Patience

The neighborhood handyman asked me why I did not plant vines on the trellises that he built for me.

I patiently explained that I already planted two milkweed vines, handfuls of Virginia creeper and -- in desperation -- an abundance of greenbrier.

All eaten.  There is severe deer pressure in my garden, with up to 18 deer in my garden at any one time.

Now it looks like the herd is growing even larger.

This morning I followed these two does and four fawns into the next yard.

It is not easy to be patient with these voracious eaters.  But these are God's hungry creatures and most of the neighborhood is given to the lawn mower. 

Some say that Chinese abelia is more attractive to pollinators than a butterfly bush.  Many years ago, I planted one near the end of the driveway.  But it was only after the neighbors removed their oak trees in 2014 that the abelia bloomed heavily, attracting pollinators.

This morning, the abelia was serious work to bumblebees

and to butterflies. This red admiral on the abelia has a torn wing.  It may have encountered a predator but got away.  Lucky.

The July-blooming plum leaf azalea in the back yard rarely booms, which tries my patience, but this summer there were red-orange tubular flowers with long silky stamens.

This year my patience was rewarded with impatiens. After the hard winter killed a pot of Abundant Maiden Ferns, I waited until they came back.  Instead, these impatiens showed up in their place.  Who knows how many years those seeds were dormant, patiently waiting for a chance to sprout.

Patience is a useful tool in a gardeners belt.