Blood Red Lake Huron

 Recently Lake Huron turned blood red (well, kind of, sort of blood red). Regardless, it was striking and almost biblical, imo. These are not photoshopped or tampered with in any way. This is really what Lake Huron looked like. Clicking on photos will enlarge them.

I suppose I could weed more in my garden but then I would miss out on some of the happy bouquets that serendipitously happen - like this view of dahlias, cow thistle, and Queen Anne's Lace. (Queen Anne was one of the very best monarch in England and under appreciated and rated in my own opinion.) Isn't this peaceful and pretty!

Totty and Pila are good friends - sometimes. Of course they are both older now so the rivalries aren't as strong as they once were. Still there; just not as pronounced.

This very pale blue flower is sometimes called "Wild Petunia"; it's not really a petunia, just a wild flower, Ruellia. It's rather small and not invasive but it does appear (and disappear) from time to time in my garden and I love it. I'm sure it came here as a seed or a seedling along with something I transplanted from Royal Oak many years ago now.

This old fashioned garden plant is an amaryllis like plant - Lycoris llily. It produces a few thin strap-shaped leaves in the spring which disappear before the heat of summer. Later, amaryllis-like, a thin stalk appears and produces some small pinkish flowers. Not at all spectacular, but it is a hardy perennial this far north and I appreciate its novelty and attempts. Often the dogs knock the stalk over before the flowers can open. That's OK.  After all, it is their yard too and my rule has always been - you have to be tough to survive the dogs and the weather this far north, if you're not, too bad.

The sunflowers below are annual. This one is a volunteer. Below those two photos are some shots of Silphium perfoliatum sometimes called the cup plant. (The stalks seem to grow through the leaves, hence its scientific name.) It's a perennial wildflower and self seeds. The silphiums came as volunteers from my Royal Oak garden too - probably hitched a ride as a seed along with a garden perennial. It is slowly spreading, which I really like. I love both kinds: - the annual large common sunflower and these wildflower sunflowers. Bees love both kinds of sunflowers. Which do you like?

The backbone (shrubs) of the late summer garden? Rose of Sharons, a shrubby Hibiscus. Hibiscus are easily identified as such by their flowers.

Last night one of my geraniums was visited by a sphinx moth also called a hummingbird moth because, unlike all other moths, they rapidly vibrate their wings and fly, or hover like hummingbirds. (As green caterpillars many feed on tomato plants. I never kill or remove them because I know what they will become.) I know they will only appear as a blur, as a shadow in these photos because they move so fast and the shots were take at dusk. They often avoid the heat of the day (and daytime predators). Can you "see" them?

Autumn is sedum time and this is one of my favorites. Most (many) years it is chewed down to its nubs by rabbits so it doesn't actually flower. So far this year the dogs have been very successful at preventing rabbit damage. Might it have something to do with them having ganged up on a large rabbit and killing it - I know, I know. Nature! A few years ago there was a buck, a many pointed buck, that would jump my fences, especially at night and in spite of the dogs and feed on my succulent garden plants. Then two years ago it was hit and killed on the road  in front of my property. I do have something to remember him with but I do not miss him.