanthus & snapdragons above & the lily below?
They are wonderful self seeders as well but I still pick up a few packs each spring just to make sure I have some.
While Victoria Blue is one of my top 3 annuals I should mention that I love all salvias. This year I planted a hummingbird garden of them right next to the patio and it definitely does attract the hummers. The photo above shows the tall pink Wendy's Wish (upper left), the tall Black & Blue (upper right), Victoria Blue (lower right) and new to me this year is Hummingbird Forest Fire, the red one in the lower left. I will definitely be adding all of these to my 2012 list as well.
I spent some time this past week camping in the northwoods of MN and sewing for Baby Bee's nursery. You can see the results of that HERE on Jayme's blog. It has been fun seeing her vision for the fabrics they picked out coming together. It is also very relaxing getting away from the busyness of our daily life here at home and having time to relax...read...antique...explore...and of course shop!
Jeff is working and managing the home front and I almost feel guilty for getting to enjoy all the beauty the northwoods and the Duluth area offer without him...but hey, I'm just helping the kids out :)
One of my favorite places to visit is Jay Cooke State Park, the scenery is gorgeous and the trails lead right to the edge of the waterfalls. I've posted scenes from this park many times here and it's worth it to take a look at THIS POST from last October to see the fall colors and the comparison photos from the high water photos of April 08.
I'm heading back up tomorrow and helping to finish a few more nursery projects but also plan to spend more time with a camera in my hands than with my hands on a sewing machine. Jayme and I are "clicking" away and hopefully by the end of this week our new little business of selling photo prints & cards will be up and running. Look for that announcement with links by next weekend!
