Tresspassers - caught in the act!

The heat is too much for the lettuce, and I'm down to one pot near the back door. You'd think its proximity to the house would keep it safe but yesterday morning we caught the lettuce theif in the act!

 

Cute, but looking as guilty as sin. This is what happens when you plant a native garden in your front yard to attract the wildlife. 

The showy milkweed is indeed living up to its name.

  

The buckeye produced its first ever blossom.

And the Chaparral Clematis  is bursting out in delicate little blossoms, smaller that those I've seen in the wild around here but pretty nonetheless.

The birds have voted a show of confidence in the native garden by returning to nest here. You can just see the tail of a bird peeking out on the left-hand side of the nest.

 

Meanwhile, at the back doorstep the birds are loving the solar fountain. There are about 4 different kinds of birds using this on a daily basis. But they can all read our mind.As soon as we reach for the camera they scarper...except for this little guy.

And of course the ever present lizards - this fence lizard was out getting his early morning warm up!

 

Not only are animals appearing in our garden, so are plants that I don't remember planting. This three inch lavender seeded itself. I found it when it was only two leaves big and put it in this pot thinking it would never make it. I'm glad to be wrong about that.

These lobelia seeded themselves very conveniently in the pot. The little green spec is a watermelon I planted. Or is it a pumpkin...oops, should have kept up with the labeling. I'll know when they fruit...the suspense is half the fun!

Lobelia has a tendency to pop up everywhere. Even in places were it gets no water or TLC.

  

I love it when flowers seed themselves. Like these hollyhocks...

 And the foxgloves...

Even better when you can eat the plant - like this volunteer tomato plant which is now presenting the first tomato of the year.

I didn't think I'd have to wait such a short space of time between orange season and tomato season - this year they are actually overlapping. The tree still has some juicy oranges.

And when there's no oranges nor tomatoes, there's always lemons from the neighbors yard. You know what they say, "When life hands you lemons..."

"...Put them in your G&T!"

Byddi Lee