Author: Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.

Correction: Not Creeping Cucumber But Mexican Sour Gherkin

UPDATE: There was great surprise when these cute miniature watermelon looking things were discovered in the vegetable garden. The two of us scratching our heads. What in the world could these be? I immediately put on my detective hat and began digging through the vast world of the Internet. I thought I found the answer and wrote and published the article you have seen, on September 29, 2021.

But there was more to be uncovered, more to be remembered. Several days after I wrote my article on what I believed to be the native plant, Creeping Cucumber (Melothria pendula), which I figured had magically appeared in the garden as natives often do, he had a recollection. Turns out, several weeks before, he found a diminutive plant labeled “Mexican Sour Gherkin” at the Greene Farmer’s Market. He bought it, brought it home and planted it in the vegetable garden. Not giving it much thought beyond the planting and nary a word to me. He had no idea what the plant would look like. What the plant would produce. But it quietly grew, unbeknownst to either of us. Then the discovery of a mystery. Until today. The meeting of minds. The sharing of thoughts. Realization.

The scientific name for Mexican Sour Gherkin is Melothria scabra. A plant nearly identical to the plant I thought we had. Mexican Sour Gherkin is native from Mexico to Venezuela. AND there is no worry about its edibility. We can now enjoy these tiny watermelon looking things with no concern at all.

Virginia Creeper

Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). If Virginia Creeper had the ability to party, this would certainly be its time. Sunlight shining through brightly colored leaves of vermilion.

Glowing way up in the tree tops. Decorating the woods. For that long list of party attendees.

If Virginia Creeper had the ability to party, this would certainly be its time.

Poison Ivy in Autumn

Autumn brings along surprises with native Poison Ivy. The plant’s leaves become beautiful, luminous colors.

Some reach out from tree trunks disguising the fact that it is a vine and one that humans should avoid. It’s not a tree but a climbing vine. Easy to think as the vine wraps round and climbs the tree that those leaves are innocent.

While the plants on the ground will impersonate not a vine but a small bush.

Those leaves mainly turning a rich crimson or a vibrant yellow. The crimson bringing back memories of the new plant’s spring emergence with shiny new red leaves.

You may not have noticed. Poison Ivy has berries. As the leaves turn color, and then, as they fall to the ground, the berries will become more obvious.

If you’re really fortunate you may live next to a patch of woods, or you might even be surrounded by forest. That’s the case for me. My yard is totally encircled by woods. This will give you the ultimate opportunity to see birds enjoying an important wildlife food plant, Poison Ivy. Yes, remove it from your formal gardens but leave it in the woods. Let those birds reap the benefits of the berries. I’ve been fortunate to see many different species of woodpeckers enjoying the berries, along with many other birds like this Chickadee.

Birds you might see: Bobwhite Quail, Brown Thrashers, Mockingbirds, Wild Turkeys, Crows, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Pileated Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Northern Flickers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Chickadees, Blue Grosbeaks, Eastern Bluebirds, and Catbirds. And mammals too will benefit from the Poison Ivy. Deer, Bear, Raccoons, and Muskrats, just a few of the many that will eat leaves, stems and berries.

And then there are the butterflies that I pursue for my photographs. They invariably choose to land on Poison Ivy rather than some other less offensive plant. Here a Northern Pearly-eye is teasing me, landing on Poison Ivy and daring me to reach out.

Black Walnuts

Looking up from beneath a Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) reveals a splendid, captivating pattern against the sky. Now that pattern has an added element, a change in color. Each leaflet of every compound leaf is changing little by little. Emerald to chartreuse green to chartreuse yellow and everything in between.

Black Walnuts dropping everywhere staining hands that remove the outer husks. My Mom tells us of a time when as a child, she and her sister, my Aunt Kay, helped my Grandpa remove husks from Black Walnuts. Though they thoroughly washed their hands the stain remained. The next day at school my Mom got a failing grade in penmanship because of her stained hands. I guess that teacher didn’t know of the staining qualities of Black Walnuts.

Several times a week I see these Black Walnut trees outside the yoga studio where I am a student. Absolutely nothing growing beneath them but grass. This is because of allelopathy. Allelopathy is one plant limiting the growth of another through harmful chemicals. In the Black Walnut tree the chemical is juglone, which is found in the roots, buds, leaves and nuts. Some plants will not do well with exposure to juglone, other plants it does not phase.

During the winter one is left with little in the way of clues to identify a tree. One thing I depend on is the bark. Sometimes that works. Black Walnut’s bark is gray-brown and is the color of chocolate if cut. It has somewhat deep channels with ridges that often create diamond shaped motifs across the bark.

Soon all the color changes will have taken place. Patterns against the sky will be gone. Leaves will be on the ground, as leaf litter, becoming homes for various stages of insects to overwinter. And that bark will tell me the name of the tree.

Pumpkin Season

Don’t blink. It won’t be here long. The leaves are just beginning to realize that things have got to change. First, from their many shades of luscious green to the warm rich colors of autumn. In no time we’ll be facing a black and white, pen and ink landscape, and frosty winter. Sparkly snow, ice patterns on pond tops, breathtaking dark starry skies. For now, autumn and pumpkin season. Not here for long. And then bewitching WINTER!

Dark Morph of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

The world of Nature always boggles my mind no matter what I am studying. There is always something that totally astounds me. One example is the dark morph of the female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). That’s one in the photo above. Yes, a Tiger Swallowtail. Not yellow, but black. Your location will influence how frequently you’ll see this dark form. The further south the more frequent. In the blog, BackyardWildlifeConnection, Terry W. Johnson says, “In middle Georgia, my neck of the woods, more than 90 percent of all female eastern tiger swallowtails are black.” Another site suggests that 10 percent of female population is the dark morph.

Higher numbers occur in the south because of the prevalence of the host plant of Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor), Aristolochia which imparts a toxin (or an extremely bitter taste) to both the caterpillar and the butterfly. The female dark morph Tiger Swallowtail is mimicking the Pipevine Swallowtail. This mimicry gives these dark females protection, since those Pipevine Swallowtails are often avoided by predators because of their extremely bitter taste.

The dark female Tiger Swallowtail sometimes shows a trace of the tiger stripes, but to see the stripes the lighting must be just right. Very subtle. Males prefer yellow females, but the black form of the female is less attractive to predators so they have a higher survival rate. So yellow Tiger Swallowtails are either male or female. Dark Tiger Swallowtails are always female. Yellow females produce yellow offspring. Dark females produce dark offspring. This is one of those things in the world of Nature that is way beyond “just” impressive.

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White Wood Aster

White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricata), is an herbaceous perennial plant native to eastern North America. It’s encountered mainly in the Appalachian Mountains but can be found scattered in other places in the east.

Stems that are not perfectly straight, take on a reddish/purplish hue as the season wears on. Heart-shaped leaves with serrated edges. Plants can be densely covered with blooms late summer through autumn.

White Wood Aster flowers are composites, with about 10 snowy white (or sometimes a pale purple) ray florets arranged around brilliant yellow disc florets much like a daisy. Those bright yellow disc florets change color as they age turning a ruddy purple.

The flowers with a width of one inch are a favorite of bees and butterflies. Speaking of butterflies, that butterfly in the first picture? It’s an American Lady Butterfly. Birds and small mammals eat the seeds. If not eaten, the seeds are equipped with cream colored bristles and wisps of hair which allow the wind to take the seeds up and away.

Creeping Cucumber

Creeping Cucumber (Melothria pendula). Perfect for a dollhouse if you need a tiny watermelon of dollhouse scale. If only they would last. It is native to southeastern North America.

With flowers of yellow, just 1/4 inch across. Though it is native it will be treated as a weed here. A weed, after all is a plant that grows where you don’t want it. And that is what this plant has done. Moved itself into the vegetable garden unbidden.

Creeping Cucumber is indeed in the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae) and its leaves resemble cucumbers that you’re used to seeing in the vegetable garden. It tastes like those cucumbers that you grow in the garden too. But use caution. Only eat the light colored Creeping Cucumbers. The ones that look like tiny watermelons. As they mature they will darken to a purple-black. At this stage they are an incredibly powerful laxative.

Fowler’s Toad

Toads like the vegetable garden that is adjacent to the pond here at the frog farm. Not a real frog farm. Just a place where the welcome mat is put out. A place to enjoy the frogs. This one a Fowler’s Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri).

All toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. What?? Yes that’s right. Toads are simply a classification of frogs. There are many subtle differences like the length of their hind legs. Frogs have longer hind legs which allows for longer jumps. And something to keep in mind if you are one to want to pick up creatures that you find. Toads are poisonous. Frogs for the most part are not poisonous.

Both frogs and toads lay their eggs in water. Frog eggs are in a blob or mass while toad eggs are in chains. Looking totally different. Finding either on a spring hike is quite a thrill.