White Wood Aster

White Wood Aster (Eurybia divaricata), is an herbaceous perennial plant native to eastern North America. It’s encountered mainly in the Appalachian Mountains but can be found scattered in other places in the east.

Stems that are not perfectly straight, take on a reddish/purplish hue as the season wears on. Heart-shaped leaves with serrated edges. Plants can be densely covered with blooms late summer through autumn.

White Wood Aster flowers are composites, with about 10 snowy white (or sometimes a pale purple) ray florets arranged around brilliant yellow disc florets much like a daisy. Those bright yellow disc florets change color as they age turning a ruddy purple.

The flowers with a width of one inch are a favorite of bees and butterflies. Speaking of butterflies, that butterfly in the first picture? It’s an American Lady Butterfly. Birds and small mammals eat the seeds. If not eaten, the seeds are equipped with cream colored bristles and wisps of hair which allow the wind to take the seeds up and away.

Creeping Cucumber

Creeping Cucumber (Melothria pendula). Perfect for a dollhouse if you need a tiny watermelon of dollhouse scale. If only they would last. It is native to southeastern North America.

With flowers of yellow, just 1/4 inch across. Though it is native it will be treated as a weed here. A weed, after all is a plant that grows where you don’t want it. And that is what this plant has done. Moved itself into the vegetable garden unbidden.

Creeping Cucumber is indeed in the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae) and its leaves resemble cucumbers that you’re used to seeing in the vegetable garden. It tastes like those cucumbers that you grow in the garden too. But use caution. Only eat the light colored Creeping Cucumbers. The ones that look like tiny watermelons. As they mature they will darken to a purple-black. At this stage they are an incredibly powerful laxative.

Fowler’s Toad

Toads like the vegetable garden that is adjacent to the pond here at the frog farm. Not a real frog farm. Just a place where the welcome mat is put out. A place to enjoy the frogs. This one a Fowler’s Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri).

All toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. What?? Yes that’s right. Toads are simply a classification of frogs. There are many subtle differences like the length of their hind legs. Frogs have longer hind legs which allows for longer jumps. And something to keep in mind if you are one to want to pick up creatures that you find. Toads are poisonous. Frogs for the most part are not poisonous.

Both frogs and toads lay their eggs in water. Frog eggs are in a blob or mass while toad eggs are in chains. Looking totally different. Finding either on a spring hike is quite a thrill.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Migration

Still coming through from points further north. Each one I see I tell to say, “Hello!” to my Mom or my sister. It depends on its plan. Will it be going through Louisiana or through Florida? Some cross the Gulf of Mexico, others go around it, and go south through Texas. Mom and my sister have instructions to watch for the sticker with “Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia” on the little suitcase the hummingbird will be carrying. This one a male juvenile, which the dappled look of the throat indicates. It, most likely, will be spending the winter somewhere from Mexico to Costa Rica or Panama. Whew. Makes me tired just thinking of that trip.

And Now Autumn

Gone are the days of carefree summer.

Oh but the things to come. Color. The color of Virginia Creeper with it’s crimson leaves.

Brilliant color. All the leaves that had been cool greens now becoming warm colors. Rich colors become ubiquitous. Red Maples turning red or orange or yellow.

Another Red Maple. This one scarlet with yellow as an accent.

PawPaw becoming chartreuse.

Sassafras uncertain if it should turn yellow or orange. But either one, rich warm color.

American Chestnut, yellow and rust.

All these colors. An invitation to enjoy the colors while they’re here.

Marbled Orb Weaver

They seem to arrive every year at this time. Just when I’m thinking about the grand holiday. Halloween. It’s as if they know I want my porches decorated for the big day.

Dressed in an appropriate outfit for the season. Bright yellow and black coveralls complimented with long striped stockings of orange, black and white. Marbled Orb Weaver (Araneus marmoreus). This photo, above, the female. The photo, below, the male.

Seldom seen, male Marbled Orb Weavers are smaller than females. For the most part the males do not spin webs, but roam hunting for potential mates. 

As summer is waning the female lays her eggs, enclosing them in loose, fluffy sacs made from her silk. With a lifespan of approximately 6 months the spiderlings that emerge from their eggs in the spring will be on their own to fend for themselves. And the cycle continues.

And their webs. A creation a student of geometry or an artist would be proud to place their name upon.

How on Earth?

How in the world do they know how to create such beauty? Surely beauty is not their aim. But still, beauty to my eyes.

Woodland Sunflower

Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus). An herbaceous perennial that often grows to 5 – 7 feet tall. It’s native to eastern and central North America and can be found along rocky trails and dry open sites.

As this example, as it dances in the dappled sunlight shows, the leaves are opposite with a smooth to slightly toothed margin and hairy underside.

Butterflies, Silvery Checkerspot (pictured above), Gorgon Checkerspot, and Painted Lady use the Woodland Sunflower as their larval host plant.

An abundance of other insects are attracted to Woodland Sunflowers. Some even to the point of exclusivity. There are certain bees which visit Woodland Sunflowers that will go to only this species of flower, or flowers of the Helianthus, or Sunflower genus. They are said to be oligolectic. Their larvae must be fed the pollen or nectar of those particular flowers in order to develop properly.

Woodland Sunflowers spread by rhizomes forming colonies. In the autumn as the flowers fade those colonies become prime territory for game birds, song birds, and small mammals gathering to enjoy the seeds.

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Sugar Maple Trees

I spent a few days last week just north of Monterey, Highland County, Virginia. Pure heaven. This view is the backyard of the place where I stayed, and a grand old Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum). So many Sugar Maples there in the mountains.

Sugar Maples are native to eastern Canada and northeastern United States. And are plentiful in the upper elevations of my mountain.

Autumn is a great season to find them, glowing. In this image they’re accented by the dark undulating trunks of Sassafras trees.

Of the 132 species in the genus Acer, which are the Maples, the tree with one of the longest lifespans is the Sugar Maple which can live for 200 to 400 years.

Given the Sugar Maple’s long life it can grow to be quite large. One of the largest known is 124 feet tall and a diameter of 18 feet, though in normal forest conditions they can reach a height of 70 to 110 feet and a diameter at breast height (4.5 feet from the ground) of 2 to 3 feet. I’ve not found any here at this elevation and planted a few several years ago. I’m looking forward to seeing them get mighty tall with a nice diameter.

Yuccas Revisited

Years ago I took off on an adventure that I will never regret. I moved to New Mexico. During my time in that remarkable state I quickly got to know the Yucca, the state flower. There is also a species of Yucca that is the national flower of El Salvador, Yucca gigantea, commonly known as Izote.

In this photo, Yucca plants in New Mexico not surrounded by snow but by white sand dunes composed of gypsum crystals at White Sands National Park. A place that I’ve visited many many times.

There are about 30 species of Yucca in North America. Before going to New Mexico I had never noticed Yucca plants though there are at least a couple species that are native to Maryland and Virginia. What a surprise to learn that.

Now I’ve got two Yuccas that are native to Virginia in my yard. In this photo, Yucca gloriosa, which blooms regularly in the autumn and below, Yucca filamentosa. “Filamentosa” of that name is a no-brainer.

Both of these plants bring back treasured memories.