May Ends June Begins

The shots in this post are from the last few days of May and the first three days of June.

My purple coneflower (Echinacea) shown below is beginning to form buds.

I look forward to those coneflowers and the birds like them too.

What used to be my greenhouse, shown above, has become a shade house with honeysuckle and Virginia Creeper completely covering it at this point.

The American Robins love to bathe on my deck.

I photographed the sky and tree below in my backyard today and within a few hours the sky turned dark and it poured rain.

My back yard has become a total jungle and I need a bush ax to chop my way up the hill to the top part where I have flowers blooming.

The dogwood tree below provides a green umbrella over my driveway.

Hydrangea leaves love to soak up rain. They can curl up fast in the hot part of the summer but revive fast with rain.

I love the way rain soaked plants and flowers look.

On a walk along a creek the bank growth was so dense at places it formed a ceiling over the water.

The next shot is at a narrow part of the creek where the growth on either side was touching.

The two shots above and the one below are the only ones that I didn't take in my yard or on my deck. This creek is close to where I live.

 Honeysuckle is trying to take over the world at my house.

Butterfly weed thrives in my yard and both the bees and butterflies love it. I started it from seed years ago and it self seeds like crazy coming back stronger than ever each year.

The blackberry vines have more and more flowers and before long the berries will start forming.

I think the male house finch looks like a little jewel.

The female house finch blends into my deck perfectly.

The bluejay was daring me to interrupt its bath.

I let it finish before I added fresh water.

The Ficus pumila (creeping fig) that I planted years ago in the back of my house has gone crazy. Not only does it cover the wall around the outside of my water heater room it goes all the way up my chimney.

The creeping fig used to partially die back in the winter and wasn't so out of control but after quite a few years with milder than normal winters it's going wild.

The bees love my hydrangea flowers.

I enjoying watching bees and they are more interested in the flowers than me so I don't get stung.

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