Flower Friday : : Gaillardia and Bee

The bee was so loaded with pollen it was barely able to achieve lift off, and stumbled drunkenly around in the air above the pot of gaillardias for quite awhile before it finally flew off.  

My friend Tobi's son is getting married in their garden next Saturday, and I went along to see the venue after class this morning. Their property is even more rural than ours and has the added feature of a henhouse, complete with boards hanging from it painted with the names of all ten residents within. Tobi and her husband have worked hard for over a year, and have achieved a delightful, shaded place for the ceremony, the dinner, the dancing and even games for the guests.

When I got home Oilman, as is often the case, was nowhere to be seen, so I went in search of him and discovered that the noise in the field I thought was being made by him, was actually two does grazing on the low hanging branches of the oak trees. They weren't the least bit phased by me, even when I moved to close the gate in the deer fence which OilMan had left standing open. They have already eaten every single rose in the front of the house which isn't protected by a fence, and I wouldn't have put it past them to come right in through the gate to start in on the  tomatoes and green beans.

The flowerbed was a hive of activity as I returned to the house. There were five pipevine swallowtails all bigger than the hummingbird feasting on the lantana. They fluttered and danced above the blossoms but rarely landed. A monarch dried its wings on a particularly tall zinnia. I have no idea how I achieved it, but I rather liked the background and have put it in extras along with one of a doe gazing impassively at me from ten feet away. They have a well worn trail back there and plenty of shelter under the oaks..

It is supposed to heat up again this weekend, but it was a beautiful day today for lingering in the garden....