Tendrils

Category: Wasps

  • Gray-headed Coneflower

    Gray-headed Coneflower

    July, and the hillsides that are my gardens are brilliant with the happiest of yellow thanks to Gray-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata). Native to central and eastern North America. However in Virginia it is considered an escape from cultivation. A herbaceous perennial plant that can be as tall as four or five feet, and quite narrow.…

  • Yarrow

    Yarrow

    Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). The temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe and North America claim Yarrow as a native herbaceous perennial flowering plant. It’s blooming right now in this area, looking a bit like Queen Anne’s Lace because of the large clusters of flowers atop the plant’s stems. But those clusters of flowers…

  • Common Milkweed

    Common Milkweed

    Within just a few weeks this is what Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) will look like up here. It’s a great plant that benefits many insects.  Flies, beetles, ants, bees, wasps, and butterflies will all gather ’round to join in the dinner buffet.

  • Yellow Garden Spider

    Yellow Garden Spider

    Eye catching in its size and coloring, eye catching in its web design. Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia). A pretty large spider. The body of the female, the larger of the sexes, is about an inch in length, up to three times the size of males. Add those long legs and that is indeed a…

  • Orchard Orb-weaver Spider

    Orchard Orb-weaver Spider

    A jewel toned beauty in a spider. Tiny too. Orchard Orb-weaver Spider (Leucauge). Most males are smaller than females. The males are about an eighth of an inch long. The female about a quarter inch long. Tiny. I’ve happened upon these spiders on several visits to central Florida. I believe these are females because their…

  • Sassafras Trees Are Dioecious

    Sassafras Trees Are Dioecious

    Seems winter has given up. Spring has won the battle of the seasons and is stepping through the woods. Right now, mid-April, Sassafras Trees (Sassafras albidum) are in bloom throughout the woods of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. Creating a soft watercolor wash of pale yellow. Sassafras is a dioecious tree, meaning any…

  • Yellow-rumped Warblers

    Yellow-rumped Warblers

    An occasional visitor to my bird bath, in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. A Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata). Fondly called Butterbutts by birders. If you don’t have a bird bath, I sure recommend one equipped with a water warmer to keep the water from freezing during the coldest that winter can throw at you. These warblers…