Cloudless sulphur

This week was warm and humid in central Oklahoma but it didn’t rain. I didn’t go out to the farm this week but I was still able to see a few butterflies at my apartment. The zinnias on my balcony are continuing to bloom. I saw a new butterfly this week on them, a cloudless sulphur. It was such a pretty chartreuse color. I also saw a yellow fringed dolichomia on the wall. Love the contrasting yellow and purple colors of this one. The nicotiana is also still blooming. The peanuts are blooming again and I have one forget me not blooming this week on the balcony. The ginger has finally gotten a leaf. The aloe vera seems to be doing ok . The scarlet runner bean has gotten its first flower but something is eating holes in the leaves. It has really grown a lot since the temperature has dropped a bit. The radishes are doing well and so are the two peppers. The marigolds don’t seem to be blooming much lately. We have bought two new trees for the farm this week and I hope they do well. We got an ambassador walnut tree as well as a combination pear tree that is supposed to have four types of pears grafted on to it. The walnut tree has a green walnut on it but the leaves are a bit spotty. I learned that walnut trees have a substance called juglone that they emit that can be harmful to other plants. Some plants can tolerate this substance but others can’t. We will have to put it far from plants that are affected by the juglone. My seedlings are doing well and I separated them and transplanted them into larger containers. We will probably plant them the next time we visit the farm so they can establish roots before it freezes. I also learned this week that some squirrels like to eat zinnias. One of my zinnias grew too close to the rail and one of the squirrels seized the opportunity to snatch it up. The squirrel seemed to really enjoy eating the zinnia. My sister sent me a picture of some lacewing eggs she saw and they are pretty cool looking. I made some basil walnut pesto and it turned out pretty good. The basil plant is recovering well from such a big cut. I made balsamic herb chicken and it was also tasty. I haven’t read much this week because it was a busy week at work again. I think next week will be busy as well so I don’t think we will go to the farm next week. I have been continuing to work on drawing butterflies and this week I tried to draw a monarch. Next week, I will try to draw the cloudless sulphur.