The garden in fall

I call it my garden, but don't confuse it with an area where bountiful vegetables

and/or fragrant flowers are intentionally grown.

My garden is simply an area that is off limits to all the animals except the cat...

where wildflowers grow...

...and interesting bugs show up to be photographed.

The one intentional plant thriving in my garden is this silver lace vine.

It attracts butterflies and bees, mostly bees.

This pretty butterfly – an Adelpha eulalia /Arizona Sister, I think –

probably would have hung around longer...

but, like me, was afraid of getting stung.

The vine blooms all summer long and grows at a phenomenal rate.

I pruned it back so far in the spring that I thought I might have killed it.

No such luck. Now it's trying to strangle me and any visitors

who dare to walk through the gate.