Beauty!

Its getting more difficult to find nice flowers in my Garden.  Over-all, things are

 looking kinda of shabby with spent blooms and dried out foliage.  It has been

a hot Summer with not quite enough rain... but look a bit closer and you can

 still find some lovely surprises!

My Butterfly Bushes have been very happy with the weather this Summer and are about twice the size they were last year.  This plant started out as a baby that had sprouted in

the cracks in the asphalt in the road, that my daughter and I discovered and rescued.

This Butterfly Bush is a deeper shade of purple and grows happily amongst

 my red Monarda in my front garden.

My Nasturtiums seemed to take forever to get started this year, but now they are so pretty!  I'm starting to collect the seeds for next year and hoping for a larger crop. 

My wonderful 90 yr. old Mother tells me that my Great Grandmother used to pickle Nasturtium seeds to use in place of capers.  Of course she had several  rows of  Nasturtiums to provide enough seeds for a years worth to be put up.  I'd like

to give it a try, but I imagine mine will be on a much smaller scale.

I discovered this gorgeous guy munching happily on my Butterfly Weed.  Someday he will become a majestic Monarch butterfly!  The Monarchs, and Swallowtails (both yellow and black) have been abundant in my garden this Summer.  The bumble bees have been numerous too, but I'm sad that I haven't seen too many honey bees.  Hopefully they will make a comeback soon.