The first half of July provided peak blooms and color in the landscape! We hope our Open Garden visitors enjoyed the show. Something new this month is drone imagery! Following the notes below, there are sections of drone imagery, July photos, and then landscape videos.

July Notes

• July is not only peak bloom… we are over the hump in terms of yard work! A lot of that is due to getting ready for the big open garden. But at this point we have done the major weeding, bed editing (planting and transplanting), path clearing, pruning, plant supports, and edge mulching.
• In terms of mulch, we primarily use it on bed edges (generally 12″ to 18″ in). This makes the edges pop a bit so you can see the flowing edge and helps plants stand out from the yard. Leaves and cut stems are spread through the body of the beds and not very noticeable now.
• From here on we are in maintenance mode which is largely occasional weeding and miscellaneous care. Whew! Now there is much more time for just being present to the beauty… and looking for all the interesting creatures in the landscape!

Drone Imagery

It is hard to convey Catchfly Commons as a whole. I feel good about my macrophotography, but I struggle with good landscape shots of the garden. Even when folks visit, it’s not easy to grasp it all. In my monthly vista posts, I have been incorporating video and that has helped. We recently got a drone, which may be the tool we have needed.

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July Photos

A variety of butterflies and moths have crisscrossed the gardens: monarchs, tiger swallowtails, black swallowtails, pipevine swallowtails, red-spotted purple, and painted lady among others. Great spangled fritillaries and common wood nymphs have had a strong presence. Many open garden visitors were thrilled to experience numerous hummingbird moths!

While I was trying to take photos of Pale Corydalis a calligrapher flower fly kept photo bombing me!

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Growing Degree Days

“Growing Degree Days are a measurement of the growth and development of plants and insects during the growing season. Development does not occur at this time unless the temperature is above a minimum threshold value (base temperature). The base temperature varies for different organisms. It is determined through research and experimentation.” (The Ohio State Phenology Calendar glossary page) We did a post on phenology last year. Check out the OSU Phenology Calendar to see what is happening in your area!

Landscape Videos

On July 8, 2025 when these videos were made, the growing degree days here was 1,747. For context, the 20 year GDD average for Delaware on this date is 1,529 and in recent years it has been:

• 2024: 1,885
• 2023: 1,514
• 2022: 1,664
• 2021: 1,610

Upper Level (7.8.2025)

Swale (7.8.2025)

Southwest Corner (7.8.2025)

Southeast Corner (7.8.2025)

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Video and photos by Randy Litchfield unless otherwise noted
© Randy Litchfield, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)