Survivor

Gabbie and Tess are playing normally again. Gabbie survived her period of forced inactivity; her incision is mostly healed.She is overjoyed to be free of the leash. The two are playing and running at breakneck speed once again. But sometimes they overdo it and need a rest.



As we began a trail walk with the dogs the other day, I noticed a day lily blooming. It's a reddish variety. It is a survivor in mid-August;day lilies stopped blooming a month ago. Day lilies are beautiful flowers; there are hundreds of varieties. We started collecting them about ten years ago. I didn't realize until last year that day lilies are called that because each flower on the plant blooms - are you ready for this? - for one day. This one was truly a survivor because it started blooming five weeks ago.

The survivor for this summers crop of day lilies

Other day lilies in Bittersweet Woods

One other flower is in the survivor category, too. Several spiked lobelia continue to bloom, nearly a month after they started to appear. Some flowers are slightly blue now, most others are still white. The plants seem to be everywhere, often in heavily travelled areas. I don't recall seeing them in previous years. Maybe it is because we've had much more than average rain this year. Or, maybe I was not paying attention....




One other aspect of survivor status was this toad, who did not survive predation. Gary the garter snake (see July post on Bittersweet Woods blog) was observed swallowing him. It's amazing how snakes can swallow prey so large.


It's all part of the natural goings on in Bittersweet Woods. Are you paying attention in your area of the woods?