Totally delighted to see a Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) caught in a spider’s web today. Yes, some spiders will eat SLFs. Yay! Eat’em up little spiders!
Though I wish there was some way to easily control these recently (2014) arrived insects from Asia, I have my doubts that potential predators – insects, such as Praying Mantises, Wheel Bugs, Yellow Jackets and Ants; Spiders; and birds such as Chickens and Cardinals will present a perfect solution.
But I’m hoping to be surprised.
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A bit less than a week ago the remains of Hurricane Debby came through bringing 5.88 inches of rain, special delivery, to my cabin. That lovely rain brought down three trees, domino style, across the lane, totally blocking us in. One of them a Persimmon tree (Diospyros virginiana)(a Persimmon tree, above). But a call to a neighbor that has a tree service and lickety-split — freedom!
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Youngsters, moms, and dads all together at the feeders. The height of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) season here on the mountain. Mighty hard to count them as they bounce around in mid-air but snapping a picture does help. I see 18 of them in this picture. I would not have guessed that many.
They sure slurp down a lot of that syrup.
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I was raised in Maryland. A state I love. And I love the state flower, designated as the state flower way back in 1918. Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). I purchased some to plant in my garden at the Greene County Farmers Market last year. This (above) was then.
This is now. A little ways to go but well on its way to making me quite proud to have some of Maryland’s state flower blooming in my yard.
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Usually growing as a single stalk, occasionally branching near the top. The stalk staying low, at perhaps 6 inches, or growing to 2 1/2 feet tall with alternate leaves.
The bitter plant is noxious and is avoided by mammalian herbivores and is even avoided by White-tailed Deer. Humans also need to avoid eating the plant.
The flowers bloom in a variety of soft colors, pale blue, pale violet, and pale pale almost white-purple, most having just a hint of yellow-green just inside the flower. Each flower is tiny, measuring just 1/4 inch to 1/3 inch long.
At the bottom of each flower there is a calyx having 5 long spreading spikes. As the flower begins to wilt the calyx will begin to swell. It becomes a seed capsule 1/3 inch in width. The seed capsule is divided into 2 cells which contain many very small seeds that are distributed by the wind.
Though really small, I enjoy having this plant volunteer in my gardens. After all what could be better than a plant that is avoided by White-tailed Deer.
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These creatures amaze me. Just 1/4 inch in length, and such BIG eyes! A species of Robber Fly (Holcocephala). There are about1,000 species of Robber Fly in North America the largest being about 2 inches long.
These two photos are Gnat Ogres (Holcocephala fusca) and this one is posing with a gnat it has captured.
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This is a caterpillar of the Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia), chomping away on a Violet (Viola) leaf, one of many host plants of this species. A few other examples of their host plants are Passion Vines, Pansies, Purslane, Flax, and Mayapple.
As an adult, the Variegated Fritillary can live over 10 months. That’s a mighty long life for a butterfly!
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“Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals.” Wikipedia
Occasionally there is water in a vernal pool next to the yoga studio where I take classes three days a week. It’s a special place. Well, yes indeed, the studio is a special place. That’s why I’m there three days a week, but I’m speaking now of the vernal pool. It has very seldom been there in its wet form for quite some time. I miss it. It presents all sorts of fascinating things to me when it is there providing moisture for plants and animals that need it.
This is one of those fascinating things. Something I didn’t know anything about until this evening as I sit here thumbing through various articles about it.
Today my dear yoga teacher, Kumud Vanderveer, happened to point out some Cattails growing in a ditch next to the road going past the studio. She asked me a couple things about them and I realized I knew nothing at all about them.
These pictures were taken in the vernal pool back when it was filled with water providing me with all sorts of picture opportunities. These are Broadleaf Cattail (Typha latifolia), a perennial herbaceous wetland plant native in expansive areas of Eurasia and North America, and in more limited areas of Africa and South America. It survives only in shallow water, up to two feet deep, and can tolerate some periods of drying out.
Now I know that the sausage or hotdog looking things on the stems (referred to as pods in one article I just read) are the plants’ flowers. There are two separate sections. The very tiny male flowers are on the upper portion of the stalk, in the photo above looking nearly black and gray. The very tiny female flowers are just below, the rust colored hotdog looking things. Once seeds begin to form the male flowers fade and drop into the water. These pictures are at the point where seeds have already started to form.
As the seeds mature and dry out the seed head bursts, spreading the seeds on the wind.
Tiny seeds. Oodles of seeds. Each seed head can contain 100,000 to 200,000 seeds. Every seed has hairs attached that help it drift with the wind.
And now Cattails are not quite the mystery plant that they were.
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