In the garden: July 1 to 15, 2023

In July, the forest fire smoke wasn’t as bad here in Ottawa, and we finally got much-needed rain — lots of it.

Raccoon family (June 30, 2023)

I prefer to work in the garden early in the morning or in the evening to avoid the heat. A few times I’ve seen raccoons climbing down a tree at the back of the yard at dusk. Here is a raccoon family, probably the same ones, vacating a tree across the street.

It’s annoying when they topple the green bin (compost) to scrounge for scraps, but they sure are cute.

Downy Woodpecker eating Red Elderberries (July 9, 2023)

I didn’t know woodpeckers eat berries. Over several days, we watched a Downy Woodpecker eating clusters of Red Elderberries on a shrub near our seating area.

A little family of Downies hung around our yard this spring. They frequented suet in the front garden, hunted for insects along tree trunks, and visited the stream for drinks.

Pollinators visiting Purple Prairie Clover (July 10, 2023)

Once New Jersey Tea finished blooming, Purple Prairie Clover became the centre of pollinator activity in the front and back gardens. Insects visit the flowers for nectar and to collect orange pollen. In about 10 minutes, I spotted 2 bumblebee species, leaf cutter bees, Bi-coloured Green Sweat Bees, and 2 kinds of flower flies.

Purple Prairie Clover has a taproot and tolerates quite dry conditions. I’ve been adding more of them to my gardens because they’re so tough. They’re so slender that they can be tucked in any sunny gap.

Cute, but rascally baby rabbits (July 10, 2023)

We now have 2 very cute baby rabbits hanging out in the yard. Unfortunately, they find my native plants very tasty. Over the past couple of years, rabbits have eaten a lot of my beautiful mini meadow, so it is full of gaps that need to be filled with new plants. They particularly like Heart-leaved and Smooth Asters. If they would only stick to eating clover and grass, then I wouldn’t need to cut the lawn.

A female Black Swallowtail butterfly drinking nectar from Purple Coneflowers in the backyard garden (July 14, 2023)

A little Gray Hairstreak butterfly resting on a Pagoda Dogwood leaf (July 14, 2023)

Chippy eating raspberries (July 14, 2023)

We had a great crop of raspberries this summer. There were plenty for us, as well as for Chippy.

Inchworm: “Don’t mind me, I’m just a twig.” (July 15, 2023)

This inchworm decided to crawl across me while I was knitting outside. It was bothered by my movements and did a twig imitation to try to fool me. After it decided I wasn’t a threat, it inched away surprisingly quickly. Maybe it came from the nearby White Birch tree, which is a host plant for hundreds of different kinds of butterfly and moth caterpillars.

Red Admiral butterfly visiting Purple Coneflowers (July 15, 2023)

All of a sudden, in mid-July I began seeing several kinds of butterflies in the garden. This Red Admiral visited all the Purple Coneflowers very systematically.

These butterflies use nettles as a host plant. Unwisely, I let a stinging nettle seedling grow in the front garden for them. It has spread a lot and is quite a nuisance now. Last year, I grew Smallspike False Nettle for them instead. The seeds germinated well and I now have lots of sting-free nettles for Red Admirals in case they want to lay eggs in my garden. I am digging out the Stinging Nettles, but it is going to be a long and painful process to remove it all.

Last blooms in the hedgerow (July 15, 2023)

The hedgerows that surround our backyard are really starting to fill in. When I don’t see many bees on flowers in the garden, they’re likely visiting flowers in the hedgerow. The last shrubs to bloom were Gray Dogwood (right) and Black Elderberry (left) in the first photo. By August, these shrubs will be laden with berries for the birds. The Hop Trees (2nd photo) were also in full bloom; their flowers may not be showy, but they’re very fragrant.