Summer blooms on the wane

Our rose of Sharon bushes range in color from red and white to lavender and red and one is pure white. We started them as small shoots no more than 18 or 20 inches in 2004. Today the largest stretch nearly nine feet. That's not surprising, being that they were planted over heaps of compost.

There was a time when most of the wildlife attracted to the rose of Sharon seemed to be Japanese beetles, which I crushed with relish. As the blooms became more prolific, the visitors became more pleasing to the eye. That was especially the case this year with butterflies, bees and hummingbirds visiting on a regular basis. In the above photo, a pollen-covered bumble bee begins to emerge from a rose of Sharon bloom.

An Eastern tiger swallowtail comes in for a landing... 

and spreads its wings. Don't know if it was gathering nectar or simply taking in the sun's warmth. Maybe both.

We've always enjoyed the rose of Sharon, one reason being they provide color from mid to late summer. Now, with their blooms fading, we know the summer is nearly over and the first frost just around the corner!