Color – Page 2 – Tendrils

In Praise of Blueberries

In my yard I’ve got a good number of mature blueberry bushes. Twelve? Fourteen? Enough that I can stock my freezer with loads of quarts of luscious berries to last throughout the year. And the birds? They’re welcome to their share. I love that the berries entice them.

Of the birds that come to enjoy the berries some are frequent visitors that I know well. A cardinal, a perfect example. Other birds don’t often make their presence known depending on the magic of camouflage to hide from my attentive eyes. A female scarlet tanager blending right in.

Each of the seasons provides a different aspect. A different way to appreciate the berries, the bushes. Winter with the buds anticipating the following spring develop sometimes encased in ice.

Winter as the rusty-red branches provide an accent to the snow that falls.

Spring with buds creamy white. Spring with buds soft red.

Spring and her blooms. A pollinators’ playground.

And then there’s summer. You know what that means.

Harvesting and eating.

Autumn celebrates with a brilliant palette. Sumptuous warm colors that tell me there is more to come with each season.

Can you tell? I am in love with blueberries and their bushes.

A Strawberry Leaf

The landscape during winter. Shades of black, brown, white, with a bit of deep, subtle blue-green. A Cardinal adds spark to the setting. Feathers of scarlet keeping him warm.

Look down as you step. Wild strawberries that gave you joy last summer have left a reminder. Leaves of wild strawberries now covered with frost.

Catbrier and Beautyberry

It has been so dry, but yesterday brought a glorious 1/4 inch of rain. Hallelujah! That rain brings a brief moment of relief to suffering vegetation.

The rain also brings beauty to the landscape. I love what rain does to colors, deepens them, makes them more rich. But of course more rich! Those colors are decorated with DIAMONDS. Here a Catbrier leaf, Smilax bona-nox, sparkling with rain drop diamonds, set against berries of Japanese Beautyberry, Callicarpa japonica.

Those berries will go begging for a while. There are more yummy things to tempt the birds right now, but as the days get shorter until we reach the dead of winter, birds will gather in the branches of these bushes and strip them bare.

Keep in mind if you are interested in Beautyberry, there is a highly recommended native, Callicarpa americana. Keep that scientific name in mind as you shop. Natives are the way to go.

Purple Deadnettle

This morning finds me at the yoga studio early. Frost covering much of the world down here in the lowlands. I take the opportunity to capture the beautiful dusting on Purple Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum).

A photo from another day, you can see how it becomes a ground cover.

Though a native to Europe and Asia it can be found covering whole fields, creating a purple sea here in Virginia right about now.

BIG Caterpillar

I am always on the alert for turtles in the road and if conditions allow, I’ll stop and help the critter, usually a box turtle, cross safely. A few days ago as I drove up my mountain, along the twisty, steep, gravel road, I spotted something. Certainly not a turtle, but something I don’t recall ever stopping for in the past. Something that I never would have guessed I’d see from the driver’s seat of my truck. A HUGE caterpillar. My surprise only increased as I approached the caterpillar and saw what it looked like. Certainly he was a Chinese dragon all set for a New Year’s parade.

An aqua color of 1950s cars, with accents of bright, rich orange, and black. Regularly spaced black spikes along his body segments and much larger spiked horns/antlers of orange, tipped with black near his head. Yes, that looks like a Chinese dragon to me.

In reality though this critter is a Hickory Horned Devil Caterpillar, the larva of the Regal Moth, Citheronia regalis. In addition to his interesting color scheme, this guy is incredibly large. Think the size of a large hot dog. But it is a caterpillar that you don’t need to be frightened of. He will cause you no harm. If you see one, treat him with care, and guide him to a spot of soft dirt where he can achieve his goal of burrowing, where he will pupate over the winter.

**Spiked horns on two segments above his head (his head is the little orange, button-like thing at the very right), bright, rich orange, and shiny black.**

In this stage of his life he has been eating. Chomping down on the leaves of hickory, ash, persimmon, sweetgum, sycamore and walnut. No wonder he made his home here. This is what many of the trees in my woods are. No need to be concerned about what he is eating. There are not enough of these guys to be a concern and for the most part are not considered a pest. The Hickory Horned Devil is native to the eastern US from New Jersey to Missouri and on southward to east Texas and central Florida.

The Regal Moth will emerge from the ground as an adult in late June or early July. As an adult he will not eat, and will live about one week.

He will reach a wingspan of up to six inches. Looking like a cuddly, furry, off white and orange Teddy bear, he will be in search of a mate. Eggs hatch in six to ten days. The larval stage, the Hickory Horned Devil Caterpillar, lives for about 35 days.

Northern Flicker

A patch of the native plant, Smooth Sumac, Rhus glabra. A wonderful magnet for birds during the late winter and early spring.

Hard to decide which might be my favorite bird, but one that is right up there at the top, Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus, is one of the birds that is attracted to the rich crimson berries.

The place I would expect to find a Northern Flicker, unlike most other woodpeckers, is on the ground. They hunt for ant larvae and beetle grubs, pecking into the soil the way other woodpeckers would be pecking into a tree trunk.

During this part of the year though, it is in the Smooth Sumac where I often see these handsome birds.

And if my stars are lined up just right, I might be lucky and capture a flash of marvelous yellow.

Or perhaps I can catch one signaling to others, letting them know that it is safe to land.

GOOD Mosquito?

Legs covered in blue and purple sparkles with a gilded body, much larger than mosquitoes that we usually notice, the Elephant Mosquito, Toxorhynchites rutilus, is one mosquito that we should encourage.

The largest mosquito in North America, from tip to tip (of its legs) this mosquito measures one inch, and the adult female has a wing span of half an inch. That large size, and a proboscis that resembles an elephant’s trunk, gives this mosquito its common name. That proboscis is used for the gathering nectar from flowers.

Here is the REALLY good part (1), the Elephant Mosquito does not hunt humans down to get a blood meal. They won’t bite us as they cruise the gardens looking for sources of nectar. They won’t bite as they roam the neighborhood hunting for plant sap, honeydew, or juices from rotting fruit, which they also eat.

And REALLY good part (2), the larvae of Elephant Mosquitoes eat other mosquito larvae!

Wow! Include this insect on my list of best friends!

Red-breasted Nuthatch and Chickadee Compared

This season two little Red-breasted Nuthatches, Sitta canadensis, have decided to spend some of their time close to my cabin. I’m delighted in part because this species doesn’t often show up here. The last time I saw one was the wonderful winter of 2009 – 2010. This is the one I saw back then, in the picture above, with the snow and pinecones.

Since then I have learned that many people have trouble telling the difference between this fun, tiny bird and the similar looking Chickadee.

In the photo above, at the birdbath that is close to my kitchen window, you’ll see one of the Red-breasted Nuthatches showing off his long pointed bill, his striking eye stripe, and his buff colored breast. About that buff colored breast, I wonder who comes up with the names of birds? Red-breasted?

In this picture of a Chickadee, compare his tiny round shape, a shape that I like to compare to a ping-pong ball, his very tiny bill, his black throat and lack of an eye stripe, with the photograph of the Red-breasted Nuthatch. Similar, but note those differences.

Now, in your next encounter with a tiny black and white Red-breasted Nuthatch, or Chickadee, if the encounter is not fleeting, perhaps you’ll be able to tell which you are seeing. The little one, above, trying to speed away with no identification is a Chickadee.

Tulip Poplar

Here in the central Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, the Tulip Poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera, is among the first of the trees to begin to change colors in autumn. The apple green leaves take turns, one by one, turning to bright yellow with brown spots. Giving the trees a dotted appearance. Not an impressive start, not a hillside of color – yet.

In early October the Tulip Poplar takes on a golden yellow glow.

A golden yellow to celebrate. A lovely color worthy of a tiny parade! But start that parade without fail.

That smashing color, the color we cherish autumn for, is quick to come and go.

And – POOF! The trees are bare.

And before we know it not only are nearly all the trees are bare, but snow will be falling.

Chicory

It has a color that pulls me in, bright medium blue, with a smidgeon of purple thrown in. It tugs at my heartstrings. Chicory, Cichorium intybus, is native to Europe but has become naturalized in many parts of North America, and is part of the roadside landscape here in central Virginia.

Chicory is a tough plant, sending its deep taproot into hard packed soil where other plants might have a difficult time. It blooms from June into October, producing just a few buds at a time on each plant. Each bud blooms for just one day.

The leaves are edible and are most tasty in early summer and in the autumn. The leaves in mid-summer tend to be bitter. The roots, roasted and ground, are used for an addition to coffee, or as a coffee substitute. Also, in beer brewing, the ground and roasted roots are occasionally added in the making of stouts and Belgian-style ales.

Its pollen and nectar entices insects, including bees, flies and butterflies. Chicory seeds, leaves and stems invite small mammals to come by for a meal or snack. And for those who love a bouquet of wildflowers, keep in mind that these flowers only last a day, and those stems are mighty rugged, requiring more than just a quick snap of the shoot.

Rather than taking some home, I will depend on my photographs and thoughts of that gorgeous purply-blue.