Computer Question and a Turkey Sighting

What do you use for creating your blog posts: desktop or laptop? I was wondering if you find photo editing much easier using a mouse.

I have been having a difficult time with the new blogger interface and part of it (aside from disliking the design of it) is my 10-year-old Dell computer. I've kept it this long because it's been adequate for my uses and I have an external hard drive with 500 GB of memory. However, it's looking like Windows XP may just be too much of a thing of the past. I can't upgrade to IE 9 with xp and until I can do that I can't export my blog to save it. Not sure if it's worth it to install the new hard drive I got two years ago (in case I couldn't get the computer up and running again after it crashed) and update to Windows Vista or just get a new computer. The former might result in a wasted $120 for the windows update and a lot of wasted time on my part.

I'd switch to wordpress.com but I can't even find the friggin login page on this computer.

The Bidens are finishing up now but here's a pic from when they were in their full glory. The Swamp Sunflowers come up in the bed on the right even though they've been pulled several times. They annoy me in Sept when they shoot up and I can see the bottom three feet that always get defoliated from fungus. Then when they bloom in October I'm always glad they are there. I'm not sure if these are true angustifolius; I have swamp sunflower from the Botanical Garden that has foliage that is more ribbony and narrow and never has fungus. It doesn't bloom as long though.

Azalea 'Autumn Amethyst' will be very happy about the rain we've received the last couple of days. We even have water in the ditches again!

'Bleu Celeste' is the last daylily to bloom this year. She's still
blooming now and I don't even remember her reblooming before.

Inspired by the Queen of Seaford's recent post advising Keep your eyes peeled in the garden, a brief report on the wildlife in the garden.

For 15 years I never saw any wild turkey here, and now I'm seeing them all of the time. I even got a couple of pictures of mom and the 5 babies, about 2/3rds her size now. I took these from our porch; the turkey were a few hundred feet away, near our old well.

DH also wondered if the quail were still around; they seem to wander quite far and weeks may go by without a sighting. Plus, since the males don't usually call this time of year they are more difficult to locate.

This morning I heard a female calling nearby. I thought she was probably in the neighbor's pasture, at the top of the hill. Well, she wasn't! She and one or two others were in a wax myrtle next to the drive and they exploded in flight when I walked by. I wish I'd been a little more observant so that I could have seen more than just a sillouette as the one closest to me burst out of the tree.

I need to get more familiar with the hawk moths. There's more than one species wheeling about on feather light wings in the evenings. I saw one last week that truly astounded me. I *think* it was a Five-Spotted Hawk Moth whose larvae is the tomato hornworm and which I've seen around here often before, but this particular moth was huge. Wings and all it did truly seem to be the size of a small yo-yo. Sphinx moths show no fear of humans so it's easy to get close to them. I could watch it up close as it fed on the hardy ginger. The length of its tongue was impressive too. A truly amazing creature.

Wildflower Wednesday

I've never gotten as many comments and questions from visitors about the Bur Marigolds (Bidens) as I have this year. Up until this month we've had good rainfall and so they are doing very well.

"What are they called?"

"So many bees!"

"How do they spread around?"

"Beautiful, just beautiful." (My favorite kind of comment.) :)

They are beautiful, and plentiful, and full of bees and butterflies. I hope their color comes true on your monitor. In reality they are flowers with a lemon yellow center disk, with the outer part of the petals being a more golden yellow, and the effect is very sunshiney and bright. They look accurate on my desktop monitor but on my Kindle they have a more Dijon mustard tone which is NOT accurate.

I like how they look with the pink seashore mallow. The white seashore mallow will bloom with the swamp sunflowers in October.

They are all up and down the driveway. All together they are fragrant and give off a sweet but earthy perfume. A little like woodsmoke.

Bumblebees have been feeding by the dozens, maybe even hundreds on the Bidens.

Buckeye butterfly

Daylily 'Bleu Celeste' and Bidens. I finally looked up the pronunciation of Bidens and as I thought I was saying it wrong. It's pronounced with a long i, like the plural of Joe Biden. These flowers are also known by the unlovely name of beggarticks, due to the fact that their seeds stick to clothing. The seeds have two narrow pliable "pins" at the end (non-painful) that enable them to cling to cloth and fur. Other common names include tickseed sunflower, black jack, cobbler's pegs, and Spanish needles.

I am really happy that Bidens re-seeded into this bed beside the paddock, since the Genista moth cats made sad brown skeletons of my baptisias.

A few Hibiscus have bloomed here and there this past month. This is a seedling from 'Anne Arundel' or 'Blue River II'. The Pineland Hibiscus and Hibiscus dasycalyx are blooming too. The H. dasycalyx It has a delicate spidery form and small cream-colored flowers and I used to think it rather quiet and plain. It's grown on me and now I think it looks very elegant. It is endangered in its native habitat in Texas due to a very narrow habitat range and interbreeding with H. militaris.

Ageratum has been in bloom since July and will continue until a freeze.

Today I am joining Gail at clay and limestone for Wildflower Wednesday.

Anyone else hating the new blogger format?

Raise your hands! I am finding it difficult to work with. More clicks to get everywhere, the pages load slowly, and the edit page is now only half a page. Argh.