Trying To Be Patient

Sitting here twiddling my thumbs as my computer works with my external hard drive, which is filled with my many, many, many photographs. There are inconsistencies (groan) that it is dealing with. This will take hours to fix. In the meantime, here are a couple pictures that are a treasure to me. A baby Common Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina), that GrandCamper and I found two years ago.

Take a look at the post I made, back on June 21, 2021, about this little turtle and the adventure GrandCamper and I had turtle-wise that day. You can find it at brendaclem.com/baby-common-box-turtle/. Enjoy the reading, and the pictures, they’re very special to me!

To Each His Own

Butterflies on the road going up the mountain. The one on the left a Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis), the one on the right a Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele).

Both these butterflies love to hang out at mud puddles, rotting fruit, and in this case, on scat. All are a source of nutrients for the winged creatures. To each his own!

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Pennsylvania Leatherwing

Pennsylvania Leatherwing (Chauliognathus pensylvanicus). A member of the Soldier Beetle family, Cantharidae. Native to North America.

These Leatherwings are on Wild Ageratum (Eupatorium coelestinum), though I’ve read their favorite color is yellow, such as Goldenrod. I guess they are not that particular.

They are considered a great pollinator. And they love to eat aphids, as well as grasshopper eggs, caterpillars, mealybugs and many other garden pests.

I’m glad to have these beetles around, helping out with pollination and pest control.

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Persimmons In The Rain

As I sit typing out this post, it’s raining. A splendid rain. More than an inch of it so far. My trees, my gardens, my newly planted natives are all out there dancing.

I took a moment earlier this afternoon to get a couple pictures of Persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) soaking up that rain. These are native trees that grow aplenty throughout the woods up here. Their native range is the eastern and midwestern United States.

A small fruit compared to what you might find at the grocery store, those larger ones will be Asian Persimmons.

These trees have a handsome, blocky bark, that I love to see.

As the calendar pages get flipped to October and autumn, the Persimmons will be dropping to the ground, delighting butterflies that enjoy rotting fruit, such as Commas and Question Marks, and our bears that love to eat the fruit, seeds and all.

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Wild Petunia

Wild Petunia (Ruellia) is in bloom right now. It’s native to the eastern and central United States. It isn’t particular about the location where it grows. Moist, dry, sun, partial shade, most any soil type.

In bloom May to October. I’ve seen these flowers growing wild at the yoga studio where I can often be found. It is quite the pretty native flower.

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A Beautiful Mint

Hoary Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incanum) is in bloom in the mountains now and will continue blooming for about 6 weeks. The flowers attract many pollinators. It’s a perennial that will grow in colonies from shallow rhizomes. If it’s really in the perfect location, you might find it growing to 5 feet tall. Native to the eastern US, not including Maine, west to Michigan, Illinois and Mississippi.

The hoary look of the upper leaves is the result of a covering of whitish, short, dense hairs. That’s how the common name came about.

The flowers are white or pale lavender with purple spots, growing in dense clusters. The leaves have a lovely spearmint scent if you rub them between your fingers, and the stems are square like other mints. That spearmint scent is a mighty nice aroma to enjoy on a hot summer hike.

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Green Stink Bug Revisited

Green Stink Bug (Chinavia hilaris) can be found in most of eastern North America. Both adults and nymphs can cause injury to fruits, including stone fruits, vegetables, and field crops.

Nymph of Green Stink Bug (Chinavia hilaris).

There are two things that I am thankful for regarding this Stink Bug. First, though I have seen a few of these bugs here on my mountain, they have not been a problem in the vegetable garden at all. Second thing that I am thankful for, I don’t find them in my cabin. Say, “Stink Bug” and I immediately think Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. Ugh. Nothing like that.

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Clowns Of Summer

My summer entertainment. Many, many Ruby Throated Hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris). The clowns of summer. It would be extremely difficult to say how many Hummingbirds there are. They are too quick and fidgety. What you see here, an extremely brief moment in time, while they sit quietly. A blink of the eye and they are bouncing off each other again.

There are actually two of these feeders out there on the porch. Each one holds 1/2 gallon of syrup. And over the course of one day, one of these 1/2 gallon containers is emptied. Thirsty little critters.

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Pipevine Swallowtail Caterpillar

Spotted just outside my cabin today. The caterpillar of a Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor). The larval host of this Swallowtail are plants in the genus Aristolochia. The leaves of these plants contain aristolochic acid, which is toxic to some animals, which protects the Pipevine Swallowtail. 

This is the adult Pipevine Swallowtail. They are protected by the toxicity and distastefulness of aristolochic acid. Many predators know to avoid them.

Woolly Dutchman’s Pipe (Aristolochia tomentosa). It’s native to southeastern Canada and the eastern United States. This is a plant in the genus Aristolochia. One of those plants that is a larval host plants of the Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly. That is why I planted this vigorous vine, and I’m really pleased to see the caterpillars and the butterflies! Mission accomplished!

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Beautiful Magenta

New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis), native to the eastern United States. Just beginning to bloom in my woods now. Sometimes growing to 5 feet or a bit more. Those blooms, a gorgeous magenta.

Pollinators are various species of butterflies and bees. This pollinator is a Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon).

What a lovely color combination, the Ironweed flowers and the Skipper.

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