There are still a few pretty things in my Georgia Gardens. One would be this African Daisy. 
Oh how I wish I had picked up more then 1 as it has been blooming since planted...
Phlox is loving this cooler weather.
Wild Thing Sage is looking awesome.
And of course, the Camellia bushes are filled with buds.
The first Camellia bloom of the season! 
Back in Oct, I talked about the Wags to Witches Fur Ball we attended in Tennessee. I never showed you the gift basket we donated for the Silent Auction. I had a blast finding things at bargain prices to fill the Garden Caddy I created. It was difficult to hand this over because as a Gardener, I wanted to keep everything I had purchased for the Cause! I am not sure how much money this Caddy made for the Humane Society but the entire evening brought in $16,000. 
I have had this picture on file for some time now. Tina talked about a Moth recently, (Click HERE to see that moth) and it got me to thinking about the moth I had yet to Identify. That post encouraged me to hunt down the name of this beautiful moth. This is a Harnessed Tiger Moth and attracted by Clover, Dandelion, Corn and Plantain. Click HERE to read more on this moth. Dandelion is the only thing that could have attracted this moth as I have none of the others in my gardens. I keep control over the dandelion so I have very little on our 2.5 acres. I reckon this is why I have only seen this moth one time. I think it is a beautiful Moth.
While in Virginia recently, we had a treat while sipping our morning coffee. This female Pileated Woodpecker entertained us out the window.
Within seconds of her landing on the tall tree, her mate joined her! What a treat to see two pileated woodpeckers at the same time!
Saturday morning we awoke to a surprise visitor in our Sun room! This Scorpion posed for us then we gently captured it and took it into the woods to live a happy life. I research them a bit and found that we have two different types of Scorpion here in Georgia. The "Striped" and "Devil". Their sting is about as painful as a Wasp or Bee and unless you are allergic, they are not that harmful. They are meat eaters indulging in bugs, spiders, etc. We have only seen about 4 in the 10 years we have called this place home. I am not happy with finding this one inside the house but we suspect it may have come inside by hitching a ride on the firewood. We shall be more careful to knock the wood clear of spiders, scorpions and the such. So for now, the Scorpions are welcome in the garden. But not in the house you little Devils.... I enjoyed reading comments about peoples experiences with these critters. Click HERE to read more.. My attention has gone to falling leaves now. Click on the video to see the leaves gently falling as the Yellow Sulfur's enjoy a treat.
Yes, that is a healthy Geranium sitting on the patio table! Surviving a visit from Jack Frost and still feeding the flutterbugs! This plant has been such a beauty since her bargain purchase of $1.00 that I do believe, I may bring her in for the winter. Winter, burrrrrr I get a chill just saying that word.
Cheetah kitty has the right idea about what to do on cold winter days!
With Thanksgiving approaching us quickly, I am finding myself with less and less time to spend towards Blogging.Now is the time to dedicate life towards the Holidays with homes full of Family, Friends and lots of yummy cooking. Thus, Blogging will be put on the back burner for a while. I still have plenty to say (my mama does call me the Mouth of the South) so I will be back at some point next year. Until then...
HAPPY HOLIDAYS,
IN THE GARDEN...
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden
Dear Skeeter, this is a wonderful post to end the year. Happy New Year to you, and I look forward to catching up next year. There is something very frightening about scorpions, but like everything else, they have their place in the garden. cheers, catmint
ReplyDeleteYou have the good, the bad and the ugly in this post! The scorpian being the bad and the ugly. You would not believe the Pileated Woodpeckers that live in our backwoods, we have seen 6 at a time..such a prehistoric looking bird. Your remaining flowers are so pretty....want to give growing gernamium lessonss? Mine are findly perking up in the humid greenhouse. Have a delish Thanksgiving Skeeter!
ReplyDeleteI never knew that Georgia had scorpions. Happy holidays to you and your family as well.
ReplyDeleteThat moth is the coolest! I'm so glad you identified it for us. I'll know should I see it in the garden here. I'm with Darla-what's the secret to getting lush geraniums? Those are mighty happy. Beautiful camellia. You have a great holiday. I'll be going on break soon too! Looking forward to it but will still be in the garden-if all this rain ever ever stops. Happy Holidays! P.S. Incredible basket too!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous moth! I've never seen anything like this before. You still have so many pretty blooms in your garden. Enjoy them while they last, and have a wonderful holiday season, Skeeter!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning everyone! Leaves continue to fall, Rain is NOT falling and the humidity is in the air today! Yikes, Leaf removal with humidity in the air is not my idea of fun.....
ReplyDeleteCatmint, thanks and yes, I do feel that everything has a place on this earth. It is up to us to not freak out and squash things such as Scorpions when we see them. We hope this scorpion eats lots of bugs in our garden as a trade off for saving its life….
Darla, Hey, that scorpion was a cutie pie! LOL, we did find it interesting and observed it a bit. Although, we did not spend too much time checking it out as we feared a cat might come to explore with us. We did not want to deal with an emergency Vet trip. Lucky you to see so many Pileated Woodpeckers! The most I have ever seen at once were 3. I assume a mom, dad and juvenile. I ran for the camera and upon my return, found an empty tree. I should have just stayed put and observed and not left the window. I hear them more then see them and I just love their call. They look like small Pterodactyls when flying in the air. Such neat birds. On the Geranium, I just got lucky as this one has thrived this year. I did sprinkle a bit of houseplant food on them, Maybe that was my trick as I normally do not have such luck…
Les, Thanks! We did not know about Georgia Scorpions until we found our first one! They are smaller then the ones we saw while living in Texas so not as scary to us. We did not know about alligators being here until our arrival either. That is one thing I like about relocating, we learn so much…
Tina, Send us some of that rain! Our lake is 10 feet below normal so we are really missing some major rain down here! We have had some nice days that we would have loved to take out the boat but no such luck with the lake so low. Too risky to damage the truck with the muffler being under water while loading and unloading. Not worth the risk to us. Hopefully, we shall have a rainy winter and the lake will come back for us. On the Geranium, not sure but as I told Darla, I did give it some house plant food. That’s it and it has been blooming brilliant red blooms since its arrival. Not sure why it was on the discount rack for a mere dollar but I was a happy camper….
Rose, Thanks! I found that the most beautiful moth I think I have ever seen with my own eyes and not in captivity. I found it at least a year ago if not longer and just now researching it. I don’t know why that happens but I go to the saying of “too many irons in the fire” at times, LOL. Plus I have a butterfly book but not a moth book and at times I find research on the internet painful. Ha…
Everyone have a great day!
Wow how wonderful to see that you still have such beautiful flowers in bloom! Your caddy looks awesome and I can see why you didn't want to give it up but what a blessing that it helped raise a lot of money for a great cause!! Hope you and your family have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteThe African Daisey and the moth are just perfect and as always your holiday decorations are the best.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your time off, we will miss you but will look forward to you being back!! You will need to get back into so it will help break up the winter with the low daylight and the side affects that can it bring on.
Have a great holiday Skeeter! Love looking at you photos, the flowers are gorgeous. And I'm very jealous of your wood pecker sighting as I've never seen one. I'm not jealous of your scorpion. Looks amazing but I'm glad there's no chance of him strolling into MY house x x
ReplyDeleteSkeeter, I love all your flowers and am so impressed they are still doing well...speaks volumes for the gardener...the critters are lovely especially the moth and except for that scorpion...ewwwww.... Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours...
ReplyDeleteI have had a busy day today. House cleaning, laundry, leaf removal, errand running. Took 3 showers total as it is so hot and humid that I was melting with all my running around. Tomorrow, I start to cook as I am doing the entire Turkey Dinner by myself. Well, the Saint shall fry the turkey on the big Day. House guest arrive tomorrow also. I can hardly wait to munch on the goodies on Thursday!
ReplyDeleteJean, our winter cruise to a tropical island is in early Feb this year so something to keep me blues away! I hope so anyway….
Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas and Happy New Year too……
You still have some beautiful blooms, Skeeter (or at least did right before Thanksgiving...I hope you still do!) And I LOVE the camellia! Seeing those two pileated woodpeckers had to be SUCH a treat! Not so much, the scorpion! We had them in AL too, those blackish ones. Once there was a squashed one in the bottom of a drinking glass, and we had no idea how that had occurred! Fortunately you don't see them often!
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Marie