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.
Such a conflict. They are an exotic invasive, aggressively growing where native plants would otherwise grow. Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius).
Wineberry is native to eastern Asia and was introduced to North America in the 1890s as a potential breeding stock for raspberries.
On the other hand, these berries are delicious. They are an ingredient for a wonderful sherbet. Much anticipated every year by my family. They’re soon to be ripe here on the mountain.
Also a marvelous topping for cereal. Making cereal a favorite breakfast.
Every member of the family loves these berries. The compromise solution, keep some, and make way for the natives by removing the rest of the aggressive plants. Oh I wish that were easy. They are (there’s that word again) ubiquitous.
Here Gaillardias are growing wild in New Mexico, at Bandelier National Monument. A park I’ve visited many times. And hope to visit many more times.
And more Gaillardias growing wild at Bandelier National Monument. It seems they’re ubiquitous!
It amuses me. My Dad had a thing about digging up Dandelions in his lawn. He was always in a battle with them. That was in Maryland. My father-in-law also had a thing about digging things up from his lawn. The flowers he was in a constant battle with? Gaillardia. That was in New Mexico.
I love Gaillardias. But I must plant them, and care for them. I guess a weed is something that grows where you don’t want it to be.
Gaillardias are in the Sunflower family. Gaillardia is a genus of flowering plants that are native to the Americas. There are twenty-five to thirty species of Gaillardia, annuals, biennials, and perennials. There are also many cultivars.
Many pollinators are attracted to the bright colors of the blooms. Such as the Honey Bee in the previous image, and here a Carpenter Bee.
Butterflies love Gaillardia too. Here a Silvery Checkerspot is enjoying a Gaillardia in one of my gardens.
I put in two bushes of Red Currant (Ribes rubrum) last year that I purchased at the Greene Farmer’s Market from Saint Isadore Homestead & Permaculture. This year they both bloomed and now they have produced the most beautiful fruit. Little berries of the richest ruby red.
I put the bushes in with no plans for the fruit other than to appeal to my very fond childhood memories of summer family reunions in southeastern Pennsylvania with all my Mom’s sisters and brothers, their spouses, their children along with many other family, Grandmom and Grandpop and great aunts and great uncles, and cousins of various distances. First? Second? How many times removed? Happy memories that included seeing Red Currants looking so beautiful on their bushes, right next to where the guys played quoits.
Now that I’ve got the tiny fruit I find that they are delicious! I’ve searched for recipes and tomorrow I plan to make my very first batch of red currant muffins. Hoping they turn out well!
Oh and one tidbit of information that I just learned. Those dried currants that you find at the grocery store? They are not currants at all but small grapes which are dried to become what we know as dried currants. Who would have thought?
Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). Quite the handsome bird. It makes me think of a Roadrunner with its very long tail and long curved bill. They’re here during their breeding season but are year round in the deeper Southeast. The feeders here at my cabin don’t tempt them, not even the suet, but they love my blueberries. Down in Florida at my Mom’s feeders they are constantly eating the suet at her feeders. Omnivores, Brown Thrashers eat insects, berries, seeds and nuts, earthworms, snails, and an occasional lizard or frog.
Having a wingspan up to seven inches, this butterfly certainly earns the name Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes). It also holds the title of largest butterfly in North America.
Giant Swallowtail, ventral side
The larval host plants of Giant Swallowtails consist of many trees in the citrus family including, here in Virginia, the Common Hop Tree (Ptelea trifoliata). These caterpillars have a clever camouflage, mimicking bird droppings. They live as caterpillars three to four weeks.
Giant Swallowtails will take part in an activity known as puddling, taking salts and minerals from moist soil or sand, and manure. They only live as adult butterflies six to fourteen days. During that time they seek nectar from flowers such as Azalea, Bougainvillea, Japanese Honeysuckle, Goldenrod, Dame’s Rocket, Bouncing Bet, and Red Clover.
Four days ago GrandCamper spotted a female Common Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) digging a hole in the soil to lay her eggs. We were much too excited and created way too much commotion. Next thing we knew she had vanished without laying her eggs. We learned our lesson. In the photo above GrandCamper is adding her hand to the image for scale. I didn’t even have to suggest that!
Three days pass. Yesterday afternoon we’re out in front of the cabin picking blueberries and little GrandCamper spots another momma box turtle preparing to lay her eggs. This time we are quiet and respectful, making sure that we don’t make any grand disturbances. Success! This morning by mid-morning momma box turtle had covered her eggs and gone off to wherever she lives leaving the eggs on their own. GrandCamper and I have checked my photographs and we’re both sure that this is not the same turtle that was spotted earlier. This is another one. Her picture is above. So now we must wait. Common Box Turtle eggs can take from forty-five to ninety days to hatch. So we wait and watch. And a little help too. To protect the eggs from predators GrandCamper and her Grandpa went into the shop and built a little cage to place on top of the turtle nest, with a big rock on top of that, to protect it from skunks, raccoons, coyotes, foxes and chipmunks.
Much to my surprise it just showed up one day on a path behind my cabin. A tiny Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina). They have a reputation as having a combative disposition but this creature was so little I could hardly think of it in those terms.
A short distance from where I first saw this little critter is where I saw him the second time, in my little man-made pond. And from then on, for five years it was a constant resident of the little pond.
Common Snapping Turtles eat a wide variety of things. Insects, spiders, worms, fish, frogs, small turtles, snakes, birds, crayfish, small mammals, and carrion. But their diet is mainly plant material.
These turtles are almost entirely aquatic and spend nearly all their time in water. They’ll emerge and roam on land during mating season and to lay eggs. That’s about it.
Twenty to forty ping-pong ball-sized eggs are laid in May or June in a shallow depression dug by the female turtle using her hind legs. She choses a well-drained, sunny location for the nest which she covers after laying her eggs and returns to the water.
The sex of these turtles is determined after fertilization. The temperature of the developing eggs is what decides whether the baby turtles will be male or female. Eggs in an environment of 68°F produce only females; eggs maintained at 70-72°F produce both male and female turtles; and those kept at 73-75°F produce only males.
I don’t know what happened to that first little Common Snapping Turtle. Maybe one day another will come by to take up residence in my pond.
An attractive mint that grows here on my mountain, Silverleaf Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum). The flowers attract lots of beneficial pollinators like this Spicebush Swallowtail, and other butterflies, bees, wasps, and moths.
The blooms, first appearing midsummer will last until late summer. The square stems, leaves and even the flowers have a silvery look. All those plant parts have a minty scent which deer find unattractive. That sure makes it attractive to me. The plant spreads by creeping rhizomes and can be helpful for erosion control.
Silverleaf Mountain Mint loves full sun but does well in part shade as well and wants well drained soil. It’s native to eastern North America.
Today as I was looking through images from a few years ago, I came upon one of these photos and thought you might enjoy seeing the fun time our family had back then. Take a look, and see what you think. From June 2021.
Yesterday GrandCamper and I were checking on the little pawpaw trees that I planted several days ago. We brought along a great big watering can. Such a big watering can that she could hardly pick it up! That big! After the watering was completed I happened to look around, and at our feet was a little tiny CommonBox Turtle (Terrapene carolina). An incredible sight. The shell just one and a half inches long.
Here’s GrandCamper holding (and really admiring) the little turtle. I would guess from the rings on the scutes (the scales) on the turtle’s shell that this turtle is maybe a year old. Though somewhat reliable, counting those rings is not totally accurate. Sometimes a turtle will produce two rings in one year, but not every year, usually just one is produced in one year.
Here’s a picture of the plastron, or bottom portion of the shell and my finger tips. This is a female Common Box Turtle since the plastron is flat. Male Common Box Turtle’s plastrons are concave. Later in the afternoon while she was out swinging GrandCamper spotted another Common Box Turtle. This one was a female digging a hole in the soil to lay her eggs! After the eggs are laid and they are covered with soil the female will leave the eggs to fend for themselves. I think though, we created too much commotion when we found her. This morning the hole was abandoned and not covered over.
Yesterday certainly was SUPER TURTLE DAY at GrandCamp! And we’re still (now very quietly) searching to find that female turtle and her new spot for her eggs.
