I hadn’t been holding my breath that the poppies in my flower bed would ever actually get flowers on them, but I was okay with that because the poppy leaves were a nice contrast both in color and texture from the gazanias and petunias also claiming a spot in the bed. So I was a bit surprised to see two yellow poppy flowers had bloomed during the day.

Yes, it’s only two flowers, but it also took the gazanias a long time to flower. When they did though, there were plenty of them.

I was also happy to see a bee on the flowers. I haven’t seen too many of them this summer, a huge change from my Wisconsin gardens. There, I coexisted peacefully with bumble bees. They were all over my garden, but most often could be found in the raspberry patch or the perennial flower garden I created beneath my clothesline.

I’ve seen a few here and there in my Texas gardens, but not very many. So, welcome to the neighborhood pretty bee. Hope you stick around.