The Girlfriend likes her trumpet flowers (Brugmansia,) and to keep last year’s in good shape, it overwintered in the antechamber that houses the water heater, never getting too cold through the winter. However, it didn’t leaf out at all in the spring, and she finally decided to pick up two more, a yellow and a pink variety. No sooner did we get these established, and were about to toss out the bare stems from last year’s specimen, when it suddenly put forth an abundance of new leaves, so we now have three trumpet flower plants. But thankfully, we also have a greenhouse now to winter them within, because they don’t handle temperatures below 10°C. Seen here, the new pink one is showing last night’s blossoms, the only one to bloom so far, though the others are leafed out radically. I have to mention that they produce a lovely aroma, but only at night – as yet I have not seen anything attracted by it, though I imagine that the species that typically pollinates them isn’t around, seeing as how they’re not native to North America.
While examining them today, I remarked to The Girlfriend to keep an eye out for the treefrogs, since they sometimes could be found on the leaves or stems, and no sooner said this than I spotted someone else on the blooming one.
As I’ve said, I never know how subtle some of these photos are, because I took them, and I lightened this one slightly (maybe half-a-stop,) to help display the interloper. If you’re still looking, take a moment before I get to the closer shots, and I’ll occupy myself with other activities for just a moment.
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[Maybe I should clean that more often…]
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Found it? Good. Now I can go in closer.
Naturally, you know this is a Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis,) and I’m still delighted to find them in various locations around Walkabout Estates. Eventually, I’ll avoid featuring their photos because I see them too frequently and don’t want to overburden the posts with them (too late, I know,) but right now we’ll largely see them when I do. This one is roughly twice the size of the last, so definitely a different specimen, though whether this is this year’s brood or last year’s, I cannot say since I have no idea how fast they grow. Doesn’t matter too much; they’re getting established, and that was the goal.
This one was well aware of our presence and slowly, carefully, creeping around to find a safe spot, wasting its time because the plant has no hidey holes and sits away from other plants, so the only choice was all the way down to the base and across a short open stretch of the yard, which it did not choose to do. I circled it, always trying to appear non-threatening, and did several frames, though it was difficult to include anything for scale. If you know anoles, this one is about half-size, and the main trunk that it’s on is maybe a little thicker than my thumb. Overall length was, I’m guessing, 80-90mm, but that includes a long whip tail, so it’s a little misleading.
I did a few images in natural light, having to deal with the patches of over-bright direct sunlight and the shade produced by the leaves and nearby trees, not to mention the anole that paused only momentarily in its perambulations up and down the trunk, but this at least shows the length of its tail.
I might have to leave a few fruit sections around the yard in various places, which the anoles might like (I’m not sure, really,) but the ants and fruit flies certainly will, and I know the anoles will eat those. I try to keep my models happy.