Weekly Update: August Week 2

Just a quick week 2 update since we're already half way through August week 3! (Slacking I know!)

I know the photo is a bit blurry, but I thought I'd post a quick snapshot of one of the other critters enjoying the garden. Jason was impressed by the size of this guy, according to him its the largest spider he's ever seen "in the wild". (I told him that it was obvious that he didn't grow up in Arizona! I've squished much bigger!) I'd peg his size at about a half-dollar size, you can kind of tell how big he is by the size of the ivy leaves too. He is actually quite stunning and we took quite a few pics while he sunned himself. There were already a couple of things wrapped up in various parts of his web, so I guess he's doing pretty good for himself! I did a bit of digging and learned that officially he's a black and yellow Argiope (Argiope aurantia for you sticklers). It is pronounced ar-GUY-oh-ee. Totally harmless to humans, so

we left him alone. Now if I could just figure out how to train him to take out the white flies I'd be all set!

And the comeback of the year award goes to the Mona Lavender... This is one of my favorite anuals to grow. Last year I had a great specimen at the beginning of the year, but I didn't realize that they really need part shade and it basically got fried by mid-summer. This year I found the PERFECT spot for it so that it could get morning sun and then have mostly shade in the afternoon and it looked great this spring. In late march though it started looking shabby and I was traveling so much I just couldn't figure out what was up. One weekend though we had a storm and I went out to find it standing full of water. Basically the holes in the bottom of the pot became clogged so the poor thing was just constantly saturated and the over watering was causing it to die off. It was in such bad shape that I considered pulling it out and just waiting until next year and starting over. I have a hard time getting rid of anything that still shows some life, so I unclogged the pot and hoped for the best. Over the last couple of weeks it suddenly seemed to turn the corner and started perking up and putting on new growth. This weekend I noticed that there were even a few blooms popping up. I'm so excited! Hoping that it will give some great color right up until frost now! Keep your fingers crossed!

Overheard on the porch when discussing the mona: "It's not a comeback - it's a return!" (Norma Desmond)