Critters in my Saskatchewan Garden

I had a couple fascinating encounters with critters of the insect kind today.

I was out photographing plants when this fellow landed on my shirt. You would not believe how difficult it is to get a photograph of something that lands on your belly button! These busy prehistoric-looking helicopters of the insect world are beautiful and I hadn't been able to photograph a blue one until now! I posted pictures of a red one a few weeks ago, but that one was tiny compared to this monster. I estimate this one to be about 4 and 1/2 inches (19 cm) long. Shortly thereafter, I saw this plump critter inching past my green garden shoes. I can't quite identify it. Does anybody know what it is? There are online pictures of sphinx moth caterpillars that look similar. It lacks horns, has a brown head, and has about four diagonal white stripes on its sides. It has a more prominent diagonal white stripe that crosses over the top of the back end of the caterpillar.  Thanks to internet references, this seems to be a poplar sphinx moth caterpillar.  

Poplar sphinx caterpillar

Oh yes, and a pretty butterfly on an Echinacea flower! This bed contains several flowers attractive to bees and butterflies: purple Liatris, Echinacea purpurea, and Mondarda didyma (Bergamot, Bee balm).

My Friend the Dragonfly

While some people say they dislike or are scared of dragonflies, I must profess my admiration for these insects. I caught this one sitting still on the lamb's ears. It was eating a blackfly. Hallelujah! What a fabulous insect! I'd really like to see a larger population of dragonflies, ones that become obese from gorging themselves on nasty biting insects.

You can see a bit of the finger-lickin' good blackfly if you look closely:For some reason, the mosquitoes, blackfly and dragonfly numbers are way down this year. This is a phenomenon everybody in town has noticed and also seems to be affecting the far north, according to my friend in Yellowknife. There are local theories about late frosts and whatnot, but we really have no idea why this is.

Hot Hot Hot in the Flower Garden

It seems the western provinces (and some of Europe!) are currently in the midst of a heat wave. The temperatures are drying out the lawn, so we're out moving sprinklers a fair bit. I don't worry about most of the perennials, as they are well established and quite drought-resistant.

Pictured: I took this picture of a colorful mosquito-eating insect in the flower garden. It was about 1.5" long and smaller than the usual 3" blue and white dragonflies so I'm not sure if it's a damselfly or small dragonfly!?
Pictured: LA Hybrid Lily "Inzell", a nice clear white lily.

Pictured: These Adenophora hybrida "Amethyst" are flopped over more than unsual because I just had the sprinkler on them for a few hours. They may look pretty from a distance, but they are invasive to the point of unruly. They will be removed after flowering.

Pictured: This hardy Rose "Morden Blush" is all but invisible behind the mass of Adenophora. I might move it to the front of the raised bed this fall. I thought it was killed by an early snow this spring. Fortunately, it sent some new growth from the roots (I'm glad I never dug it up!) and is now a nice little bush again.

Pictured: The pincherries are ripe and doing well this year. These small-ish trees grow wild around the yard. A nice jelly can be made from the fruit, but I don't have the patience to pick them! I've also been grazing on Saskatoon berries directly from the bush, of which we have wild and domesticated species growing in the yard.