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A Queen
Roaming with my camera a couple days ago as the drizzle came down, I came upon an Eastern Yellow Jacket (Vespula maculifrons). This one though was larger than I’m used to seeing. Turns out it is a queen Yellow Jacket. The size difference? The worker Yellow Jacket is about 1/2 inch long and the queen…
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Dogwood
Another day of thick fog, drizzle and rain. Another day of wet leaves that brighten the colors of the leaves and color the beginning of autumn. There are well more than thirty — to nearly sixty — species of plants in the genus Cornus. Twelve of them are native to the United States and Canada.…
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Drizzle On Winged Sumac
Today more drizzle, fog, and rain. And the moisture only makes the color of the Winged Sumac (Rhus copallinum) *pop* even more. This deciduous shrub or tree is a fun to find. When its flowers are blooming, mid-summer, the whole tree buzzes loudly with all the bees that are collecting nectar and pollen. And now,…
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A Hungry Caterpillar
Looking to me like a Yorkshire Terrier dressed for Halloween, this is actually a Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar (Euchaetes egle), out and about in late summer and now, early autumn. These larvae principally choose Milkweed (Asclepias) or Dogbane (Apocynum) as their host plants. Not to be of concern though. These caterpillars generally go for older…
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Beware The Hitchhiker
Naked-flowered Tick Trefoil (Desmodium nudiflorum) native to eastern North America. It’s going to seed now, just waiting for you to hike past. Its flat seedpods, called loments or more casually, hitchhikers, are covered with short hooked hairs — think miniature velcro. They’re out there and when you come home covered with them it will take…
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Native But Aggressive
Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) a quick growing vine, native to eastern and central North America. It has palmately compound leaves usually with 5 leaflets. And can be confused with Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) so double check the number of leaflets that you’re seeing. Maybe what you see is not Poison Ivy, but just Virginia Creeper.…
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A Look Into Autumn
A picture taken here on the lane, last year (November 16, 2023) as the Sugar Maple leaves (Acer saccharum) were at their most brilliant. Much to look forward to. ________________________________ If you would like to receive my daily blog posts by email, sign up here!
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Heartleaf Aster
Heartleaf Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium), is easy to identify because of its heart shaped leaves. A herbaceous perennial native to central and eastern North America. There are about 150 species of Aster native to North America. The flowers of Heartleaf Aster are composed of petal-like ray flowers which are often blue-violet to lavender, or in this…