Part of a Peculiar Tribe

From an article in this weekend's edition of the Wall Street Journal (July 19-20, 2008), by Dominique Browning:

It is always the case that a gardener will make a garden; we can't help ourselves and when we don't, we are no longer gardeners. End of story. It is a state of being. People who garden are their own peculiar tribe, compelled to get their hands into the earth. I recognize my behavior as a form of adaptation to habitat. Gardening has been the way I've made myself feel at home every place I've lived as an adult. Some people settle in by decorating; some get to know the neighbors; some explore the shops. Gardeners have to dig, and leave their trace on a patch of earth.

I don't know about her first assertion, that those who aren't gardening cease to be gardeners.... I think there are times when a person might have to forego that passion, and yet still in their soul see a landscape yet to be, and imagine their touch upon it.... But I do agree with everything else, and I feel so much better now about my lack of interest in decorating! :)

Butterflies!

Mid-summer is here now, and as I'm 38 weeks pregnant, my gardening season has had to wind wa-a-a-ay down.

Here are pictures of some butterfly fun we've enjoyed recently, once our new butterfly bush flowered.

I believe this is a black swallowtail:






This must be a Red Admiral:


And this odd thing is known as a hummingbird moth: