Presenting Showy Ladyslipper Orchid!! She started out with this unassuming foliage...

....with a hint of flowerbud peeking out...
....working on a kind of strip-tease here...
....and here she is! Ta-da!! I just bought this last fall from http://www.raisingrarities.com/ , and although it cost $45, I still didn't expect this kind of performance! And look at the color on the interior of the pouch...kind of reminds me of a reverse-painted lamp, with the muted colors showing through from the underside.

But wait! Do my eyes decieve me, or is there another bud emerging above this flower? The show may not be over yet, after all! Hooray!!

They all come out at night...the tree frogs, that is! To be more specific, hyla versicolor, a.k.a. Grey Tree Frog , and I'm lucky enough to be rife with them! They hide behind my thermometer... ...and this hanging pot sporting "dreads"...
...and even in this birdhouse! Hey, I'm glad somebody is using it!


Then as darkness falls, they begin to peek out and start calling...
....and answering...

.....and of course bug catching by the garage light! Chow down, friends!

Micro-mini coral bells...so here's a mystery that has me stumped. Some of my coral bells are growing smaller every year! Like 'Prince' here...

...and this one, 'Stormy Seas'...more like "Stormy Mud Puddle"! In trying to figure out what's wrong, I feel certain it's not over-crowding or competition.......cuz' look how well this one is growing! This is 'Eco-Magnifolia', crowded in with geranium 'Sambor', a daylily, and plenty of weeds! Thus far, my solution has been to pot up the "mini's", and after a season or two... ...they get bigger in the pots, until I feel they're large enough to go back "out into the world"...
...like this one. Planted out but not crowded, this coral bell, 'Patricia Louise', was a former "refugee" in a pot, and now looks great! Anybody else have a similar experience? I'm glad to have come up with an answer, but I'd still like to know what the question was!

"We're havin' a heatwave, a tropical heatwave...." big time! Temps have been in the 80's for the past week with no relief or rain in sight! The weatherman says it's "unseasonably warm for Wisconsin in June" (no shit?!)....so I'll be running the sprinkler all weekend. Just got a few more plants on impulse, not including the stuff I already had to plant-yikes! What was I thinking? (I ask myself this every year about this time, too....learning curve's too steep apparently ;-) This sedum is digging the weather, but look at the poor tomato plant to it's immediate left-drooped over so far it's almost unrecognizable!And this houseplant is hating me right about now...
...so is this basket of annual something....(forgot the name, tag's at home)... ...and look at my poor Rex begonia! It was cruel enough that I put it out to sunburn, but I think this extreme heat may be it's demise. I sure wish I had my own personal cloud to call in and summon rain from...yea....that would be good! I'll let you all know how that goes..... :)

Blooms for Wednesday bloom day....seems I'm always late for this, but anyhow...geranium 'Sambor'...
....annual...either new guinea impatiens or some sort of begonia (I get confused between the two sometimes and the tag is at home)...pretty nonetheless....
....deptford pink wildflower.......and this sassy salvia sticking its tongue out.....
....and finally dianthus. Not sure exact cultivar, but I got it from my mom, who just calls it "pinks". I love the blue foliage, and this lil' grasshopper seems to dig the flowers. Yay for summer!