Cabbage White

It has been a very windy week, even for Oklahoma. This means that the big temperature swings are returning. We’re going to have a hard freeze tonight and many things are already blooming. We got two new plants this week: a red honeysuckle vine and a small beardtongue penstemon called rock candy ruby. I’m hoping to get some hummingbirds with these. The other seedlings are still doing well and I have been continuing to harden them off on warm days. I saw some interesting and beautiful plants at the local nursery, including a spotted rose and a black eyed Susan coneflower hybrid called Echibeckia. I spotted the first slug of the year by the new hydrangea. The redbud trees and Bradford pear trees are blooming still and look amazing. I got my first butterfly photo of the year, a cabbage white. These are considered pests because they eat plants in the brassica family like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage 🥬. However, they are a beautiful pest. I do find Bradford pear and white honeysuckle to also be rather beautiful although considered invasive. I saw so many bees on the Bradford pear trees at the farm. We went to the farm yesterday for my birthday and I did a lot of weeding. I also planted a few more wildflower seeds because I can’t go without planting something. The cat is doing well but we noticed a small patch of fur missing on one of her back paws. We’re going to keep an eye on it to see if it improves. We had a few daffodils blooming as well as the phlox. The peaches were also blooming but may be affected by the freeze. The strawberries also had a lot of flowers already. The oregano is doing great and so is the asparagus. I found a praying mantis ootheca on the garden hose. We had a great dinner and tiramisu for my birthday. I cooked some asparagus this week and continued to draw lots of flowers. I decided to buy the Haiya oil pastels with my birthday gift card. I really appreciate the softness of these and I think they will be easy to blend. I have not finished the swatch chart yet but I will do it next week. I like that the set includes a swatch card. My watercolor set didn’t have one so I had to make my own. The sunset at the farm was very nice yesterday. Next week, I am planning to give sourdough bread a second chance.