The trees have reached peak color and the weather has been delightful. Any excuse to work in the garden is a good one. Of late we seem to be enjoying an Indian summer, and a few perennials, previously cut back, have sent up fresh new leaves that hug the ground. One never knows when a killing freeze will arrive and any color is gratefully accepted, soon our world will be drab.

There are also a few plants still blooming and nectar seeking insects are extremely grateful, behaving with a brash and fearless attitude as they soak up the fleeting warmth of sunny afternoons. I'm drawn to these flowering plants, especially so in late afternoon, to watch the commuters arrive. And they do so in great numbers! The nectar seekers throng on any flowers left, butterflies go to any remaining buddleia flowers, bees and hover flies to echinacea and chrysanthemums. Often times a praying mantis is lying in wait, locked in position, ready to snatch a few more meals before the final exodus with egg laying. Monarch butterflies can still be found and are pressed for sources of nectar as they travel south. They are often seen migrating high above, in the company of migratory birds, taking advantage of southbound thermals. A few will venture into your garden, you may find them sipping with sulphurs, a smaller species of butterfly with bright yellow wings. I thought I saw a pink edged sulphur today, brilliantly colored with yellow wings edged in the finest pink. As it drank nectar from a pink flowering chrysanthemum, I imagined what a fine photograph that would make.

The draper skippers are still around, but their numbers of dropped dramatically over the past month. They are a small butterfly with wings held in a doubled-up fashion. They are named for their habit of skipping about. The wings are often brown, marked on occasion with white or yellow. Bees of all sorts account for most of the activity. Bumblebees seem to be caught by the praying mantis, apparently slower than their counterparts. One of the most common bees found is actually not a bee, but a hover fly. The tiny adults look like bees as they have a bright orange (or yellow) and black abdomen. One of the most beneficial of insects, they are easily found on composite flowers such as echinacea and chrysanthemum. In their larval stage they eat aphids, and have a ferocious appetite, rivaled only by ladybug beetles and lacewings. Also known as the Syrphid fly and Syrphus americanus, the adults are plentiful now. The common name comes from their habit of hovering around flowers, which they do for an inordinate amount of time, finally lowering themselves for a sip of nectar. I find a great deal of variation in their colorful banding, but there are also two species, which accounts for some variation. They do not bite or sting and are distinguished from other flies by a false vein that runs the length of the wing. Attracted to numerous flowers, consider planting asters, marigolds, solidago or goldenrod and caryopteris to increase their numbers, if only to watch another season come to a busy end.

[Section on iris division continues but text becomes unclear in latter part - a piece must have an active growing tip with some foliage at the end of the rhizome. Before you reset your new roots, break up the soil in the bed, add amendments (like compost) and soak your fresh divisions in your water/Clorox solution. This will clear up any remaining soft rot. Tamp your soil down around your newly placed roots which can be placed 1 to 2 feet apart. The foliage can be cut back at this point, new leaves will arrive on new growth tips shortly. To avoid borers in the future, always cut back the foliage of bearded iris in fall and compost them or put them in your trash. The moths than grow into the larvae lay their eggs on the leaves in fall. Gardeners are frequently left with far too many roots to put back in the same spot. For a brief (or not so brief) moment you may consider getting into the Iris business. Go for it, I say!]