Identify Plant?

We have a winner! I knew we would. From a capsule in the Desert Gatherings' "Hummingbird Garden" tube (Post 1, Post 2), I introduce you to a really nice plant that has overpowered all the others!



A close-up.



Can anyone identify what plant this is? It looks familiar but... The other plants are still growing but they're hidden and sort of trying to grow out a bit but I'm not sure how long they'll last.




And of course, the sunflower in the sandbox has flowered. ;)

Sunflowers and giant Ants?

What's going on here? The bottom of every leaf looks like this! It's creepy. I thought maybe these big giant ants were eating something under the leaves but now I wonder if the ants themselves are eating the leaves.

Searching Google shows nothing except people making claims that ants do or don't eat. Would anyone happen to know what's going on?

Dragonfly

Dragonfly was a bit patient but very skittish and kept flying around. These two photos were the cleanest out of a batch of blurry pictures!

Amaryllis

I thought I posted this yesterday! Guess not... hehe.

I spotted a couple of opened amaryllis seed pods. I collected them and have the seeds spread out on a paper towel to help them dry out. I am gonna get my hands on another flowerbox and start this next batch. Fun!




Then I went to check on the flowerbox for the seeds I planted - they're coming up!



Amaryllis galore! How can you not love this? hehe.

Definitely not Birdhouse Gourd

In my previous blog entry, I posted about a vegetable-type plant growing in my bed. I was hoping it was birdhouse gourd making its weird random appearance but that wasn't the case. The plant has started sending out male flowers. I haven't seen any female ones yet...



If it is pumpkin, it's gonna be an ugly mess pretty soon once the bugs discover it. I'm not going to make an effort to save them. I gave that up years ago.