This weekend was full of observances in our family. Saturday was Judy’s birthday. Sunday was our wedding anniversary – the 35th. Also Father’s Day, of course.
It was a quiet weekend in the garden, more green than anything else. There were some other colors, though. Shrub rose ‘Cassie’ was full of blooms, small but sweet an plentiful.
A patch of Smooth Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis) was in flower in the Left Bank Bed.
Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) is still putting out plenty of blue blooms atop its grassy foliage.
They only open for a few hours each day, but they are popular with pollinators.
Clematis ‘Betty Corning’ now has dozens of flowers, not just a handful.
Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum), has its little blooms dangling. This is a plant that is understated in every way except for size and spread.
Starry Solomon’s Plume (Maianthemum stellatum) is no longer in bloom, but its striped berries are turning red.
The pandemic makes observances a challenge, but we had happy ones even so, all rolled together on a Sunday. First, in the afternoon we played games on Zoom with both sons and their partners. The internet seems to have greatly expanded the number of silly but entertaining games. We played several, but the one that sticks in my mind is called A Fake Artist Goes to New York, which involves drawing, guessing, and bluffing.
Then in the evening our local offspring and his spouse (Daniel and Beckee) brought over dinner, and we ate in the back garden (while observing social distancing).
In addition to the observances, my spirits were lifted Sunday by the sight of at least 6 Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the Bronze Fennel. This was a gratifying sight as butterflies have been scarce so far this summer.
Hope that you had a happy Father’s Day, and a joyful day for whatever other observances you may have had this weekend past.
gardeninacity 
We’ve seen very few butterflies, but we do have four or five black swallowtail butterflies on the parsley plant on our deck and we had at least four Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed, but they’ve all disappeared by now. We think two of them got big enough to form chrysalises, but we haven’t found those.
I saw a Monarch a few weeks ago but none since in the garden, though I saw one at Chicago Botanic Garden Thursday when we visited there.
It sounds like you had a wonderful weekend! Belated greetings, and congratulations on your 35th!
As many flowers as I have planted just for the butterflies, I get so few. I wonder if it’s because I am just a few blocks from rural areas that might have more native plants.
Have you tried Jackbox.tv? My family likes the one where you make fake definitions. It thought of it when you mentioned “bluffing.” The game gets installed on tv or computer etc. and players use their own devices to input their information. In our case, we use the tv for the main game, and our phones for our guesses. Players get a “room code” to enter each game. Oh, I am not explaining that well! My son says it’s best if all players are in the same room though, because of lag.
Jackbox.tv sounds great. I’ll check that out.
How wonderful – both with all those caterpillars and gobs of family fun! I’ve seen quite a few Swallowtails this spring. Today we found this beautiful, odd caterpillar at work. We googled images for probably 15 minutes, but could still not figure out what it was. It remains a mystery.
Caterpillars are endlessly fascinating.
Happy birthday to Judy, happy anniversary to you both, and congratulations on those handsome caterpillars! (Or caterpiggles, as Pogo would say.) Looks as though your garden celebrated with you!
Pogo had a knack for coining a word or phrase, didn’t he?
Your June blooms are gorgeous and congrats on the butterfly larvae. Interestingly, while I’ve enjoyed butterflies, there aren’t any Eastern swallowtail larvae on my fennel or any Pipevine larvae on my Dutch pipevine plant. Hmm…
Congrats also on your days of joy! We have similar cycles: my hub’s b-day was last Thursday, our anniversary, yesterday. It’s nice to celebrate!
I have yet to find a Pipevine Swallowtail here, adult or larvae.
Happy Anniversary. Happy beautiful blooms and cats!
Thank you, Gail!
Happy Birthday to Judy, Happy Anniversary Judy and Jason, and Happy Fathers Day, Jason!
A beautiful set of flowers for your observances!
Thank you so much!
I only saw two caterpillars on the first look but then saw the third. We have a fennel just for the swallow tails, it grows just under the neighbour’s Buddleia but I have not seen any caterpillars this year. The Solomon Seal grows in woods near us and we have a little in the garden but it is not as luxuriant as yours. Amelia
Ours is bigger than average, it must like that spot.
Congratulations on all counts.
Thank you, John!
Congratulations and good wishes all around. Great to see the caterpillars. Mighty impressive Solomon’s Seal.
Pleased that you think so.
Congratulations to you both on your anniversary and Many Happy Returns to Judy too. 😃 And congratulations on all those caterpillars – what a great present for your celebrations!
Those caterpillars really cheered me up.
You guys had one heck of a weekend – congrats on all fronts. 🙂
Thank you so much.
Glad you had a good time. Congratulations!
Thanks!
It is nice to know I share my birthday month with Judy. Happy Birthday Judy. 🙂 Sounds like you are making do with all your games etc. Nice that the local child and spousal unit could get by and celebrate. I know that made everything more meaningful. That Betty is a beauty too. Yes, I can see the three cats in your picture. I have bronze fennel but it is staying small. This is its second year in a new place and it refuses to grow tall like it should. It is punishing me for moving it. Cheers.
Doesn’t the bronze fennel sow itself around? I have to stop it from taking over.
So glad that you had a good time on multiple levels.
Thanks, Lisa!
Quite a weekend. Happy, happy, happy! During this time of Covid-19, the Internet is a necessity. Sounds like you had so much fun.
Hard to imagine what we would do without the internet right now.
Happy birthday Judy and happy anniversary to you both and happy Father’s Day, Jason…all in one weekend! Always great to have adult children who can join in the celebrations.😊😁
Absolutely.
What a pleasing weekend for you and Judy: celebrations, family, and flowers. While it’s true that “life ain’t what it used to be,” some things endure. Thanks for sharing some of those enduring pleasures –including the caterpillars!
It’s good to be grateful for all the good things.
Interesting that you aren’t seeing many butterflies this year. We have more yellow swallowtails than I’ve ever seen. Haven’t seen any monarchs yet, though.
We just saw a Monarch today, but it’s just the third I’ve seen all year.
Happy belated birthday to Judy and congratulations to you both. I’m glad you all got to celebrate one way or another. I loved the blooms and how wonderful to see the caterpillas.xxx
Yes, they were a cheering sight.
How fun to see so many caterpillars! I love your ‘Betty Corning’. I have one, but it doesn’t get enough sun to flower as well. Congratulations and happy birthday to Judy! We celebrated our anniversary as well – it’s a popular weekend!
That’s the story of a lot of my plants – not enough sun to flower at their best.
The photo of the Ohio Spiderwort is truly beautiful: I can stare at it all day. Very exciting to find the caterpillars. With the eventuality of butterflies, its the gift that keeps on giving.
Yes, I need to keep checking. Haven’t found any chrysalides yet.
Congratulations on a weekend rich in meaning…and in caterpillars! I definitely gotta get me some fennel. I used to see them on queen anne’s lace but haven’t for the past few years. I just planted some Zizia aurea so am hoping they’ll like that.
Where did you get your Betty Corning clematis? I think that is my favorite one and I don’t see it at nurseries.
I ordered mine from Brushwood Nursery.https://www.brushwoodnursery.com/products/clematis-betty-corning?_pos=371&_sid=c3a455a5b&_ss=r&variant=29805434755
Wow, they are clematis specialists! Thanks for letting me know about them!
Happy birthdays, anniversarys and Father’s Day to/for their respective owners! I am very jealous of your Solomon’s Seal. This is a very difficult plant to get hold of here because it hates root disturbance and spreads slowly. We had some in our previous garden and I’m missing it very much in our current one.
That’s surprising about the Solomon’s Seal. Here it is a fairly aggressive spreader.