It’s a first for the vegetable garden. Garlic (Allium sativum). Planted several months ago. It’s been a learning experience to see it coming up, green leaves reaching for the sky. And now flower buds atop their stems, bending in unison, Rockettes style. Who would have thought that garlic dances in the garden?!
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In bloom right now, in my woods. Such a treat to see. Striped Wintergreen (Chimaphila maculata). Small, evergreen plants that grow from rhizomes. With the blooms, the Striped Wintergreen is 6 to 10 inches tall. The plant without its flowers is 3 to 5 inches tall.
Those beautiful evergreen leaves are thick, waxy-looking, a blue-green color which becomes darker as the leaves mature. A distinctive central white vein on the larger leaves give the plant a lovely unmistakeable look.
The blooms seem to be looking down, making me think of old fashioned street lamps, lighting the way for all the woodland fairies.
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A skipper that is mighty easy to recognize thanks to its large bright white spot on the ventral view of its wings.
This skipper is found in a large part of the United States into southern Canada. Adults sip the nectar of many different flowers.
Skippers are classified together with true butterflies since they fly during the day. They are different from butterflies though, because of their fat, furry bodies.
The Silver Spotted Skipper is a skipper that I see often, keeping me company, as I hike up my mountain.
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Hoping you’re not freaked out by this photo. I had to share this with you, a mother Wolf Spider (Lycosidae). AND those yellow-green dots on her back are her babies. If you look carefully at the image, you can actually see their legs.
The Wolf Spider is a different sort of mom, particularly in the spider world. She carries her eggs in a silken egg sac, attached on the spinnerets at the end of her abdomen. She goes about her normal hunting, while carrying the egg sac. Her abdomen is in a higher than normal position so she doesn’t drag and harm the eggs.
After those eggs hatch, she helps the babies out of the silken sac, and they climb onto her back, where they stay for as long as several weeks. They bring along the yolks from their eggs to eat as they are developing. If a spiderling falls off, mother spider will stop what she’s doing to rescue the little one.
There are 200 species of Wolf Spider in North America, and they all have these amazing moms.
The world of nature astounds me.
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Smooth Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum biflorum), in bloom up here in the woods. It is an herbaceous perennial, native to eastern and central North America.
Often found in rocky woods, happy in either dry or moist soil. Like the Yucca, it’s another plant in the asparagus (Asparagaceae) family.
Smooth Solomon Seal can very slowly form colonies in favorable conditions through its rhizomes. Bees, butterflies and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds enjoy its nectar. Its berries turn to blue-black in autumn. Robins, Bluebirds, Hermit Thrush and Wood Thrush, and Veery enjoy eating those blue-black berries.
I know where the colonies are and love to go past them in my roaming.
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Overnight, one of the digits that represent my age changed. Funny how that happens. Here I am, celebrating with a bow in my hair, on the left (my right).
Today, being a special day, I was on alert for something unusual to show up in the world of nature. That seems to happen on holidays, birthdays and other red letter days.
While outside this afternoon, I was paying attention to the songs of the birds in the woods. Two relatively new to me, at least for this season, stood out. The first that I heard, a Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). This image is the Redstart I was pleased to see and photograph just a few days ago.
The second song was of a Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus). I haven’t seen any yet this season. This picture is from April of 2020.
Both these birds eat mostly insects and other arthropods during the summer. Since they don’t come to my feeders, I’m able to entice them into view by keeping my three birdbaths filled with fresh water.
Looking forward to seeing more birds here for the breeding season as spring turns to summer.
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This is my Mom, many years ago when we lived in Cheverly, Maryland. Mom created a great love of nature in my heart. A love that will always be with me. I was introduced to many trees in that yard, including the young Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) that is behind her right shoulder (on the left as you look at her). A tree that must have sprouted up about the same year that Mom and Dad, and I, as a little baby, moved into that house. As the years went by I played out there, outside the kitchen, as the tree became part of my environment and my imagination.
Now I live in the woods, with oodles of trees around me. Some are Tulip Poplars that are in bloom right now. The color of the flowers, a soft yellow-green with a slight band of orange, is not at all noticeable on the towering trees, except to pollinators such as Hummingbirds, Bees, and Butterflies.
But those blossoms fall to the ground and then they get noticed by us folks down at ground level.
Too bad the blooms are not more visible to us. They’re quite beautiful.
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A Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus) on an exotic invasive, Wintercress (Barbarea vulgarism). The host plant of the Zebra Swallowtail is the Pawpaw Tree (Asimina triloba).
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Fire Pink (Silene virginica), is native to eastern North America with the exception of the farthest northeastern states of, New Jersey, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
The flower of the Fire Pink isn’t large. It is from 1 to 1.5 inches in size. It’s brilliant crimson color though, makes its blooms quite eye catching.
It’s a short lived perennial that shows off its blooms from April into August.
The Fire Pink is a member of the Carnation family (Caryophyllaceae). Members of that family are called pinks because of their look, giving the impression that the ends of the petals are cut with pinking shears.
I’ve found Fire Pink on many occasions, as I hike in parks close by, and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. That’s the location of these photographs, as well as in a garden just out my cabin’s back door. That’s where I found some of these beauties blooming just yesterday. What a joy native plants are!
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We’re all having a grand time at GrandKitty Camp. Betelgeuse is being the perfect guest, politely asking for shower water, or bathroom water. That bowl of water next to her food just isn’t nearly as good as those two other choices. And she is ever so polite to ask for more food.
Though I don’t understand her language, she and I have great conversations. She certainly seems to know exactly what I’m saying as I imitate her, “Meow!”
Definitely not a lap sitter, but I managed to capture this moment, as she sat on a lap for perhaps five minutes before she jumped down, saying, “Enough!” in her kitty way.
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