Category Archives: Flora and Fauna

Morning Glory Memories

When I was a little girl, my sister and I loved to help our mom plant morning glory vines every spring. Once the weather was just right, in the early morning light, my mom would tear open the colorful paper packets and pour the hard, shriveled-up seeds into our soft, little girl hands. We’d kneel...

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Honey Bee Blues

This morning, I was spraying something sticky off the pool deck when, OMG, I accidentally jetted a honey bee with a stream of water! My pulse quickened and my stomach sank as the poor dear rolled onto its back flailing in a puddle. I thought I had killed him, and for some reason, the song...

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Shower Intruder

Last winter, my son tried to catch a silver fish in a jar in order to transport him from the kitchen to the backyard. In the process, he severed one of the poor thing’s legs. I scooped it up and put him on the back patio in a place I thought was appropriate for recovery....

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Wordless Wednesday: White

  Amber GalushaAlways exploring, creating and cultivating, and sharing what I observe along the way. To visit my professional site, click here.More Posts – Website

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Pink Peony

Cliche, I know, but it really was love at first sight. Caught in the spell of Paeonia’s delicate beauty, I let down my guard and turned my back on the gardening standards I have strictly adhered to for nearly three years: plant only those specimens that are hardy, drought-tolerant and wildlife friendly (food plants being...

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Wordless Wednesday: Lovely Flowers

Amber GalushaAlways exploring, creating and cultivating, and sharing what I observe along the way. To visit my professional site, click here.More Posts – Website

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Winner of the Chico Bag and My Orb-weaver Spider Surprise

Well, we have a winner! Cinnamon, a new reader, was able to positively ID the gorgeous orange flower: Mexican shell flower or Tigridia pavonia. Thank you Cinnamon! Your Chico Bag is in the mail. Now, I want to switch gears — from flora to fauna. One of my favorite pleasures in life is meandering through...

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ID the Flower, Get a Free Chico Bag

The first person to correctly identify this plant gets a free Chico Bag. This not knowing is driving me mad! I saw this gorgeous flower a few weeks ago while traveling with my hubby. As we walked along under a dismal sky, feeling the gloomy doomies setting in, this beauty popped out, bringing cheer to us...

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They’re Back! – Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies

Something amazing (amazing to me, at least) has happened in my garden! For the second year in a row, a Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor) has laid eggs on the Aristolochia californica, or pipevine, that grows on the garden arbor. Yesterday, as I sat in the middle of the path that leads through my fruit...

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Wordless Wednesday: Anyone Know the Name of these Northern California Mollusk Friends?

Amber GalushaAlways exploring, creating and cultivating, and sharing what I observe along the way. To visit my professional site, click here.More Posts – Website

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