Boy, the plants in the gardens are really taking off. Except for yet another phlox that I caught a young deer chomping on at 5:30 this morning. Darn it! It will come back but it was one of the few that hadn’t been chomped on the first time around. It will be a case of delayed gratification.

But back to “taking off” –

There’s the Annabelle hydrangea right next to the spirea. Lots and lots of blooms this year. And the roses to the right are also blooming.

We are having an outbreak of gypsy moth caterpillars in our area. They are everywhere. And they’re eating all the leaves on one of my oaks, and most likely on another one up in the woods. It’s terrible! There are all sorts of posts on our local FB pages about them and I guess you can really see the devastation up on the mountains. They’re also attacking rose bushes (I removed one from a bush the other day, but you can’t touch them directly or they’ll give you a rash.) And willows. And pines. So far, all of my maples seem safe, but damn, it’s horrendous! We’ve lived here nearly 19 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. There are all sorts of “remedies” but they don’t work consistently and many of oaks around here are very old and very tall and it’s impossible to get to the caterpillars because they start at the top of the tree and work their way down. I see them on the side of the house and one dropped on my head a few weeks back. I’m hoping we’ll soon see the end of the devastation. And I’m praying our young oaks survive this. Supposedly, they start to change into moths in mid to late June. Metamorphosis is coming. But in the meantime…

Be gone!

Harper in a new ensemble made by Hilly Rags, who lives in England. I have not been buying clothes for the girls, but every once in a while, when I have a little extra and something pops up, I treat myself. I have another dress by a different maker coming in the next week or two.

She looks darned cute, doesn’t she?

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.