Author Archives: Brenda Clements Jones

About 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.

Lemon Yellow

Whorled Rosinweed (Silphium asteriscus var. trifoliatum). A bright lemon yellow flower that is a herbaceous perennial. It grows to be four to six feet tall.

Native to the eastern United States. Found growing along trails up here.

This plant is a variety of Silphium asteriscus which has whorls of leaves of three or four along the tall stems.

The name Rosinweed comes about because of the substance that seeps from damaged stems. This gummy substance was used by Native Americans as a chewing gum.

The nectar and pollen attract bees, and butterflies, and songbirds enjoy the seeds.

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

Brilliant Crimson

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), adding color to a wide swath of the Americas. Native from southeastern Canada south through the eastern and southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America to northern Colombia.

Perfect for hummingbirds and butterflies love it too. Though I have it in my gardens, I totally love to find it in the woods!

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

Bliss

Total bliss. Rain rain RAIN! Not water from a sprinkler but rain falling from the sky this afternoon, 1.74 inches of gorgeous rain.

My cabin sits in an area that has been suffering from severe/extreme drought. Grass brown. Plants dying. That rain totally delighted me. Now rain gods, more please.

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

A Pollinator

I’ve got a few species of mint plants growing on my back hill. One of them, Apple Mint (Mentha suaveolens), has an extended bloom period and attracts many interesting pollinators. One of them is this Double-banded Scoliid Wasp (Scolia bicincta) with its beautiful metalic blue wings. These wasps usually have two white bands, but there are some that have three or even four bands. I wonder, is this just to confuse us?

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

Like Sunflower Seeds?

Like sunflowers seeds? Then go directly to the source.

Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) on Sunflower (Helianthus), enjoying the seeds directly where they are grown.

Ever so tasty!

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

A Green And Brown Butterfly

Brown isn’t an unusual color in a butterfly, but green is unusual. This is a Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus). It’s a small butterfly with a wingspan of just 3/4 to 1 1/4 inches.

Native to North America. Here in Virginia the larval host plant is Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana).

This guy in the photo is getting nectar at the flowers of an Applemint (Mentha suaveolens).

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

A Toad Waiting For Something Yummy

A little American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) in the garden waiting for something yummy to come by. Most toads are aggressive in seeking and hunting for their meals. The American Toad sits and waits for a meal to come within striking distance and will jump on it, or will shoot out its very quick, sticky, long tongue to capture the prey. That meal could be any number of insects or other invertebrates including snails, beetles, slugs, and earthworms, eating as many as 10,000 during a summer.

Highly variable in their length, ranging from 2 to 4.5 inches. It is a bit daunting when it comes to identification since this toad can be tan, brown, reddish-brown, or olive green. And then, there is a pattern, or maybe there isn’t a pattern. Daunting.

But I’m confident that is what this little guy is, eating pests in the garden. I’m hoping it will eat the Spotted Lantern Flies. I saw another one today.

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

Why The Black Beak?

A juvenile Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) that doesn’t have its adult feathers yet. And look at that beak, it’s black instead of the usual red-orange beak. Given time those feathers will come in, and the beak will become the red-orange of an adult. All grown up!

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

A Butterfly Special To Maryland

A Baltimore Checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton) seen at Brookside Gardens in Montgomery County, Maryland. It’s the Maryland state insect. I grew up in Maryland and this, the first time I’ve ever seen this beautiful butterfly.

Just a short while after seeing that butterfly I happened upon this caterpillar at Buck Hollow, in Shenandoah National Park, where I was working at invasives removal as a Master Naturalist. It is the caterpillar of the Baltimore Checkerspot.

Since then I’ve added White turtlehead (Chelone glabra) to my garden. That’s a larval host plant of Baltimore Checkerspot. So far I haven’t seen any but I’m still hopeful.

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!

One Of The Larger Skippers

The Silver Spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) is a large skipper with a wing span of 1.75 to 2.5 inches. It can be found across southern parts of Canada, south through most of the United States, into northern Mexico. They’re also found in southern England.

I see them very frequently here on my mountain eating the nectar of flowers. Mostly blue, pink, purple, and red flowers which they seem to prefer. They seldom eat the nectar of yellow flowers.

Above is an older instar of the Silver Spotted Skipper. Measuring in at about 2 inches in length. The orange dots that you see are not actually eyes, though they do look like eyes. They may be there to scare off would be predators.

Larval host plants of this skipper include both herbaceous and woody species in the Pea family (Fabaceae), including Black Locust, Honey Locust, False Indigo Bush, and Patridge Pea.

________________________________

If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!