Just went out to see how the oenotheras are doing. This is an odd garden, a small hill or berm I made over the old compost pile, planted with dryland plants. Some of them dislike the composty soil, a fact revealed when the plants inexplicably wilt. Soil-borne pathogens are rife in organic matter, and quite a few dryland species can’t deal with them.
I raked up some plain dirt to make the sides, or slopes, of the little hill, and when the oenotheras reseed, they grow happiest in the plain dirt.
Here is Oenothera caespitosa again. It would be cool if I could capture what they really look like, glowing white in the twilight, but the flash decided to pop up, and figuring out how to take moonlit shots means reading more instructions.
I caught a visitor, Hyles lineata, lapping nectar from one of the flowers. Few flowers attract hawkmoths as much as these do.
the miserable gardener 