Mid-May 2014, New Visitors - Including A Roadrunner - Louisiana Iris is Blooming Now

We had excitement in the neighborhood.  See the Mockingbird in the distance?  He's watching the Roadrunner in the foreground.  Just for the record - I have lived in this neighborhood 12 years and I have never seen a Roadrunner before this year.  I see them occasionally in other areas of North Texas however.

The Roadrunner is starting to cross the road - notice the Mockingbird starting to crouch.

And - the Mockingbird attacks the Roadrunner!

We have lots of blackberries this year - a terrific year for them.  This is a Blackberry flower.

Just waiting to turn Black!  I see plenty of Blackberry pies and cobblers in my future this year. 

Red Cascade antique rose.  The fence is six feet tall.

This bush has also turned into a monster.  The flowers are very small, like a miniature rose.

A Mourning Dove sits on our roof a coos.

A Crab Spider sitting on a rose.  I have never seen one this color before.  They are usually yellow or a darker green around here.  This one is almost turquoise.

I have three colors of Louisiana Iris.  All are blooming now.  This area is behind the swimming pool and has dappled shade.  I planted a couple of violets in this flower bed because they like this type of light condition too.  They are on either side of the iris.  Can you see their heart shaped leaves?

The Caldwell Pin antique rose is in full bloom now.  This is a excellent variety - it will only get 3-4 feet tall and has minimal problems with black spot.  I ordered it from the Antique Rose Emporium.
http://www.antiqueroseemporium.com/roses/2117/caldwell-pink

The Confederate Jasmine vine is very hardy and looms profusely every spring.  You can smell it quite a good distance away.  This vine has climbed up at least 10 feet.  I highly recommend this climbing vine!

Question Mark Butterfly.  I do not see these butterflies around here as much as other varieties.  In fact, I had to "identify" it.  I noticed that their caterpillar host plants are Elm and Hackberry.  We have Hackberry trees at the back of our property.

Some of the Daylillies are also blooming now.  The two varieties below (yellow and orange) are the new hybrids that bloom most of the summer.  I put them in the same category as Knock Out Roses - they do a great job for color with no fuss.  My regular old fashioned daylillies (with the more unique colors) have not begun blooming yet. 

 

This is a Smoke Tree.  I saw a large beautiful one in full bloom at a friend's house several years ago and I knew I had to get one.  Of course, they are expensive so I started with a small one (I think it was a 2 gallon size).  I planted it 3 years ago and it is about four feet tall.  This is the first year it has bloomed well for me.

 This is a close up of the blooms.  See the seeds?

The Spineless Prickly Pear has new pads coming out.  To the right of it is Lemon Balm - a very strong lemony herb.

And finally - I noticed this interesting "Purplish-Blue Cricket Hunter" wasp on the flowers of my Jujube fruit tree today.  After I realized what they ate (we have too many crickets!), I decided I love this wasp!  By the way, this fruit tree is covered in blooms this year.  I'm going to have a lot of Jujube fruit.