tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38557021034863872172024-03-16T13:48:57.725-04:00Biodiverse GardensMrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comBlogger992125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-23417253528673832512024-03-16T13:48:00.001-04:002024-03-16T13:48:12.502-04:00Easter Wildflowers<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTCwG4R2GsuTkqf26bwbZhSkduAq6aEvAoXXE2CKJ_7jWPV83hCSpctDUUCia9ZiBEjYLK3Z4CkJZniPqAI5TC42etqVoXmIOaFNlcRH5YhCBMeUzZJqPxKsaPZPbacZ5mnwCTWIJH4X29jSrqR9s-gKJlDmjn63S_iLr4YA-fjXooT-FQ2d98Z8BAPs/s4608/P3121997.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTCwG4R2GsuTkqf26bwbZhSkduAq6aEvAoXXE2CKJ_7jWPV83hCSpctDUUCia9ZiBEjYLK3Z4CkJZniPqAI5TC42etqVoXmIOaFNlcRH5YhCBMeUzZJqPxKsaPZPbacZ5mnwCTWIJH4X29jSrqR9s-gKJlDmjn63S_iLr4YA-fjXooT-FQ2d98Z8BAPs/w640-h480/P3121997.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Crocuses coming up in the yard. This is under our bird feeder where I initially planted a pack of ~25 of these all spread out in a ring many years ago. Today each one of those bulbs has divided into a clump just like this one. I count about 56 flowers here. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zF2tLW5dp1zoo64MGf6kFF8hNEK3y2uNGpr86C29HY9eJvbY8AV_2-HOBvHcbG2WLVPzRR0t7kKtkD0xpwHXxv2EDIuIXwkjBtQlS2hzvPSlAQMRnAP8vE2GjEQHNaewgJJ55MExU11mJcv6-AQARUW1U4BF_1IT2Jlwzw24PcdZD6_9bKm6Zc8vQeo/s4608/P3122000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2zF2tLW5dp1zoo64MGf6kFF8hNEK3y2uNGpr86C29HY9eJvbY8AV_2-HOBvHcbG2WLVPzRR0t7kKtkD0xpwHXxv2EDIuIXwkjBtQlS2hzvPSlAQMRnAP8vE2GjEQHNaewgJJ55MExU11mJcv6-AQARUW1U4BF_1IT2Jlwzw24PcdZD6_9bKm6Zc8vQeo/w640-h480/P3122000.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>This is an early source of pollen and nectar for our honeybees but we had such a warm winter that other options have peaked their interest. Still, it's good to have options to fall back on. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-yVUWrJyHFjXzJguVGKy7qLI7RERBYO8ZfMuALr3_cObRT_9Bo5qLBBZbT2Ugv4ZM1GZI61tpWNruNz3Wxhb1ugcyJRYpeRbVNWWMifVeRaAwiL396c3eD3Ul9_sDLi9Q01eJnuLr0SDzu2_p1lG_xKFkO7mo-Fh_YPDjQbA56jHWsWuCEZbK3fln8Jk/s4608/P3132022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4608" data-original-width="3456" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-yVUWrJyHFjXzJguVGKy7qLI7RERBYO8ZfMuALr3_cObRT_9Bo5qLBBZbT2Ugv4ZM1GZI61tpWNruNz3Wxhb1ugcyJRYpeRbVNWWMifVeRaAwiL396c3eD3Ul9_sDLi9Q01eJnuLr0SDzu2_p1lG_xKFkO7mo-Fh_YPDjQbA56jHWsWuCEZbK3fln8Jk/w480-h640/P3132022.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>A hyacinth from one of many Easter Plantings. I wish I could grow more of these but the squirrels and more recently rats that inhabit our yard think they're delicious so I rarely get them to come back each year. This one surprised me with how many flowers it has on it. Normally when last year's hyacinths come up again they don't have anywhere near as many flowers so this one is doing something right. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvHCN6hlLsS9KkvWWuQWaybtj9viudI27_GJUTiy266TL2yIbKooemINSu3sY3FrUDXjwdWkbk28kHAFe850lMxphH3RAc2ECgAtTJvfL3DGvEO64yD_Eg8uo8CnE9rp3D9SUsczZbqTni6CUKy-vESspHSfMOYoh4oX9iriAuLnYNv73waMTa1H169mg/s4608/P3152044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvHCN6hlLsS9KkvWWuQWaybtj9viudI27_GJUTiy266TL2yIbKooemINSu3sY3FrUDXjwdWkbk28kHAFe850lMxphH3RAc2ECgAtTJvfL3DGvEO64yD_Eg8uo8CnE9rp3D9SUsczZbqTni6CUKy-vESspHSfMOYoh4oX9iriAuLnYNv73waMTa1H169mg/w640-h480/P3152044.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>A "Pix Zee" Peach Tree which is a super dwarf patio tree that only gets ~6 feet at most. I grow this in a pot and move it around wherever I need a pop of pink in the spring. They are self pollinating but stone fruits don't do well in my yard thanks to squirrels picking them off the tree long long long before they're anywhere near ripe. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZO3MYwbUyVqUgwuVvvLUEcMV__1AWY4ljQuGYtPiI5Zi_Oz2_ytpeCPsR7akf8SPqgkzplBQ455xUuDzA6n0R1VvFlJObdKtWCjKB1jkpL9_NIF02Ocj2dOR2WhaGWVXeU6QGuxBogzQPR8GGmEqE3LnAaQm2CgwKzZQ2GrsqaC52mxdWWvceeuFWGQ/s4608/P3152063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpZO3MYwbUyVqUgwuVvvLUEcMV__1AWY4ljQuGYtPiI5Zi_Oz2_ytpeCPsR7akf8SPqgkzplBQ455xUuDzA6n0R1VvFlJObdKtWCjKB1jkpL9_NIF02Ocj2dOR2WhaGWVXeU6QGuxBogzQPR8GGmEqE3LnAaQm2CgwKzZQ2GrsqaC52mxdWWvceeuFWGQ/w640-h480/P3152063.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Daffodils in the front side garden. I like this mix of white, orange, and yellow but wish I'd mixed them up a bit more instead of planted them in rows. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYArcXsPJG8UEefZzWdWFT7LFlXkMTrLgfv-0E6310wNqFwrgfGBu98etE0Nlu7F9zfyX81hsJb1d_kdy8zp4HATEFzCMyvpUgVtoEQIsECHqvvJZOsc3NObu1aEYu9U4rp5sVD_PXIr6PellSvnwvK1k4BDruYLr2Cu5xmwMKvAxrH_Cv1dQE-B1YvhE/s4608/P3152066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYArcXsPJG8UEefZzWdWFT7LFlXkMTrLgfv-0E6310wNqFwrgfGBu98etE0Nlu7F9zfyX81hsJb1d_kdy8zp4HATEFzCMyvpUgVtoEQIsECHqvvJZOsc3NObu1aEYu9U4rp5sVD_PXIr6PellSvnwvK1k4BDruYLr2Cu5xmwMKvAxrH_Cv1dQE-B1YvhE/w640-h480/P3152066.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-54964781404477767392024-03-09T12:49:00.002-05:002024-03-09T12:49:40.604-05:00Queen Ant Physogastriming<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGJs3VLpteo4G-Q1BTTJWBDM7_4HyUv-RKbvzxmfS_KHE32KKGLzG4v6Jz7p5j9kl0OInh8Vk5LTa4E3sesKfmPo5fiV_kdyolKUA7icJXVAWi4KHCHna989QSY-fg7wwep-T0ZtiSYRaDR81lOJ_QTjXSshuw6FWzLVc8RCrqhDulUn_BrE4wejuEPwY/s3562/P3081978.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2742" data-original-width="3562" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGJs3VLpteo4G-Q1BTTJWBDM7_4HyUv-RKbvzxmfS_KHE32KKGLzG4v6Jz7p5j9kl0OInh8Vk5LTa4E3sesKfmPo5fiV_kdyolKUA7icJXVAWi4KHCHna989QSY-fg7wwep-T0ZtiSYRaDR81lOJ_QTjXSshuw6FWzLVc8RCrqhDulUn_BrE4wejuEPwY/w630-h484/P3081978.JPG" width="630" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p>The queen ant in my young <i>Camponotus chromaiodes</i> colony has started "Physogastriming." This is when the ovaries of a queen ant kick into high gear and start producing eggs at a much higher rate than typical in the year. Normally when queen ants do this it's done in phases to produce large batches of eggs. This helps the colony hit a sudden population burst early in the year for probably a whole lot of different reasons. It makes up for not laying over the winter, the added workers will make the colony more competitive with other colonies, they can steak out their territory better, and if they need to find a better location or additional satellite locations to extend the nest then they're better able to do that and populate them with defenders. <br /></p><p>Workers do something similar but not exactly. Even though they're
sterile, they can still have ovaries and in some species it's common for
workers to even lay eggs of their own. That is not the case here (I
don't think.) Usually these tropic eggs are offered as food to the queen
or her larva. In the rare case that they do develop they will only ever
become a male because they're not fertilized. In a different genus, <i>Formica</i>, it's common the majority of the males in the colony to have been born from the workers. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaB5Z339AsFQ1XPGeshuoIV7Y1sAK8LfYY3oWb2HndoFqKC-vNjdK23rWXRYN5_ocihA4nPcuv85PLbyNhacwG6MIjzS3GNqtLDVrOLd3btcNC2WAk-uBa8XkrPU-hEei16PCV71h7lAIJiNyx7II6DJj7mmAjhK5k8deiIyj4wMmu3OmNSdYHNlUkbiU/s4608/P3081982.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaB5Z339AsFQ1XPGeshuoIV7Y1sAK8LfYY3oWb2HndoFqKC-vNjdK23rWXRYN5_ocihA4nPcuv85PLbyNhacwG6MIjzS3GNqtLDVrOLd3btcNC2WAk-uBa8XkrPU-hEei16PCV71h7lAIJiNyx7II6DJj7mmAjhK5k8deiIyj4wMmu3OmNSdYHNlUkbiU/w637-h478/P3081982.JPG" width="637" /></a></div>More commonly though, workers will become repletes. The food is simply stored in a social stomach and as it expands we see a similar effect with the white membrane showing through. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiopXpl3Fw7rqU3eGf1sQ8y5FIXJNyQ1UopgRAQ6qDb5vKCXNW0uXIn0RZyxZubPsMxifsG5KGm2bt1L-JCEv9OPgqc66oFBPJRJO9JtuVSqB28Rukj7CMOaQESBS1BU6ATbtt0sL1UwdTOng0BljEXjfURjjxOBy2c3B2CebUnOQDV308sgTyFEjR91A/s4608/P3081976.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiopXpl3Fw7rqU3eGf1sQ8y5FIXJNyQ1UopgRAQ6qDb5vKCXNW0uXIn0RZyxZubPsMxifsG5KGm2bt1L-JCEv9OPgqc66oFBPJRJO9JtuVSqB28Rukj7CMOaQESBS1BU6ATbtt0sL1UwdTOng0BljEXjfURjjxOBy2c3B2CebUnOQDV308sgTyFEjR91A/w631-h474/P3081976.JPG" width="631" /></a></div><p></p>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-39999000588562381072024-03-04T19:21:00.002-05:002024-03-04T19:21:15.175-05:00The 2024 Philadelphia International Flower Show <p></p><p>This year's theme was United by Flowers, which is as good a theme as any I suppose. I liked this year's show because it was well balanced. In years past the designs were too heavy on bulbs, then they mixed it up a bit, and it was nothing but orchids for one year, then there was another year where it was lots of plants from Australia and tropical parts of the world. This year's show brought everything together really well. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-fNtQpJItJe9vH8l1HKsFEjrqnZJ_HTNNMlrCCZhAcRpE1T-wK-1It8B3g2mQYBPxZW4XbcjoTNNWfvpwJqJJrMx6siIK0jzkTlWD-mjfDeL9Z1MQOwmfGm5GoRH-mz2yD1UPDnqNtn675k1wHpVFP6IEQC9SoWjw7apPOxTCoxajQ4Q-dsGMnBkIN0/s1622/20240303_101943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="913" data-original-width="1622" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw-fNtQpJItJe9vH8l1HKsFEjrqnZJ_HTNNMlrCCZhAcRpE1T-wK-1It8B3g2mQYBPxZW4XbcjoTNNWfvpwJqJJrMx6siIK0jzkTlWD-mjfDeL9Z1MQOwmfGm5GoRH-mz2yD1UPDnqNtn675k1wHpVFP6IEQC9SoWjw7apPOxTCoxajQ4Q-dsGMnBkIN0/w633-h356/20240303_101943.jpg" width="633" /></a></div><p></p><p> We entered and there as that immediate fragrance of hyacinths that reminded us that spring is just around the corner. <br /></p><p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkVuD1jn5qy5OF3S6S8Q8fLf0OOweZANqj3_PpGpMaYe80QqgFKjdDW74ucjZ-p8RZ0BpYcmS_WTv-A3P7zPw_i2d5ijzIXm9wp03oJ9Ov3ljHXMTQkiISXeWmu-fYmViKuya6FL2reOoW4S00L6MEMq4pNVJo5SA3KY2KPq7bcuZBNQjPPlLPyQkXRxY/s1625/20240303_102019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1625" data-original-width="915" height="1071" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkVuD1jn5qy5OF3S6S8Q8fLf0OOweZANqj3_PpGpMaYe80QqgFKjdDW74ucjZ-p8RZ0BpYcmS_WTv-A3P7zPw_i2d5ijzIXm9wp03oJ9Ov3ljHXMTQkiISXeWmu-fYmViKuya6FL2reOoW4S00L6MEMq4pNVJo5SA3KY2KPq7bcuZBNQjPPlLPyQkXRxY/w604-h1071/20240303_102019.jpg" width="604" /></a></p><p>Lines of cherry trees, hanging balls of what I think are statice in assorted colors, with a garden planted with orange tulips and grasses, with these fancy bouquets of roses, delphiniums, and a dozen other things, and they're all mirrored in the reflection of the black pool of water. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdzrdJiHgitWUbN86d-jGFTaUIxKiTcNTc5w1T0dWDVhLXfOKy6sRVCZc2uUIJD1k9-1AGGzUtu5QNvWpiGH8abTJQ_xhb7z4pbILsCLIDqfdW4y2xN81XEhmN29Bz3WQPcD8ylN3Vhd4oRGxqo68Xjk1rJ91DNQ1ddXneB12G0GNQHXlImhTBPUvPq1Y/s1583/20240303_102056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="1583" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdzrdJiHgitWUbN86d-jGFTaUIxKiTcNTc5w1T0dWDVhLXfOKy6sRVCZc2uUIJD1k9-1AGGzUtu5QNvWpiGH8abTJQ_xhb7z4pbILsCLIDqfdW4y2xN81XEhmN29Bz3WQPcD8ylN3Vhd4oRGxqo68Xjk1rJ91DNQ1ddXneB12G0GNQHXlImhTBPUvPq1Y/w626-h352/20240303_102056.jpg" width="626" /></a></div><p></p><p> It's almost like watching fireworks at night. It's just this huge celebration of flowers. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVp0_hSExlpI0YubD1Ij3iaiSwYHwLSrKlus73DSt4kJN-m2VQf8O7vWMXbO9paXIGADlzD8OEYJrvL2pfsdUpYJ3MWBuh4r9tLy1cMp17QipopHHy4uDsey_Qi2ukVMlNWjTGYbFneCctPDCCmNlmhItqGF0pJvNi7NpAsXJVyXFG40hEHe-fd7CmfUA/s1674/20240303_102143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="942" data-original-width="1674" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVp0_hSExlpI0YubD1Ij3iaiSwYHwLSrKlus73DSt4kJN-m2VQf8O7vWMXbO9paXIGADlzD8OEYJrvL2pfsdUpYJ3MWBuh4r9tLy1cMp17QipopHHy4uDsey_Qi2ukVMlNWjTGYbFneCctPDCCmNlmhItqGF0pJvNi7NpAsXJVyXFG40hEHe-fd7CmfUA/w627-h353/20240303_102143.jpg" width="627" /></a></div>Moving onto another design we have a bamboo structure with lots of plants growing on. While some of these seem to just be cut flowers, lots of the orchids I believe were <span><span>epiphytes</span></span>. It's nice seeing a design where some of the elements would also work in nature. <p></p><p>Also the lighting in this part of the event is awful for taking pictures. Lots of the promotional material and behind the scenes videos show all the ceiling lights turned on. It would be nice to go to a show where they left all the lights on. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDd-D3mgtvMUyZ1o7QNno1dHwPTBPn31MTZgCB55rpyz8_Txb5gBMZ2bFHO1I_WobFk-6ykH9tjuEc0r0prNNTXbv_Cj_TqfzWRORuTUvjdic1RlAQmiPQdzpb5w-a5TYjKxwA-uoCejlldX4O7VvNTrlC5SNzQtXNFumsMjJ0yuqhDEJNSpaPLiMLts/s1669/20240303_102222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="940" data-original-width="1669" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrDd-D3mgtvMUyZ1o7QNno1dHwPTBPn31MTZgCB55rpyz8_Txb5gBMZ2bFHO1I_WobFk-6ykH9tjuEc0r0prNNTXbv_Cj_TqfzWRORuTUvjdic1RlAQmiPQdzpb5w-a5TYjKxwA-uoCejlldX4O7VvNTrlC5SNzQtXNFumsMjJ0yuqhDEJNSpaPLiMLts/w645-h363/20240303_102222.jpg" width="645" /></a></div>Gradually the show moves from high art, impractical pieces that are over flowing with flowers, and then onto landscapes, then more art set pieces, and gradually into just single plants in pots, then shops selling plants, then shops selling things that can be used on plants, then shops that are just selling items that can be used outside. <p></p><p>Pictured above I would put in art set pieces. We have hanging baskets with wreaths of flowers hanging from them. Very pretty in a flower show setting but probably not in many homes. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsNpyN10Gpig9modR8df3mdXfvQgbPOTPAhbhNaGaQIdQ9f-vJZEQwd8E5NfwtulW2hYH4zgA6ibmTMBCrt0nOPtMRxdE2ZmtLjdJFfzwfbeiGYzPqtlcKPaut6D-sMdrXKiNd7s4LcBEKGoUZ2UzZP3uZgtkXzQdOxryKqpO8_doW4aJ9Lx27sJszAqI/s1588/20240303_102253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="1588" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsNpyN10Gpig9modR8df3mdXfvQgbPOTPAhbhNaGaQIdQ9f-vJZEQwd8E5NfwtulW2hYH4zgA6ibmTMBCrt0nOPtMRxdE2ZmtLjdJFfzwfbeiGYzPqtlcKPaut6D-sMdrXKiNd7s4LcBEKGoUZ2UzZP3uZgtkXzQdOxryKqpO8_doW4aJ9Lx27sJszAqI/w634-h357/20240303_102253.jpg" width="634" /></a></div>I like the idea here but I'm not a fan of the color scheme. I think they were going with the USDA Growing Zones. There is a classic car hidden in there. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh26i4BlmycnI_seUz6wVQYiTaoZASRkczAtpKfAtnLMaR_UEk8sMoj3qlGFJOoDm_vgq3EAYLlVOBl5K9OwDlaggMCG8p0tbLekZCB0mf7TPvrOvKBfmQd2Ll2J_4FXHMWUHFxjTxYhl_OHtFEsJsCFnD_RGts6AwDgiYnZY3C4DVnuZpZlua8q7OgBpU/s1857/20240303_102726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1857" data-original-width="1046" height="1106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh26i4BlmycnI_seUz6wVQYiTaoZASRkczAtpKfAtnLMaR_UEk8sMoj3qlGFJOoDm_vgq3EAYLlVOBl5K9OwDlaggMCG8p0tbLekZCB0mf7TPvrOvKBfmQd2Ll2J_4FXHMWUHFxjTxYhl_OHtFEsJsCFnD_RGts6AwDgiYnZY3C4DVnuZpZlua8q7OgBpU/w623-h1106/20240303_102726.jpg" width="623" /></a></div>I regret I didn't get a nice enough shot of the full display this is from. But I loved the use of leaf litter in it. Despite all the plants used in these displays most of the shows just use patches of lawn, but the use of decorative leaves was refreshing to see. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQf1eZ6cQ_gI89iqkeyh-9OHQe8QgvU7yqvkewMW618iLmbarUJp76nCMuWiXbbqozhnB8UXAz6oDEIIM84t_iw5hm4KRbecBv4yW6Hf46DBofCF3Fry_ikbFFz0anDGrFixh1RKHlUMSsRynILxhQC9iGzwqWgSJxNbbkIbuW1E9esRBDbVye1yPqz6o/s1982/20240303_102618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1982" data-original-width="1116" height="1090" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQf1eZ6cQ_gI89iqkeyh-9OHQe8QgvU7yqvkewMW618iLmbarUJp76nCMuWiXbbqozhnB8UXAz6oDEIIM84t_iw5hm4KRbecBv4yW6Hf46DBofCF3Fry_ikbFFz0anDGrFixh1RKHlUMSsRynILxhQC9iGzwqWgSJxNbbkIbuW1E9esRBDbVye1yPqz6o/w615-h1090/20240303_102618.jpg" width="615" /></a></div>The line was going out the door seemingly just to see this. You'd think France put the Mona Lisa on tour for how long we waited just to get close. When we finally managed to get to her, I have to say it was just okay. The abundance of fabric on the chest and front seems almost like cheating and it was better when we were far away and only able to glimpse that fantastic hat. My photo doesn't do her any justice as she was a bit of a show stopper. But it was nicer when she was 10 feet away. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmVVqxH7Pz4ZvVKYC3iTxkAit6ftkVtMoxkHnCflSzL-LIlKjj85SgGN5e7SYPh4eW9Z1UxFHBBcNHK4pvP9kVvcZ1ZR9OkdAGZ0a9uCQFjfDCp3aO07jaoHoBzuRSt9L9V5kSxEfZQANvQY-1EHAsVXDK3arXIuH4Pwt4yrPJPt0tAj5Pkpf0fs8638/s1888/20240303_102341.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1063" data-original-width="1888" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmVVqxH7Pz4ZvVKYC3iTxkAit6ftkVtMoxkHnCflSzL-LIlKjj85SgGN5e7SYPh4eW9Z1UxFHBBcNHK4pvP9kVvcZ1ZR9OkdAGZ0a9uCQFjfDCp3aO07jaoHoBzuRSt9L9V5kSxEfZQANvQY-1EHAsVXDK3arXIuH4Pwt4yrPJPt0tAj5Pkpf0fs8638/w634-h356/20240303_102341.jpg" width="634" /></a></div>This was another great display. Lots of design going on as if inspired by a children's toy or 1980's game show. And to have made it with the price of wood being what it is. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3EBwPfCZtlR_lpVvDuGIyTVQxtg5HGz90hxVp8oTCdB1iQPRQ8bvw3rhqDl0gWMc7CqsQ5XKVAiFLIA_aFdiC_cXZXHr_0VI1Ij23-G_qfrdu6u6m5A_YlUqQXpo_kchQnf-NIvuyLw1kmpgEq8NXwSrBz652PDH6yC-DkHb1ImwPj_882r0RObIW8Q/s1945/20240303_102324.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1945" data-original-width="1095" height="1123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi3EBwPfCZtlR_lpVvDuGIyTVQxtg5HGz90hxVp8oTCdB1iQPRQ8bvw3rhqDl0gWMc7CqsQ5XKVAiFLIA_aFdiC_cXZXHr_0VI1Ij23-G_qfrdu6u6m5A_YlUqQXpo_kchQnf-NIvuyLw1kmpgEq8NXwSrBz652PDH6yC-DkHb1ImwPj_882r0RObIW8Q/w632-h1123/20240303_102324.jpg" width="632" /></a></div>It's like looking through a window into someone's room. <p></p><p><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTb-uJt93tcba9boiRABwX7HPo4wggfJ8Tio6yLusNEPpEGcUodCwZh1rNOI67vVbsPwvOmspI1-npp_ChRwhqyzpr55w8_a7d4yTfaeXVO_QQsZMBoJFJZqMajF7hbAzpcdZK_EOrEXFrYCteOdanvJ8rDJSaOnOReeh2EnuTzHi_PtBpvywLSMicAFI/s1728/20240303_103029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="973" data-original-width="1728" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTb-uJt93tcba9boiRABwX7HPo4wggfJ8Tio6yLusNEPpEGcUodCwZh1rNOI67vVbsPwvOmspI1-npp_ChRwhqyzpr55w8_a7d4yTfaeXVO_QQsZMBoJFJZqMajF7hbAzpcdZK_EOrEXFrYCteOdanvJ8rDJSaOnOReeh2EnuTzHi_PtBpvywLSMicAFI/w632-h356/20240303_103029.jpg" width="632" /></a></p><p>This display wasn't getting enough attention. Who wouldn't love getting their hair done up in a florist shop? People with allergies probably, but as a concept the two stores seem to marry perfectly together. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFbDuAqepJYVc3br6I38mpPBivqlkBqWfRhJhaCfcjCeIR1UBwMclSMa0op3_DnYTgfod1RkUKGk8lhvRu1K8q5MGfKHVaWrO9dGnh7-Z6Ib0FC5mJX2tegjWZ9maBUYR_ZiFIc9oCh4-slubjCWqQyP54urS8h6ss_XXAjSh5hpauBp3ZXpABAOfGBMM/s1701/20240303_102945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1701" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFbDuAqepJYVc3br6I38mpPBivqlkBqWfRhJhaCfcjCeIR1UBwMclSMa0op3_DnYTgfod1RkUKGk8lhvRu1K8q5MGfKHVaWrO9dGnh7-Z6Ib0FC5mJX2tegjWZ9maBUYR_ZiFIc9oCh4-slubjCWqQyP54urS8h6ss_XXAjSh5hpauBp3ZXpABAOfGBMM/w643-h362/20240303_102945.jpg" width="643" /></a></div>I "liked" this one I think but I'm not really sure what to make of it. I know it's supposed to be the potential of an abandoned lot but it's hard say look how great these broken cement columns look. It's like a landscape you'd see in a video game like Fallout. The only thing missing is an abandoned car covered in rust. <p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWEPb7AGKN5TwUCytzFONw7BYYqy8G0XmyoY1I5ZWd4VBTycrSUvj0xoW1yQ7CSecHDFw-z2v1TUDNBow97NYZ5kXvQOU1nRG5XBLhQGLpWGq0hupfAaMxpPQt2mdRuwHDbQaJVOD2zqW99VydqdvbwEYCjUypfHUQzIq8SErLwt-urZC2p8tgGhyphenhyphenc0tQ/s2058/20240303_102839.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2058" data-original-width="1158" height="1119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWEPb7AGKN5TwUCytzFONw7BYYqy8G0XmyoY1I5ZWd4VBTycrSUvj0xoW1yQ7CSecHDFw-z2v1TUDNBow97NYZ5kXvQOU1nRG5XBLhQGLpWGq0hupfAaMxpPQt2mdRuwHDbQaJVOD2zqW99VydqdvbwEYCjUypfHUQzIq8SErLwt-urZC2p8tgGhyphenhyphenc0tQ/w630-h1119/20240303_102839.jpg" width="630" /></a></div><br />This is a great example of beautiful flowers but the full exhibit isn't all that practical. <p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizU0Gptd9ZwkvisflhbVwMRwU2ebYEbC4idMglw3xUMdYKh9zssYnJitJEGS-joGW-UT1OCvADMieImHPQ6Py7mfDqEq4YT843AawjxSh-3WT0C_1A-F9FhaZgNLIcvhD85w-cFrjtWGDqmzPy49b_syqUl4E3npFFhC0qvxXKQluckdyH1eEZBpCXbpk/s1752/20240303_102810.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="1752" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizU0Gptd9ZwkvisflhbVwMRwU2ebYEbC4idMglw3xUMdYKh9zssYnJitJEGS-joGW-UT1OCvADMieImHPQ6Py7mfDqEq4YT843AawjxSh-3WT0C_1A-F9FhaZgNLIcvhD85w-cFrjtWGDqmzPy49b_syqUl4E3npFFhC0qvxXKQluckdyH1eEZBpCXbpk/w646-h364/20240303_102810.jpg" width="646" /></a></div><br />This looks amazing. Who wouldn't want to have Easter Dinner at that table. If only the table were a little bit wider so you could put the food on it. As pretty as the flowers are, you probably can't see the people sitting across from you very well. Very pretty but not very practical. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgspao49qGK_YJAElpXJgZlm1ntN8ADVJYqNJ0gy3L2kQBzaUuqV_7lH4tSTMffSlO8Cpx2lcsVTyRPaT2XXr5xvHDvZFgtqfeyUJw2skN0scfGmIB3tQLt2uD-JJGNgz1teD8HoaAuMBgeCjoCIwiMGkiNpv-D5XgMuWfEqv1NAuCBxo85jCcHVh384/s1722/20240303_103140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="970" data-original-width="1722" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgspao49qGK_YJAElpXJgZlm1ntN8ADVJYqNJ0gy3L2kQBzaUuqV_7lH4tSTMffSlO8Cpx2lcsVTyRPaT2XXr5xvHDvZFgtqfeyUJw2skN0scfGmIB3tQLt2uD-JJGNgz1teD8HoaAuMBgeCjoCIwiMGkiNpv-D5XgMuWfEqv1NAuCBxo85jCcHVh384/w655-h368/20240303_103140.jpg" width="655" /></a></div>This is another one that looks like an abandoned lot. I love that they used Staghorn Sumac as you don't see that a lot. The trouble though is that is a suckering species so this isn't a very practical landscape. Most of what is planted though is native so there's this idea of succession as the landscape ages. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFiEEfVPsLU9R2UHCZL3K29HYqqw-nT8HUYVwxBjaI8QKGrbo52fxTi0LpFnka6RI8coMG-Z_vyXVYILcCJWomOEqsmp0aBcKT2JpvnkhhFC4q5LodzKgf5mBnJyePEUQdQ7mPnyr2xjyJXdC6SHZxOp56tr3kv41v_QnNCRaLGekVXOCu6bsQ-nzqqQ/s2127/20240303_103150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2127" data-original-width="1197" height="1086" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFiEEfVPsLU9R2UHCZL3K29HYqqw-nT8HUYVwxBjaI8QKGrbo52fxTi0LpFnka6RI8coMG-Z_vyXVYILcCJWomOEqsmp0aBcKT2JpvnkhhFC4q5LodzKgf5mBnJyePEUQdQ7mPnyr2xjyJXdC6SHZxOp56tr3kv41v_QnNCRaLGekVXOCu6bsQ-nzqqQ/w611-h1086/20240303_103150.jpg" width="611" /></a></div><i>Echinacea pallida</i> isn't often used in these displays, especially since they flower in the summer time, so someone has a greenhouse of these. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6QhGNtSQ_CeSAs4IN0OdBfTvgE0YASO8tBE9tNx_x_JTwuQxCKTsUgtgu7kjY5Sc3Yxh7cp-Q7lACJs8HvMrG1Q4vIrzjNqQNXMgp1CJYQRIoZB3akXYh2kYiNDus_Nm_EtIcVm8zmyj2Ka0wMpziQau28htL7KdjbQ-uBwYC4_RKsZHKFIPjYkfo2o/s1737/20240303_103223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1737" data-original-width="978" height="1068" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6QhGNtSQ_CeSAs4IN0OdBfTvgE0YASO8tBE9tNx_x_JTwuQxCKTsUgtgu7kjY5Sc3Yxh7cp-Q7lACJs8HvMrG1Q4vIrzjNqQNXMgp1CJYQRIoZB3akXYh2kYiNDus_Nm_EtIcVm8zmyj2Ka0wMpziQau28htL7KdjbQ-uBwYC4_RKsZHKFIPjYkfo2o/w600-h1068/20240303_103223.jpg" width="600" /></a></div>I laughed when they thought to include decorative trash. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8kb5OJtveXbADBlCcz_Goc2AJ71A__rsUrGkeKHdh0tqaxF7-hMYeAeS3HvkKQFeaNPrLgemgCOwhsHcWROt6uCHNKzQf9FbY_EGdki8cns2BL7GfS40sd3NZM_unCQzSoRAw5FXrDESizD8uSIpMnq7xQxgRJdsy_bRbeqvN1J-qFn4NbYPdoOXVxq0/s1809/20240303_103339.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1019" data-original-width="1809" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8kb5OJtveXbADBlCcz_Goc2AJ71A__rsUrGkeKHdh0tqaxF7-hMYeAeS3HvkKQFeaNPrLgemgCOwhsHcWROt6uCHNKzQf9FbY_EGdki8cns2BL7GfS40sd3NZM_unCQzSoRAw5FXrDESizD8uSIpMnq7xQxgRJdsy_bRbeqvN1J-qFn4NbYPdoOXVxq0/w623-h351/20240303_103339.jpg" width="623" /></a></div>I thought these tulips looks pretty and made a note to track some down for next year. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vscc-Raun9Jon7NO3UpN4lXkxfYVlCaMA3e6ISa6DO04TBxOmTtxVhztoiuhO9tD8YWl5eILAdES5TJCU84mawvGkrH1QG0LjYblQlD94SY7lDlMRSga8DimERLNx9GQEv8TKSP-om2Adnxi9mBhxt9hw2UJiDtnhHdk9DF9pRdUIZOXbPucJYKR4e0/s1697/20240303_103401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="1697" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vscc-Raun9Jon7NO3UpN4lXkxfYVlCaMA3e6ISa6DO04TBxOmTtxVhztoiuhO9tD8YWl5eILAdES5TJCU84mawvGkrH1QG0LjYblQlD94SY7lDlMRSga8DimERLNx9GQEv8TKSP-om2Adnxi9mBhxt9hw2UJiDtnhHdk9DF9pRdUIZOXbPucJYKR4e0/w634-h357/20240303_103401.jpg" width="634" /></a></div>This is a more practical dinning room. The centerpieces are pretty and up high so they don't distract or block the view of guests seated at the table. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3YeFVin3IAA7ECTCU1VCnGBHOeTtKRHuQqam_R6WOGPogUwBCoQWlG5IyaQNlyb60Ani2NWOeauElRoRx-7qNSy2ykNRapn9QEVUTlUEvUYoCJOab8KUAp6lsMWxz6CVj35EVuv62V8qqzx0BPWzg0UGkGYI6aoJorT03v9ZU_m0-99avJ4Y2Zi5IQ8/s1687/20240303_103542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="1687" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx3YeFVin3IAA7ECTCU1VCnGBHOeTtKRHuQqam_R6WOGPogUwBCoQWlG5IyaQNlyb60Ani2NWOeauElRoRx-7qNSy2ykNRapn9QEVUTlUEvUYoCJOab8KUAp6lsMWxz6CVj35EVuv62V8qqzx0BPWzg0UGkGYI6aoJorT03v9ZU_m0-99avJ4Y2Zi5IQ8/w636-h358/20240303_103542.jpg" width="636" /></a></div>As much as I've complained about the use of bulbs in the past, this is what my front yard is going to look like in a few weeks. I've come to appreciate sweeping drifts of color especially when it's used sparingly. Seeing what 10 or 100 of something looks like side by side is always great to get an idea of what they will grow well with. Stem length and foliage color/texture and flower color are all factors to consider, and sometimes bulb mixes aren't mixed well enough. The line in our front garden was completely lacking the purple tulips that were supposed to be in the mix. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2flsZnFz-FFsD25YeQ83krWn9Pc2WERDsHJy5feCzb4j4mwTASQk_3lTH0CebaS2KuzolSyeI6-1SqBTcmWqtcEY9fWq35WkfGJtXJrlYFGZSXxkBnuMPlFOo8Xk5G0-l3_dgcLUljDVoslax6j8qYChJZBjx0FIsmyLgCqBCYTb2nNmaM-zKD3RHAS0/s1620/20240303_103557.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1620" data-original-width="912" height="1108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2flsZnFz-FFsD25YeQ83krWn9Pc2WERDsHJy5feCzb4j4mwTASQk_3lTH0CebaS2KuzolSyeI6-1SqBTcmWqtcEY9fWq35WkfGJtXJrlYFGZSXxkBnuMPlFOo8Xk5G0-l3_dgcLUljDVoslax6j8qYChJZBjx0FIsmyLgCqBCYTb2nNmaM-zKD3RHAS0/w624-h1108/20240303_103557.jpg" width="624" /></a></div>As an example of timing issues, mixed among the yellow Daffodil/Narcissus here were some sort of crocus which were only just pushing through the soil. So look for those if you see the show on this coming Friday or Saturday I guess. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnod4ULX7Ccs8sZn0hT-SM8c7MgnjicRRw5PK3ua-KME99QLumOlWf6czX9sfY4IlNYxNavgpDgz-LcCo57VUCP07l9rQ6RIM_3MxmfY4on4M1TxTETDZyHZPaDS4aoRU9AIXpV0BVGDPE3uxBuNWixmGy9rX45JthTlIFeuIuGWDZ23Fl9FKZCqyQmI/s1878/20240303_103638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1878" data-original-width="1057" height="1099" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnod4ULX7Ccs8sZn0hT-SM8c7MgnjicRRw5PK3ua-KME99QLumOlWf6czX9sfY4IlNYxNavgpDgz-LcCo57VUCP07l9rQ6RIM_3MxmfY4on4M1TxTETDZyHZPaDS4aoRU9AIXpV0BVGDPE3uxBuNWixmGy9rX45JthTlIFeuIuGWDZ23Fl9FKZCqyQmI/w618-h1099/20240303_103638.jpg" width="618" /></a></div>Orange. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RhRCOG8mKUVt2ux8oWUkFGf1pSmYt3Gif2V1TlddWul68oOqyLOjQcEUe7_P6XfncsX-H5-r9zErZxq6kqfuKOvY5L6oiVrX15ZgHNO6sKgzOKHUtBFBYiA_xVspA2kp6qcjGgHcpkjT596d5fwPhf4R6glZ54mjeSt54alqzldGj5elQCAWVpdfRrg/s1586/20240303_104709.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1586" data-original-width="893" height="1090" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RhRCOG8mKUVt2ux8oWUkFGf1pSmYt3Gif2V1TlddWul68oOqyLOjQcEUe7_P6XfncsX-H5-r9zErZxq6kqfuKOvY5L6oiVrX15ZgHNO6sKgzOKHUtBFBYiA_xVspA2kp6qcjGgHcpkjT596d5fwPhf4R6glZ54mjeSt54alqzldGj5elQCAWVpdfRrg/w614-h1090/20240303_104709.jpg" width="614" /></a></div>I love seeing almost full sized trees in these shows. Normally they're something flowering but this display used a full on Pine Tree. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJXGmL6bT4TIVcUWLtyBz67rzVpW7Rtt1-L04om_Z-jztqUvFs6ofW4kVWe6D5z5RVEnX3k_pognDZ9ojXjqOuJW-7GRgBAZjF4pez9Y9Xj816W_MgpND3dG3SkXWjk_31zWU1wSsfeS5jTNxO1ajg2bVcgt4caK4Ok9NsaDYYsybsnp-q_khEqrw5w7o/s1581/20240303_104817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="1581" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJXGmL6bT4TIVcUWLtyBz67rzVpW7Rtt1-L04om_Z-jztqUvFs6ofW4kVWe6D5z5RVEnX3k_pognDZ9ojXjqOuJW-7GRgBAZjF4pez9Y9Xj816W_MgpND3dG3SkXWjk_31zWU1wSsfeS5jTNxO1ajg2bVcgt4caK4Ok9NsaDYYsybsnp-q_khEqrw5w7o/w633-h356/20240303_104817.jpg" width="633" /></a></div>This is a nice practical garden. I've seen youtube videos of gardens that look like this in the spring.Good job. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1fAiJrqFHj0QWHOWsJIEQ62nh1x5JHM3mtYebv6COcU4VmLyvVGQLZbdPw8oCK0eQ5WE2fV0WlTjmGYf8zo68wEakAwlzCHVwBl7Y7FLS5SdV5JUZq_VlT0g0yzxNTVgDQL63ujXm4MyyGuqFG_UpVmEEY6faDLGj8uFK4b4DcqZmuOATPZzE6ocmxU/s1971/20240303_104845.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1109" data-original-width="1971" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1fAiJrqFHj0QWHOWsJIEQ62nh1x5JHM3mtYebv6COcU4VmLyvVGQLZbdPw8oCK0eQ5WE2fV0WlTjmGYf8zo68wEakAwlzCHVwBl7Y7FLS5SdV5JUZq_VlT0g0yzxNTVgDQL63ujXm4MyyGuqFG_UpVmEEY6faDLGj8uFK4b4DcqZmuOATPZzE6ocmxU/w636-h358/20240303_104845.jpg" width="636" /></a></div>The <i>Amsonia</i> wouldn't be flowering but it's a design and great to see them used. The Mt. Cuba Center just released the results of a 10 year trial on these so perfect timing as well. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtuDam8OzGWjfqfh0-KUpqk9DXs5NH5OlOkv_3hJ3wWRh-GMQwcaOVbpaSvHvk6s_uplPGO2MK-c-8jk5SEsEZ0HlrmXx4wa8rDZPaNeNsJ1MatR6SWxZ09K4WT7OnW2qeW8zTlvOMGMHjBh_LGCOowQkAlyX26HxZUbjpmmy3mMHnZFeHPVtQ4k7Rb4c/s1610/20240303_105031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1610" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtuDam8OzGWjfqfh0-KUpqk9DXs5NH5OlOkv_3hJ3wWRh-GMQwcaOVbpaSvHvk6s_uplPGO2MK-c-8jk5SEsEZ0HlrmXx4wa8rDZPaNeNsJ1MatR6SWxZ09K4WT7OnW2qeW8zTlvOMGMHjBh_LGCOowQkAlyX26HxZUbjpmmy3mMHnZFeHPVtQ4k7Rb4c/w640-h360/20240303_105031.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> Summitry, now if only I'd held the camera level. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghx2Cd8gTZ0XGmNaEThAOYwV9o9Mo1kTiZ6jvDI6biCrSa3Pjy_gsvj20YDrmyzp0eMlcM4qh47w7kkVzeIuGg2fqpPZlG0Ce9eDVnJYBNH8VAfANTrbPO-OPJy8d9-g4DOV33voI3rUd_lcCm-Hc1u7xMRoTn2u6dr8EFu0ivI0jEU23J8RhGAnwBb8c/s2152/20240303_105225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2152" data-original-width="1212" height="1121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghx2Cd8gTZ0XGmNaEThAOYwV9o9Mo1kTiZ6jvDI6biCrSa3Pjy_gsvj20YDrmyzp0eMlcM4qh47w7kkVzeIuGg2fqpPZlG0Ce9eDVnJYBNH8VAfANTrbPO-OPJy8d9-g4DOV33voI3rUd_lcCm-Hc1u7xMRoTn2u6dr8EFu0ivI0jEU23J8RhGAnwBb8c/w631-h1121/20240303_105225.jpg" width="631" /></a></div>Floral displays as Art didn't really catch my eye this year. One group seemed to use the same props from last year so I basically skipped them. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_tnLIfB_gDwLjBkP6Ip_f7hcKQnySY7zNLeyoe7C3_L-fBObWzTfmX3DatFALwyd9roxtsgd1RSlfQ1lrGnq47pB4pb31oeU3nHhXNt6dQmphnkb9K7czyvg5i38TouhY486vInJjkKO-O5TOdVeKKCE36twrP8HhCN-8XhZkPXVfqOTL8drpeYwdQuM/s1843/20240303_105347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1843" data-original-width="1037" height="1046" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_tnLIfB_gDwLjBkP6Ip_f7hcKQnySY7zNLeyoe7C3_L-fBObWzTfmX3DatFALwyd9roxtsgd1RSlfQ1lrGnq47pB4pb31oeU3nHhXNt6dQmphnkb9K7czyvg5i38TouhY486vInJjkKO-O5TOdVeKKCE36twrP8HhCN-8XhZkPXVfqOTL8drpeYwdQuM/w589-h1046/20240303_105347.jpg" width="589" /></a></div>Onto single plants, or pots containing one type of plant. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmcrIBj8fz4KrY_-3m4O4yDx6oZ3V-hO0kZYCmQ5bkieEoCynZWMWPetQxZaTHdEoIPVHlFOU8WQV7CBjZ9D3lbyTYLjxE8xl1hIizbcHc86TWuI8SNJ0Q1rozjgz6g1x-RKoyQcSd5RgJ_Bjfi0S4fm2cMSejrjVYLNJJxmNOQtuIqN6OZCxH9XKMU8/s1953/20240303_105403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="1953" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqmcrIBj8fz4KrY_-3m4O4yDx6oZ3V-hO0kZYCmQ5bkieEoCynZWMWPetQxZaTHdEoIPVHlFOU8WQV7CBjZ9D3lbyTYLjxE8xl1hIizbcHc86TWuI8SNJ0Q1rozjgz6g1x-RKoyQcSd5RgJ_Bjfi0S4fm2cMSejrjVYLNJJxmNOQtuIqN6OZCxH9XKMU8/w639-h359/20240303_105403.jpg" width="639" /></a></div><p></p><p>These can be just as enjoyable as those huge displays and landscapes overflowing with flowers. Often these are bread by people from seed who have bread them specifically to bring out different colors or textures that might not be available on the market yet. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpcdUFCafIjcxoVlJPCwoLMxh9JswK8WToHl9NqqU8_YZ9oXKTDeEOOVeO6yVtX8DodSZrOnBnvWoir7f9b_05s5j7jeoXxm7-OS2sq6rnqqWJi20Y5430kuLidrFUhLK-yMrL-DMA4P2Wex3D6Oe9R3lNevWJ9_Rw4Ap23K8g06JJr3wD-YVGa-yN4w/s1733/20240303_105454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1733" data-original-width="976" height="958" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpcdUFCafIjcxoVlJPCwoLMxh9JswK8WToHl9NqqU8_YZ9oXKTDeEOOVeO6yVtX8DodSZrOnBnvWoir7f9b_05s5j7jeoXxm7-OS2sq6rnqqWJi20Y5430kuLidrFUhLK-yMrL-DMA4P2Wex3D6Oe9R3lNevWJ9_Rw4Ap23K8g06JJr3wD-YVGa-yN4w/w539-h958/20240303_105454.jpg" width="539" /></a></div><br />Other times it's just a really well grown plant. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ZDqtKbs9vBLEgiVwZbu0AGhCpTs3X51Pu-6fvpXRRx80qwy3FwWimTHLsPWWbex5Nb-i_7wlkXEhikkyK2cTnzxjpscCu-6uIBzAkb7AnLSaOHH87wu1CvT9EDCD6MaTgctOOJnbIOEA-xdLJ18MtEOgDrUaB2RTscUd2MfIXfMYuoPQ2VPV54cxmmo/s2256/20240303_110308.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2256" data-original-width="1270" height="927" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ZDqtKbs9vBLEgiVwZbu0AGhCpTs3X51Pu-6fvpXRRx80qwy3FwWimTHLsPWWbex5Nb-i_7wlkXEhikkyK2cTnzxjpscCu-6uIBzAkb7AnLSaOHH87wu1CvT9EDCD6MaTgctOOJnbIOEA-xdLJ18MtEOgDrUaB2RTscUd2MfIXfMYuoPQ2VPV54cxmmo/w522-h927/20240303_110308.jpg" width="522" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p>In the case of the Orchids, it's often both. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicWg8b4p8vVGttc9hD6frO6JaPkO4P7xyy_tKxzpOg08gKu1SAOU_eOCchdOze8oDxGEZsAz9iiWgy8UFaHHbhBrDAcVjaBGjvi5bNnI9KT7w9_K-N5zi55HDcOz15XYLWsK7DXO7FSidL8Pjp4kSrCoF1CbehB-vLmtQ-v07-WRGuZuD1TsEqgEb5Lg/s2161/20240303_110317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2161" data-original-width="1216" height="1027" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiicWg8b4p8vVGttc9hD6frO6JaPkO4P7xyy_tKxzpOg08gKu1SAOU_eOCchdOze8oDxGEZsAz9iiWgy8UFaHHbhBrDAcVjaBGjvi5bNnI9KT7w9_K-N5zi55HDcOz15XYLWsK7DXO7FSidL8Pjp4kSrCoF1CbehB-vLmtQ-v07-WRGuZuD1TsEqgEb5Lg/w578-h1027/20240303_110317.jpg" width="578" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6UhZFX1HGlhUYbHa-qehlIwnB9Aj8ljRVVMWPnZ3nO3iV8j4pbfONVzAys-5zgntixOIUsrsIqaWImgesla9ayu4dPcAUKLq-WysbWg36Egb2gU2d0zflOgOXTrbmboDIrldryS8FCjDy_6zHehQr9cDUNiRTGSH85_7hMnuC7rP2f0xoa3vuoLarBM/s2018/20240303_110356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2018" data-original-width="1136" height="1013" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf6UhZFX1HGlhUYbHa-qehlIwnB9Aj8ljRVVMWPnZ3nO3iV8j4pbfONVzAys-5zgntixOIUsrsIqaWImgesla9ayu4dPcAUKLq-WysbWg36Egb2gU2d0zflOgOXTrbmboDIrldryS8FCjDy_6zHehQr9cDUNiRTGSH85_7hMnuC7rP2f0xoa3vuoLarBM/w571-h1013/20240303_110356.jpg" width="571" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjokLM9ekQXbY1i0b1V3etfLTNZNhYms3qMUpnxk4P4qdW5Zqcb8g9SXvAE8G6muGNJ5ASxwHjz6qNTOwOGP2600JgBhK2f-NF-bGejqyo2zwhGVpizOw5sL2kZbfxpREqeUISpUacK8j1pN9srPDTms-BnNZY4nEF_Da9ZsUoiCjUGXD_i5PF1cjJmm6E/s2216/20240303_110404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2216" data-original-width="1247" height="1005" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjokLM9ekQXbY1i0b1V3etfLTNZNhYms3qMUpnxk4P4qdW5Zqcb8g9SXvAE8G6muGNJ5ASxwHjz6qNTOwOGP2600JgBhK2f-NF-bGejqyo2zwhGVpizOw5sL2kZbfxpREqeUISpUacK8j1pN9srPDTms-BnNZY4nEF_Da9ZsUoiCjUGXD_i5PF1cjJmm6E/w566-h1005/20240303_110404.jpg" width="566" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpuIq7QsImo6UJrBcQ6FrHGxedZ7089ycu3cvkuUVzBbnfrUDbzqCDpxTBu0FotNgKBA4_ynFNYhmhGzQlAo7NWjIcPDw7cQCI5T5N4PEXekC3a8k06pPsPFbKnGhR1N9vzRczo-_107qt6aBQZ527UCynXQ-rrYfmzqRILF5_lHyKoDhANCT_Es5KDOA/s2292/20240303_110420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2292" data-original-width="1290" height="979" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpuIq7QsImo6UJrBcQ6FrHGxedZ7089ycu3cvkuUVzBbnfrUDbzqCDpxTBu0FotNgKBA4_ynFNYhmhGzQlAo7NWjIcPDw7cQCI5T5N4PEXekC3a8k06pPsPFbKnGhR1N9vzRczo-_107qt6aBQZ527UCynXQ-rrYfmzqRILF5_lHyKoDhANCT_Es5KDOA/w552-h979/20240303_110420.jpg" width="552" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nIahldiOrOigbn8FWpk0j1MGW0T7tiFwXiiXEgTwHrxNrCXiZix0sRATYWrxpvH4ttUxdQBcoI8lNQjavMsUQ83xvi15BR99WZ3TD-LaNAdWokxqHUanS5DUPZi5Y_OtlsdBTXcVsf2l1mu-knTFHU9bEUezzAIa8m1QbFfgVBqPrcTxqUMbRzieOGk/s1987/20240303_110510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1987" data-original-width="1118" height="980" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nIahldiOrOigbn8FWpk0j1MGW0T7tiFwXiiXEgTwHrxNrCXiZix0sRATYWrxpvH4ttUxdQBcoI8lNQjavMsUQ83xvi15BR99WZ3TD-LaNAdWokxqHUanS5DUPZi5Y_OtlsdBTXcVsf2l1mu-knTFHU9bEUezzAIa8m1QbFfgVBqPrcTxqUMbRzieOGk/w551-h980/20240303_110510.jpg" width="551" /></a></div><p></p><p>This unimpressive little plant is a Sundew. The leaves have hairs with little dots of glue on them. When they catch an insect the whole leaf will coil up and bring the dead insect to the middle. I like to think it was the reason I didn't see any flies around. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5Ukb-Zb25u3x5FavF_MJxrruJpBdsi3IjkpoKZYeR1SLOr7v7bkGfkGi0NZjjDBxZqQ-QYl8giryWqf3k6Pbww6hZCQoN_FhIRFdLtV5SQtBon0QD3MVhpupq41oJrtdVTTju-HRrAmORYtWKV11ScuiY7QntJ1sWQ1yI2LQARA_4Lt-IoPINeEs614/s1833/20240303_110935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1833" data-original-width="1032" height="989" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo5Ukb-Zb25u3x5FavF_MJxrruJpBdsi3IjkpoKZYeR1SLOr7v7bkGfkGi0NZjjDBxZqQ-QYl8giryWqf3k6Pbww6hZCQoN_FhIRFdLtV5SQtBon0QD3MVhpupq41oJrtdVTTju-HRrAmORYtWKV11ScuiY7QntJ1sWQ1yI2LQARA_4Lt-IoPINeEs614/w556-h989/20240303_110935.jpg" width="556" /></a></div><br />There was a bonsai tree section with some very impressive entries. One of them was over 100 years old. Sadly I was getting pretty tired by then so I didn't take too many pictures of them.<p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3Ey9B9YqxDtLGgQ_st9FTB7tb228byPDy2_gVLTgvz3uHMsU1lQPuGJ-wq-fbSREYuknfbakDA7MzJFlGgyicx3uzObnn5pq_E9guAveeiCJ1GavKVXlENn6qO6kMlA1zFhqdglqAA3xAxVenh1X16-Gxn5818-7NoWAoUkIfHcjzmALjfMoFvOUmaE/s2051/20240303_111132.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1155" data-original-width="2051" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3Ey9B9YqxDtLGgQ_st9FTB7tb228byPDy2_gVLTgvz3uHMsU1lQPuGJ-wq-fbSREYuknfbakDA7MzJFlGgyicx3uzObnn5pq_E9guAveeiCJ1GavKVXlENn6qO6kMlA1zFhqdglqAA3xAxVenh1X16-Gxn5818-7NoWAoUkIfHcjzmALjfMoFvOUmaE/w628-h353/20240303_111132.jpg" width="628" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw183PuKn1lDq7FoukOlmjautTUYyVf3d9PWU0zbaKXPuj0mEchm0LH0xn28l9xdsUqXq5TCTMlZrqbHNqRBnEwoUH4HsqZERdb5-7PyBUuUw4WsmoIIUuWQ-6IgvKCQOwodmHUf-lqsB_Vtasxfl-MKA5S0h_lx97-srPdvjc_B4XBc8jO9NAWi2oy98/s1811/20240303_111041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1020" data-original-width="1811" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw183PuKn1lDq7FoukOlmjautTUYyVf3d9PWU0zbaKXPuj0mEchm0LH0xn28l9xdsUqXq5TCTMlZrqbHNqRBnEwoUH4HsqZERdb5-7PyBUuUw4WsmoIIUuWQ-6IgvKCQOwodmHUf-lqsB_Vtasxfl-MKA5S0h_lx97-srPdvjc_B4XBc8jO9NAWi2oy98/w638-h359/20240303_111041.jpg" width="638" /></a></div><p></p><p>Even commonplace plants such as these African Violets had a spot to shine at the show. I say commonplace because they're in every garden center at Home Depot and Lowes. <br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglg_gDuua_vd9zrmKlNDR5bsFP7dSviI_n06lKfk3RKJJWa4tvtZDrp-bzUWrhsAOsNIr8hN-pTPOToNlOp4X3lezKM_UFs1fhVc8wM5X5D6c-mUUMSXpE4SlnWTmUQyedEc-4Exnwvb58nK2ltxLyL0tQTErOmTxqF7r924Yit9JJS6F7go1pnPNoqbU/s1725/20240303_111207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="1725" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglg_gDuua_vd9zrmKlNDR5bsFP7dSviI_n06lKfk3RKJJWa4tvtZDrp-bzUWrhsAOsNIr8hN-pTPOToNlOp4X3lezKM_UFs1fhVc8wM5X5D6c-mUUMSXpE4SlnWTmUQyedEc-4Exnwvb58nK2ltxLyL0tQTErOmTxqF7r924Yit9JJS6F7go1pnPNoqbU/w643-h362/20240303_111207.jpg" width="643" /></a></div><p></p><p>The sign reads "This ATCO Lawn Mower from England is one of the first riding lawn mowers ever produced. It hales from 1910 and still works!" I kind of wish they had demonstrated it cutting but also understand it's a gas powered engine and would slowly fill the convention center with carbon monoxide. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKWbEjuD5tNTmz__cLqN1xBEBvzYu7YiiupvIUGiP7b3CRa7_tUZyO2E1KTCprnd2VcKJhWG8pyUnMfbOzT-KLvyS_QuS-iNrqT9bohA6tfmCo3dc9nQBFT4RcHRc8EV8nZNGXIrBJo-OzH9l_DyDmxswz4PlhdV43GUsJun1rU4M9DVGo5amU2cntpP0/s1925/20240303_111515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="1925" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKWbEjuD5tNTmz__cLqN1xBEBvzYu7YiiupvIUGiP7b3CRa7_tUZyO2E1KTCprnd2VcKJhWG8pyUnMfbOzT-KLvyS_QuS-iNrqT9bohA6tfmCo3dc9nQBFT4RcHRc8EV8nZNGXIrBJo-OzH9l_DyDmxswz4PlhdV43GUsJun1rU4M9DVGo5amU2cntpP0/w641-h361/20240303_111515.jpg" width="641" /></a></div><p></p><p>This wasn't so much a landscape as it was a stall selling fine prick work and pavers. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXhG0V4O194ul4jLVjKRw9rwMzuyNpP6H2gENEUIT2ncoDZWY3TXHXK45IIeRWnDJfReYuu3MiK15g0361GB3Mtd_pE2VvHy7tKQLQ_hBEW29-e6qX0WWY2o82Qwy8TmCMwG_33y4wLeF0xoB_YgreqYzveZEcq5GsBphCqE15jitBDwhbUqSJvbp8gM/s2172/20240303_111806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2172" data-original-width="1223" height="1044" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcXhG0V4O194ul4jLVjKRw9rwMzuyNpP6H2gENEUIT2ncoDZWY3TXHXK45IIeRWnDJfReYuu3MiK15g0361GB3Mtd_pE2VvHy7tKQLQ_hBEW29-e6qX0WWY2o82Qwy8TmCMwG_33y4wLeF0xoB_YgreqYzveZEcq5GsBphCqE15jitBDwhbUqSJvbp8gM/w587-h1044/20240303_111806.jpg" width="587" /></a></div>These stalls have everything you could possibly want... or not. There was another stall selling kites, another one selling things made of wood, a leather shop... their connection to the flower show was tenuous at best. <br /><p>I did find a few shops selling plants, seeds, and things you would actually use in a garden so that's nice. It was a great show and I look forward to going to next years. <br /></p>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-16699578359414408072024-02-28T20:05:00.004-05:002024-02-28T20:05:51.345-05:00Fire Ants Invade Italy<p>This is old news at this point but The Red Imported Fire Ant, <i>Solenopsis invicta</i> has invaded Italy. Being on a few Ant Discords and Facebook Groups word on the street is a kid thought it would be great to send a colony to his friend in Italy. But his friend had no effing clue what to do with them and just dumped them in their yard. Oh unintentional Echo Terrorism, the CIA would be proud. </p><p>Thanks to iNatrualist we can monitor <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?verifiable=true&taxon_id=67598">their spread</a>. Or at least monitor where people who use this app/website to ID and report ants in that area. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-lgOYSjqDU9Da7z055i6queuznYhBXbDzPo0w1afBcTTcUUViGhkCSShS1qOrMqSn4LFMt-M9aP1IvdskhMVKkwQP-c8jT0HkIarWLAAtW-JAHa3eINYrqB2Pe28TKRb-LJlH22ZN77qO8gVW4nI60Z4j-wutCjBW1En_IDYVLT05Z_HPGRf0VPVt0o/s786/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%2019-46-57%20Observations.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="786" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-lgOYSjqDU9Da7z055i6queuznYhBXbDzPo0w1afBcTTcUUViGhkCSShS1qOrMqSn4LFMt-M9aP1IvdskhMVKkwQP-c8jT0HkIarWLAAtW-JAHa3eINYrqB2Pe28TKRb-LJlH22ZN77qO8gVW4nI60Z4j-wutCjBW1En_IDYVLT05Z_HPGRf0VPVt0o/w596-h418/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%2019-46-57%20Observations.png" width="596" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Something that jumps out at me is this gap in the dots. When Fire Ants first invaded the US they spread at a rate of 5 miles per year. Assuming that holds true in Italy there should be a dot somewhere in this area I've drawn a circle around. Either that or they've already established a colony in nursery plant or farming media and been shipped around which might help explain this sort of coastal distribution. <br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3FHC9TFJJL7mRMqYB_t9pZ7FevY6J30a5GFR77zIBRG8Y9JutgAleVQJanT7e9vX8R2BfdSSJCg1K4wE04yxdaL6boj2XwI5VWEpICFr0GfDJPfDhKD7w9TqCJjyxBZ65nLbzJyEwWlS1cANWis6DKwAbX1xdGZBObJqMJZb0zuxd_Iiqs-4v-4Jcds/s671/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%2019-48-36%20Observations.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="671" height="491" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3FHC9TFJJL7mRMqYB_t9pZ7FevY6J30a5GFR77zIBRG8Y9JutgAleVQJanT7e9vX8R2BfdSSJCg1K4wE04yxdaL6boj2XwI5VWEpICFr0GfDJPfDhKD7w9TqCJjyxBZ65nLbzJyEwWlS1cANWis6DKwAbX1xdGZBObJqMJZb0zuxd_Iiqs-4v-4Jcds/w601-h491/Screenshot%202024-02-28%20at%2019-48-36%20Observations.png" width="601" /></a></div>There are likely dozens of colonies around each of these dots that haven't been reported. <p></p><p>Anyway we'll check back in with this invasion from time to time. <br /> <br /></p>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-70435894158489844812024-02-27T20:01:00.001-05:002024-02-27T20:01:21.282-05:00Last Year's Pipevine Swallowtails!!!<p> So, I have been growing Woolly Pipevine for at least 14 years. I went with <i>Aristolochia macrophylla </i>over <i>A. tomentosa</i> because it's less aggressive.... or at least, it's easier to control. <i>A. tomentosa</i> sends up new stems from everywhere its roots spread out, so just one plant can take over a whole garden bed with new stems poking up and climbing all over the plants that grow there. <i>A. macrophylla</i> doesn't do this. It's just the one main trunk and lots of stems that come off of that and climb all over whatever. Put another way, the roots stay where you planted them. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX_Eu7fW6GeFzjzHgfUREiPdYoRRar4tWC_XQ2Yr7XmjgXe88DbQ1mHue17EcXCgNbDeMOWBoWxiGOcgbG4JQGPF207iJ0c1RJ4u9Ds0Nnwndx0NzNzMh9OEQxWgUULLpi4zYcwiBl-J9IL7wLYbk7NudPOgVSgcZ8tNJ-U3n8KTdn0IdsblurpxgKAf8/s2794/Pipevine%20flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2371" data-original-width="2794" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX_Eu7fW6GeFzjzHgfUREiPdYoRRar4tWC_XQ2Yr7XmjgXe88DbQ1mHue17EcXCgNbDeMOWBoWxiGOcgbG4JQGPF207iJ0c1RJ4u9Ds0Nnwndx0NzNzMh9OEQxWgUULLpi4zYcwiBl-J9IL7wLYbk7NudPOgVSgcZ8tNJ-U3n8KTdn0IdsblurpxgKAf8/w499-h424/Pipevine%20flower.jpg" width="499" /></a></div>I initially planted this as a host plant for the Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly. But this isn't a species very common to my area. They are found in New Jersey and have been sighted in my county, but there aren't any large populations nearby. The reason for this is there aren't many host plants around. Black Swallowtail are abundant because they're a generalist on the carrot family, so every field that's been invaded by Queen Anna's Lace, or home gardener growing Parsley, Carrots, Fennel, Dill and so on are helping this species thrive. Tiger Swallowtails are even more common thanks to Tulip Trees, Black Cherry, and what remains of the Ash population being staples in the patchwork of our local forest lands. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSQFk0TeMJ1H4InkJW8b4Z8I2GsiE7DCT4JFh-KOC1M4UCSKg6riAxaQTh1JZ6qC9PCQLquIq1lh9CXSf2OpPhZ6K2PEh-O4H6QX2TUzABzAC76mxO8s-Z2oeSbBa1sOQA1ZkUwFzL8dUr5LnirA3TMbSjlju8TRyIGRFWN6uFmq0TmTxtQfAwRhmuv0/s6000/Robin's%20nest%20Pipevine.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="333" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSQFk0TeMJ1H4InkJW8b4Z8I2GsiE7DCT4JFh-KOC1M4UCSKg6riAxaQTh1JZ6qC9PCQLquIq1lh9CXSf2OpPhZ6K2PEh-O4H6QX2TUzABzAC76mxO8s-Z2oeSbBa1sOQA1ZkUwFzL8dUr5LnirA3TMbSjlju8TRyIGRFWN6uFmq0TmTxtQfAwRhmuv0/w501-h333/Robin's%20nest%20Pipevine.JPG" width="501" /></a></div>The nearest sighting of the Pipevine Swallowtail to me is about a 30 minute drive from my house. So for 14 years the vine pretty much went unused aside for the occasional Robin's nest, and Ant which used it to get from our shed to the Redbud it's latched onto. <p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTAgkgypi0_eZkGBEzwj8UWgupS-MDAcyjJ2GR2TKh0Ya-AhSMOF4StdgVQ4l09Jid4rbjO5bJeS-sp1o-8o4YF1POh8CKzc2uDatO5JSsoLLLPLhOYhi1PE_lifXpvpZZRFXqfCxHawQweXeRRujUaRv2I_0q4pH88bceWUuSCS2NYiNXDrFvTimIyFQ/s4608/Pipevine%20on%20Shed.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTAgkgypi0_eZkGBEzwj8UWgupS-MDAcyjJ2GR2TKh0Ya-AhSMOF4StdgVQ4l09Jid4rbjO5bJeS-sp1o-8o4YF1POh8CKzc2uDatO5JSsoLLLPLhOYhi1PE_lifXpvpZZRFXqfCxHawQweXeRRujUaRv2I_0q4pH88bceWUuSCS2NYiNXDrFvTimIyFQ/w581-h436/Pipevine%20on%20Shed.JPG" width="581" /></a></p><p>Ohh yes, the shed. The vine is slowly consuming it on both sides, though hasn't quite taken over the roof yet. The shingles still get too hot for its stems to lay but each year I see it adding another layer as the leaves it makes up there grow larger and larger and shade out enough for new stems to safely sit without getting baked off. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMVd0H-hz0zNH3owwGjxG-g2uE9zEroTSvoTXM0GOVNmQQh5kBsoPu395RLSUddxNV9jt2B6LpE8o2oB-fiIjB1URnvTkc_JhjfR-oyr5EcE0HIylFrFt_BpabfgvcFrMnCFjMJy30gtvMIuR2CelQ7HLZLJsjp12mEqP6O45n3iUgj7DbMlwsczJUM1A/s4608/Pipevine%20Swallowtail%20eggs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="435" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMVd0H-hz0zNH3owwGjxG-g2uE9zEroTSvoTXM0GOVNmQQh5kBsoPu395RLSUddxNV9jt2B6LpE8o2oB-fiIjB1URnvTkc_JhjfR-oyr5EcE0HIylFrFt_BpabfgvcFrMnCFjMJy30gtvMIuR2CelQ7HLZLJsjp12mEqP6O45n3iUgj7DbMlwsczJUM1A/w581-h435/Pipevine%20Swallowtail%20eggs.JPG" width="581" /></a></div>I'd been thinking about pruning it back but then one day last July I went out there and noticed these clusters of little orange eggs. "OH MY <strike>FUCKING</strike> GOD!!!" I shouted. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_qKQ0NHgeXTJmAIBNyQOn1RHlBBboES0bOs5qJ6NXvmSkJU9p69AjXa8UhfvUaiX34oBKSzeCvSUksU9zTooMRM_1SptsXtoeszA-Ec6Wx9v5-ijmhuDgeqRJIWe-Ud6rWtE6zG9olqkc19El4fYV6389o0tII0gGlXmm8DjH5AjfxUPcEtHw4AhbJKE/s4608/P7070367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_qKQ0NHgeXTJmAIBNyQOn1RHlBBboES0bOs5qJ6NXvmSkJU9p69AjXa8UhfvUaiX34oBKSzeCvSUksU9zTooMRM_1SptsXtoeszA-Ec6Wx9v5-ijmhuDgeqRJIWe-Ud6rWtE6zG9olqkc19El4fYV6389o0tII0gGlXmm8DjH5AjfxUPcEtHw4AhbJKE/w569-h426/P7070367.JPG" width="569" /></a></div>A female Pipevine Swallowtail had found our vine and graced it with four clusters of eggs. Sadly one of them was on a vine that stuck out into the path and I was going to prune off. Raising butterflies in captivity is normally frowned upon but I decided to make an exception here, and this would let me better document their life cycle. And for the record, the majority of the egg clusters I left outside. It was just a cluster of 9 eggs that I brought in and raised in a butterfly cage. Also a few days later I discovered additional egg clusters that seem to have been laid after the first four clusters, so I guess she came back or a second female flew by. <br /><p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglTf8I3bXaY5C_8SKmtYnouS3in1n41c1FqlaX3ontzrXIfzmvdgTj8TEae_itKXrKM_g59VhF0aPahS-JBF_MUwH6F-xLuY5rhi-CSKhox5LkBZV24tEAhwUqEvsYG-ooKKfAVczPVxdek6gm40-pR121SxDuEfwo5Ld1y_e3ydwCGhP1BXrPB3n8xwg/s4608/P7090579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="465" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglTf8I3bXaY5C_8SKmtYnouS3in1n41c1FqlaX3ontzrXIfzmvdgTj8TEae_itKXrKM_g59VhF0aPahS-JBF_MUwH6F-xLuY5rhi-CSKhox5LkBZV24tEAhwUqEvsYG-ooKKfAVczPVxdek6gm40-pR121SxDuEfwo5Ld1y_e3ydwCGhP1BXrPB3n8xwg/w619-h465/P7090579.JPG" width="619" /></a><br /></p><p>Outside I noticed all of the egg clusters were laid on the newest growth. This is likely because the toxin in the leaves will be at the lowest here and the caterpillars will be better able to handle it.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyy9cymABC9KR4IWhXJaDFrvehBSpis4pwq7Fb3QWFXet9PFbyhQEriH_3FK8FBJbffKSWn3_tIs9aEjjDeo9b5K0zA3XCYfVJefp4XHbWj_DK9hXXl0pS5V_v5XoXzrtXvkyK6zrH98u9mVPNjOX4ozG-np4yAoI7sf8Qx4AgJgMLhySTCMXglC1MW0/s4608/P7130613.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyy9cymABC9KR4IWhXJaDFrvehBSpis4pwq7Fb3QWFXet9PFbyhQEriH_3FK8FBJbffKSWn3_tIs9aEjjDeo9b5K0zA3XCYfVJefp4XHbWj_DK9hXXl0pS5V_v5XoXzrtXvkyK6zrH98u9mVPNjOX4ozG-np4yAoI7sf8Qx4AgJgMLhySTCMXglC1MW0/w617-h462/P7130613.JPG" width="617" /></a></div> <p></p><p>After a few days, they entered the "Forbidden Gummy Worm" phase of development. Seriously though don't eat these. The toxin pipevine plants make, and caterpillars eventually store in their bodies, is an actual carcinogen. This is likely why the plant fell out of favor among gardeners. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_xDZ5RbUMzPXxBIRJv5Yg4l2b0vpmgstD-XpEi25NmIXLF7-BmK2HDJvJu6cJCZu7CjoaQeRCz5p6xW5pZbnb8JRTsbKWivbUTkL3YSGwPl0P2_J0q2og1cT1bK49iK2HBooOyalDP0chZx2gLwHYoza62yF-iVvuDCyRIzp92P0XIwbdNGBBmwXhw3c/s4608/P7170735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="467" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_xDZ5RbUMzPXxBIRJv5Yg4l2b0vpmgstD-XpEi25NmIXLF7-BmK2HDJvJu6cJCZu7CjoaQeRCz5p6xW5pZbnb8JRTsbKWivbUTkL3YSGwPl0P2_J0q2og1cT1bK49iK2HBooOyalDP0chZx2gLwHYoza62yF-iVvuDCyRIzp92P0XIwbdNGBBmwXhw3c/w624-h467/P7170735.JPG" width="624" /></a></div>I was making a mistake with raising the ones indoors. You're not supposed to bring them inside it seems as this throws off their natural rhythm. Should I do this in the future I'll be sure to keep the butterfly cage outside. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgudEbg0NvErlIi2wJFubpCMdr9AA_FaHLQQFZuYOiQ8_-Mxf3Dq7CIii49Q-rD5M-pyXzaJMkTUaSpamE1WF8WBI6iXXqfLIXgUVAi9hohMTM97_J_jbwQDybf5RfT04SQm9IkyP7ncH_RWeQAxdc93unNDPogPA6FqepD4X_t7IkCWUcjVObg7h-EIRE/s4608/P7190810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgudEbg0NvErlIi2wJFubpCMdr9AA_FaHLQQFZuYOiQ8_-Mxf3Dq7CIii49Q-rD5M-pyXzaJMkTUaSpamE1WF8WBI6iXXqfLIXgUVAi9hohMTM97_J_jbwQDybf5RfT04SQm9IkyP7ncH_RWeQAxdc93unNDPogPA6FqepD4X_t7IkCWUcjVObg7h-EIRE/w638-h478/P7190810.JPG" width="638" /></a></div>It was neat having them inside though. Their constant chewing is loud and with nine of them going at it there was an ambient Yule Log effect going on. I wish I had recorded it. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOBEi8u_kVQid0tEUomQrFO2cv_2J-xYGqLUMrrRuCTCehedSsdcBqiLbSosos5HvEOefqEKX42OGDxhKbo8AbFrMwUY8T4ESvSiilBgiQMIw02KPfByxERGw6bo3IMiSxPccZqskBkP0Bd107dFDlikRznuVDtE54L3lFBmDMyWulQ_ulvTtfke0saq8/s4608/P7281000.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="469" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOBEi8u_kVQid0tEUomQrFO2cv_2J-xYGqLUMrrRuCTCehedSsdcBqiLbSosos5HvEOefqEKX42OGDxhKbo8AbFrMwUY8T4ESvSiilBgiQMIw02KPfByxERGw6bo3IMiSxPccZqskBkP0Bd107dFDlikRznuVDtE54L3lFBmDMyWulQ_ulvTtfke0saq8/w625-h469/P7281000.JPG" width="625" /></a></div>Being Swallowtails, this meant their caterpillars have "horns" this yellow/orange tongue-like appendage that comes out of their head and sprays a kind of formic acid or foul smelling chemical out. The idea is should a bird try and pick one up, BAM!!! Awful Perfume Sample right in the eyes! The caterpillar will likely die soon after this happens but rest assured, that bird certainly won't be picking one of these up to feed to their kids. <p></p><p>All that being said, I had to poke this thing with a pencil for a good ten minutes or so just to get him angry. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjBMyu-FSxIfYqPSJyfqiRoNeCUfv-ey99kiUnafx5dNKqAsbVrYeen4PYgwgnxRETv8py8SdljAjo5kEStfsdwZ8rCtmGGIiZAXEndZZ6w8iXYvu_ziOdYRHItu54B8CakK5eOogyv-t59wrtEeUMpp0KjxjHc0I6ZUn9GMYFNHiNEyzTlpCSiYo56k/s4608/P7291036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNjBMyu-FSxIfYqPSJyfqiRoNeCUfv-ey99kiUnafx5dNKqAsbVrYeen4PYgwgnxRETv8py8SdljAjo5kEStfsdwZ8rCtmGGIiZAXEndZZ6w8iXYvu_ziOdYRHItu54B8CakK5eOogyv-t59wrtEeUMpp0KjxjHc0I6ZUn9GMYFNHiNEyzTlpCSiYo56k/w633-h476/P7291036.JPG" width="633" /></a></div>Large black worms with orange dots all over them don't exactly blend in. It's almost like they're asking to be eaten. And as it turns out, this is exactly what they're doing. This is the same/similar strategy the Monarch Butterfly uses. Monarch caterpillars are black, white and yellow, and they actively feed in the day in full view of predators. They taste nasty though and have bad chemicals in them that might kill a baby bird. Eventually through repeated predator, the birds learn not to feed these caterpillars to their babies. The trouble with this strategy is there's always a new generation of birds to teach but eventually the local population learns to leave them alone and the caterpillars thrive.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS55W6bCJVlo0Fv9pTb1RcPlxhZQatk6iEfO2bApMiVHvmrl4nkZauGDR1WYQkvScqgZb4dGkerqtIphVHwCGppzOpjrxEuJQ9O-7UPFSuxlJcPSYrd4aP5rAcwBvT3toinSnf9QkQxp4o4pEkj7biToTCqZD4gImXYEQVNPYdRewovkUUxHKIsKOfsu4/s3200/P7210884.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3200" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS55W6bCJVlo0Fv9pTb1RcPlxhZQatk6iEfO2bApMiVHvmrl4nkZauGDR1WYQkvScqgZb4dGkerqtIphVHwCGppzOpjrxEuJQ9O-7UPFSuxlJcPSYrd4aP5rAcwBvT3toinSnf9QkQxp4o4pEkj7biToTCqZD4gImXYEQVNPYdRewovkUUxHKIsKOfsu4/w644-h482/P7210884.JPG" width="644" /></a> </div>It's around now that I noticed none of the outdoor caterpillars have survived past the second or third instar. This makes me glad I at least brought a few indoors. Maybe I'm greedy but I didn't want to wait another 14 years to photograph them. Also as far as caterpillars go, they look really cool. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrdGP7yan2Vha6jMEojggSSdEUuS7A-69Q8b8o4wnPgDOBinZOPbaNg_WnJnpG91NMi86H0-a9lS9YlgDIzb0PtmU1s4oA55PnMNGzMadylsAkIhVeZkepStcmERZg5X0y1V2Uxbkv6uka2UPnCecqPgiK3v4ogKeFircvouYhjDl2JkfnjsUAswpbfzU/s4608/P8021154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrdGP7yan2Vha6jMEojggSSdEUuS7A-69Q8b8o4wnPgDOBinZOPbaNg_WnJnpG91NMi86H0-a9lS9YlgDIzb0PtmU1s4oA55PnMNGzMadylsAkIhVeZkepStcmERZg5X0y1V2Uxbkv6uka2UPnCecqPgiK3v4ogKeFircvouYhjDl2JkfnjsUAswpbfzU/w578-h433/P8021154.JPG" width="578" /></a></div> Chrysalis Day! <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRIpx6L12T6amd9pFg_lqLDEj6gPgsvbyuU5NRzC_jounTTObEIv7AFLWGLNcCliPujc2QpqPB4BeYy9bzdOLzTUl5HVUvd8zPqNt3igeGWSmKw-C1vQbZa8MOppjwurTeYsXOw9eXGJvwnwuJKErrkNKCgHyIUHN7hY5EJArmWacKmqhBoRdbal8Rw7I/s4608/P8041180.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRIpx6L12T6amd9pFg_lqLDEj6gPgsvbyuU5NRzC_jounTTObEIv7AFLWGLNcCliPujc2QpqPB4BeYy9bzdOLzTUl5HVUvd8zPqNt3igeGWSmKw-C1vQbZa8MOppjwurTeYsXOw9eXGJvwnwuJKErrkNKCgHyIUHN7hY5EJArmWacKmqhBoRdbal8Rw7I/w590-h442/P8041180.JPG" width="590" /></a></div> One by one, they all shed their last layer of skin off and formed a chrysalis. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGYqzDd4SQhZhpzWtyhri8hgLw-QlLrWFmrpmAQN4zVe0apM5NZ-P_3ok0_av4GArxZ9KWEIVc4Ve69Tx_2b1mXBgb_zY16UG57f5FldyQ0MD_lCTQRvi4_GPHErozyR-EJGQtzD5a6vQH4BjMa4j8DZi-zh__FVKhmUqAKIlITwAwEjBbUdmeA2LQWxU/s4608/P8241600.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="453" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGYqzDd4SQhZhpzWtyhri8hgLw-QlLrWFmrpmAQN4zVe0apM5NZ-P_3ok0_av4GArxZ9KWEIVc4Ve69Tx_2b1mXBgb_zY16UG57f5FldyQ0MD_lCTQRvi4_GPHErozyR-EJGQtzD5a6vQH4BjMa4j8DZi-zh__FVKhmUqAKIlITwAwEjBbUdmeA2LQWxU/w604-h453/P8241600.JPG" width="604" /></a></div>10 to 14 days later, they started to emerge. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DPHtW8sX3DIUebKj3H9m9wt0C4l98wnnTn8hXpGdc22AV7msAUshPt1Y2oBZS8vnEg6grQ5NIljywf0Ze3qhuW9g7QrM1VGHvX5wGV-crHAwCfR1CeltAPnMk_KaO2i779efASnwsX-CX5-uYCAFO2J3Kk8VYdxzxwkpoixZtSBlKobriF0W9NpIcbA/s4608/P8221594.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="445" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8DPHtW8sX3DIUebKj3H9m9wt0C4l98wnnTn8hXpGdc22AV7msAUshPt1Y2oBZS8vnEg6grQ5NIljywf0Ze3qhuW9g7QrM1VGHvX5wGV-crHAwCfR1CeltAPnMk_KaO2i779efASnwsX-CX5-uYCAFO2J3Kk8VYdxzxwkpoixZtSBlKobriF0W9NpIcbA/w593-h445/P8221594.JPG" width="593" /></a></div>BTW I have no idea how you tell the gender in this species. Some people say the females are this navy blue color while males are more of a green... but uhhh. <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFThlUH-S9IqghZTSIzJR4r3_lQiidLpOyKNKblz9ydY_rXrl80mJ7npq4Gb8Kv_tXk8XAcuec7Ac63lI6oM-i15Rcc8D5Es__zJO10O-jfhFg58Y9g_hUZV_aP_8K_1pDNXuVtDKnh8Nucl3Jr_ki-VA-FLrJrIc2Xp-bKy9OMIeT1g6wNc-EvAVRsK0/s4608/P8221590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFThlUH-S9IqghZTSIzJR4r3_lQiidLpOyKNKblz9ydY_rXrl80mJ7npq4Gb8Kv_tXk8XAcuec7Ac63lI6oM-i15Rcc8D5Es__zJO10O-jfhFg58Y9g_hUZV_aP_8K_1pDNXuVtDKnh8Nucl3Jr_ki-VA-FLrJrIc2Xp-bKy9OMIeT1g6wNc-EvAVRsK0/w588-h442/P8221590.JPG" width="588" /></a></div>This is the same butterfly as the navy blue one pictured just above. I don't think the color thing is accurate. Either that or I somehow managed to hatch 8 girls. (1 did not emerge from its chrysalis at all. I'm assuming it's going to hatch out sometime this Spring.) <br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwedk6cFoH17UCApT4b-HpYZitJEZjWLg0o1_QG1NxTrb6aSaFlH09104OfSmi5-Q6fSB_h57r3teHAUZgLrAGogCNCl4iyGxyslCgOJ63AHmqFEazd_SqxSVdKFwlkrhqb-ZFm9o6albk40BKvjDDPP5OM67ktWESOY6m3vWJav6Cxxnfrz11rN5VMO4/s4608/P8221471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="447" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwedk6cFoH17UCApT4b-HpYZitJEZjWLg0o1_QG1NxTrb6aSaFlH09104OfSmi5-Q6fSB_h57r3teHAUZgLrAGogCNCl4iyGxyslCgOJ63AHmqFEazd_SqxSVdKFwlkrhqb-ZFm9o6albk40BKvjDDPP5OM67ktWESOY6m3vWJav6Cxxnfrz11rN5VMO4/w597-h447/P8221471.JPG" width="597" /></a></div><p></p><p>I released all 8 of them once their wings were expanded and they were able to fly. Sometimes they would hang out on the flowers I put them on but not for long. Within the hour they were fueled up and flew out into the world. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaWrYgFCFnNVDgZnP1ji0y5rSuJd7ii8MRcmGUVMi-AOSikTpwz0H14Fk8GrRLC4ZU__WTDUmHAEcnuxC-tTMYFBttwJ-t52gbet6OCq18Qk9-_qEYGrjDKp_mBDb9Zoik5Seawi4xNYQQQvjoOHnCOU_SDyGFEefquR3jB8eK33Q2uDO0D7B1gYXVjOI/s1926/Tiger%20Pipe%20Phlox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1926" data-original-width="1085" height="957" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaWrYgFCFnNVDgZnP1ji0y5rSuJd7ii8MRcmGUVMi-AOSikTpwz0H14Fk8GrRLC4ZU__WTDUmHAEcnuxC-tTMYFBttwJ-t52gbet6OCq18Qk9-_qEYGrjDKp_mBDb9Zoik5Seawi4xNYQQQvjoOHnCOU_SDyGFEefquR3jB8eK33Q2uDO0D7B1gYXVjOI/w538-h957/Tiger%20Pipe%20Phlox.jpg" width="538" /></a></div><p></p><p>A few days releasing them all though, I was delighted to come home and find one in my garden. This wasn't staged at all. I had to pull out my phone and quickly snap a picture. </p><p>Hopefully they'll find my garden again this year. And hopefully more people will give Pipevine a try so this butterfly becomes a more common sight every year.</p>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-38145226846153463632024-02-27T11:41:00.000-05:002024-02-27T11:41:12.388-05:00British House Hunters<p>I used to be addicted to HGTV. There was nothing more fun than watching a couple get assistance from a bunch of landscapers to transform a space, for better or worse. Or following a young couple as they go "house hunting" and weigh their options. Well sometime last year, my mom had the TV on in the kitchen and it was the very tail end of the British version of what looked like House Hunters. It was right at the end of the episode where they have the couple sat at a table weighing their three options. </p><p>Which house are they going to go with? House One was great but too far from Grian's job. House two cost eleven times the budget they were willing to spend but Madge was keen on the garden. House Three was close to work but built next to train station, below a bowling alley, out front of an airport, and above an ancient Pagan burial ground. </p><p>The couple sit at the table looking down at three folders representing their three options. Then they share a knowing look at one another and the husband says, "I think we both agree, yeah the answer is obvious." And the spouse has this frank look on her face, "It's the right choice." And then normally we find out which one they go with but this time it rolled credits over a high angled shot of the two walking out of the house. The narrator then says, "Grian and Madge decided to not go with any of the three homes, because they were absolutely horrid. Coming up next! It's an episode of ...." </p><p>I was dying laughing at this. I wish I had gotten the name of the show. <br /></p>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-39293301117342987092024-02-26T23:07:00.002-05:002024-02-26T23:07:17.229-05:00Here We Go Again<p>Alright, let's try this again. </p><p>Every year it feels like I try to blog only to peter out somewhere before the summer really begins and I just go dark for the rest of the year. I think the trouble is I get more interaction from social media posts, whereas on Blogger if I enable comments it's dozens of spam links posted every hour of the day. </p><p>My blog has also outlived it's usefulness. I feel like one of the main draws was the fact that I had a species list for Ants in the US. I added very generalized distributions some of which are wrong but it's right enough to still be useful. I just don't have the time to check them all and correct them. I was slowly making the names all link to their Ant Wiki but even that is verging on obsolete because <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/home">iNaturalist</a> has come along and is probably the most useful website/app I've used in ages. </p><p>Seriously, you can just type in a species name and even narrow your search to your state and it gives you distribution data on species (generalized if it's threatened or endangered). It's not 100% complete but usually it's experts or grad students making the ID's on the content being uploaded. <br /></p><p>So, I'm going to try and post some things here every week and we'll see how far we get this year. <br /></p><br />MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-71748941853426406222021-04-04T22:26:00.002-04:002021-04-04T22:29:01.193-04:00Easter Garden Tour 2021<p></p><p></p><p></p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="420" src="https://youtube.com/embed/BdhRPEsOUcA" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BdhRPEsOUcA/hqdefault.jpg);" width="620"></iframe></p>
No ants this time. Just a quick garden tour. This was recorded the day before Easter. Additional Daffodils and Easter Lilies and Tulips were set out in the garden afterward. Several plants featured in the garden had to be replanted because squirrels had removed them, mostly hyacinths and pansies, over night. Not in the video was an Easter Egg hunt I arranged with my niece who had a great time finding them all among the flowers.MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-91786729453465289562021-03-20T14:16:00.006-04:002021-03-20T14:16:48.305-04:00First Day of Spring!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivp6MM3BbM7ZMoeY9c_qC3tFRJezlqIA8VbEWUwLSkc9SycZf4VKlkbUhslFZE3E2r3HvAenCx1W2ShwxZlrM5jtYjF6TojFuRB_IowFVoA29eX12RaTI1gt3zBss9EYuhjfG4ajk06Us/s2048/Witch+Hazel+purple.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="477" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivp6MM3BbM7ZMoeY9c_qC3tFRJezlqIA8VbEWUwLSkc9SycZf4VKlkbUhslFZE3E2r3HvAenCx1W2ShwxZlrM5jtYjF6TojFuRB_IowFVoA29eX12RaTI1gt3zBss9EYuhjfG4ajk06Us/w640-h477/Witch+Hazel+purple.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Witch Hazel 'Amethyst' uncurling it's flower petals. This is actually a photo from two or three weeks ago. It's one of those plants that blooms in the winter and takes it's time to finish doing blooming. If it was a warm winter these flowers would likely have finished up by now, but because they're hardy and built for cold temperatures individual flowers hang around for several weeks. <br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunLAPgad7-vIGLsIafrpiOO19NE40QNSXaAbsSrImNEDFxoopxImAN82S-wMxh0ibcm_d4e5tmpZgeKcTkI5Dug_2y8dUrOw0T_X84AH6x9kufEF1iQGU-uFqZgrQQsOtE4knUReNyRs/s2048/P3042697.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="481" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhunLAPgad7-vIGLsIafrpiOO19NE40QNSXaAbsSrImNEDFxoopxImAN82S-wMxh0ibcm_d4e5tmpZgeKcTkI5Dug_2y8dUrOw0T_X84AH6x9kufEF1iQGU-uFqZgrQQsOtE4knUReNyRs/w640-h481/P3042697.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p>Here they are today and their internal timers are still ticking. Their blooms are waiting for warm days when flies and winter moths to become active. A slightly sweet fragrance is released into the air to entice them into pollinating the flowers. This particular cultivar isn't all that fragrant sadly so it's unlikely I'll see much of anything on it. Last year there was an early Beefly though. </p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOSaih7l5lJy2myyz2xxfI25XoasCpAzcwtAiaZo1xNC7fK7VYjQKvGRhOJ6clPqgmFmAHsoGI1hD5UEVrnjliEQulXDE0Q6VWY8xeHg9xsbBROS6vpN9AAmIOGDFxBYoWx23VoDZ3ozo/s2048/Trillium+cf+cuneatum.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="781" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOSaih7l5lJy2myyz2xxfI25XoasCpAzcwtAiaZo1xNC7fK7VYjQKvGRhOJ6clPqgmFmAHsoGI1hD5UEVrnjliEQulXDE0Q6VWY8xeHg9xsbBROS6vpN9AAmIOGDFxBYoWx23VoDZ3ozo/w586-h781/Trillium+cf+cuneatum.JPG" width="586" /></a></div><p>Trilliums are starting to spring up too. This one in particular is much farther along all the others in my garden. In the past I've called this one a Trillium hybrid because nothing ever seemed to match up, and Trilliums do indeed hybridize a good deal when different species are planted near one another. I've recently learned about <i>Trillium cuneatum</i> though which is pretty variable and I read has a very strong or intense fragrance that I've associated with this individual. You can seriously smell it 15' away! <br /><br />So I've ordered a bunch of T. cuneatum to see if they measure up. Actually they're a named Trillium cultivar called <i>Trillium cuneatum</i> 'Sessile of Hort' which should all have a white strip going down the middle of each leaf. Hopefully the fragrance part is still somewhat true to the species though so I can compare. </p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpnQ6Iw8eB5zGUOCBi7Uwfs8w7F8mXBKPxJKmGroXnDOjd5dFozPZ6plfkLtb8PxrAjelxdgNMQg6A8dwXDICvmrQ4wic6mRk3SpiDVriSkFGFZZSsp9PgVVi8Cg3HgTTGOilUUoso3GI/s2048/Twinleaf+Emerging.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="481" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpnQ6Iw8eB5zGUOCBi7Uwfs8w7F8mXBKPxJKmGroXnDOjd5dFozPZ6plfkLtb8PxrAjelxdgNMQg6A8dwXDICvmrQ4wic6mRk3SpiDVriSkFGFZZSsp9PgVVi8Cg3HgTTGOilUUoso3GI/w640-h481/Twinleaf+Emerging.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>Also emerging now are Twinleaf, <i>Jeffersonia diphylla</i>, which all have their first sets of twin leaves and flower buds emerging. <br /><p></p><br /><br />MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-27218127752639946732020-10-09T20:36:00.002-04:002020-10-09T20:39:35.578-04:00Ant Chat with Alex Wild<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="420" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eiHWcfHjBOk" width="620"></iframe>
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Back in 2016 when I attended Bugshot, Texas where I met Alex Wild for the first time. He gave a basic class on ants without talking down to the audience or over generalizing things the way lots of documentaries do. I recorded it with his permission and hopefully it's still okay for me to publish it four years later. If not I'm more than happy to take it down. For now though, enjoy! MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-32231263744062068422020-09-26T22:58:00.002-04:002020-09-26T23:28:46.629-04:00Jewelweed Setting Seed<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="420" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2XdtNCVOGNA" width="620"></iframe></p>
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<i>Impatiens capensis</i>, Jewelweed or Spotted Touch-me-not has exploding
seed pods that cast the next generation far and wide. Though an annual,
they can aggressively take over damp sites usually along forest edges.
It can be weeded out or thinned easily, however; seeds will sometimes
take up to three years to germinate, leading to small patches of plants
returning. While flowering though it is treasured by bees and
hummingbirds. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1538" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJaugfwk-GJQRWRXNAdopZefeE3FLLIlNDv2VzqfZyAi-iJtTZOLCQV3_gENLDrd6sxpKCPbkx68pnZ8uE52wKjVW8sZyve9MWGCIv4ehO-CME3V2XQTJwhI4nXuSULRmXTM2-F2Yiv8/s600/P7262362.ORF" width="600" /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The nectar is kept all the way in the back of the flower, right in the back of the tube there so that only long tongued bees and hummingbirds have access to it. This one however has been chewed open by a carpenter bee. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6OYFtH9s36HYfWtE-WrZJ9rghkuSrLQOhCiVfQMmRsGbTUJuyFsyHd_IjQi-7SJq1UdqU2f-1b8YTnak1CRIBbpYtlfHqHo67kll_z6JBM7o-6Y1nHdVwiE445xFjPRqJM-2LTY2Xoqo/s600/P9262595.JPG" width="600" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Jewelweed is a prolific flowering plant though and seems to bloom well after the life cycle of most carpenter bees, thus pollination still occurs. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsLPoWQegfW8uKpfxVA86eMs7ARbfRIiAh_Nsqaw53E0uT4suHeFW-Kyucn0YNIZ97MeR40I_moNLajGfmyvNvDyuAVRcLeFcjABcY8ps6fivs242CmieHXX5U_ia8uflI_pYrQTRsweA/s600/P9262596.JPG" width="600" /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Seedpods, when ready, explode on a hair pin trigger. Just the slightest disturbance to the tip and they pop open, flinging seeds several feet away. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWIS7P_gL7anlx5mVUHHjCy-DUDb4KSkz9mJ6mfB8ot-xgMDAGTjeEKQ9OOzVYh8tCgIpIrnMEsG0tvA4f0tAWtdmjAYznmt_60c43R1GtIkDBMboXfnTf8fBWtb0PxRGlghiX-vJxgmA/s600/P8232509.JPG" width="600" /></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <br />They produce air roots too which pull nutrients from the air. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBwlrIbx-pmZEAX8OjGcz3bClXYry9btbewXymKlQp5f_Wm3OGwCbofyM7IeTScUdKKfSnJNtMuMKBQ9YzkCc8Ow_BuhtHhhW2jUdo9dbLlh_FGfrsYX3OnhDD37g32ibpDkavNDeMTQE/s600/P8182505.JPG" width="600" /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> One plant in the patch I have suffered something that caused it to become variegated above a certain point. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"></div>
MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-32916363273444689002020-08-23T21:08:00.004-04:002020-08-24T16:09:47.051-04:00White House Rose Garden <p>This is such a non-issue, I'm sorry to even be writing about it. I'm only doing so because I feel like no one reporting on it is a gardener. <br /></p><p>I've been seeing articles saying things like "Melania Trump RIPS OUT historic trees," and now the White House Rose Garden looks like a graveyard symbolizing how her husband had killed America. </p><p>I don't mean for this to be a political post so I'm focusing on what was done to the garden aspect here. </p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCsL8WzERbTrpuFGcS5zxFxKM4cG6eYTF0K0vymzll5CgBmRucx2-5lysQ8mbYLG0qRrkHnHfQQA0fYuWwCERJewUqkDsoQ3XJZ-fwkEehK30zpd6xwElcrZUncauA7UioQpo9pQyWzMI/s960/118251422_10220952798002817_7461099583998406690_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="960" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCsL8WzERbTrpuFGcS5zxFxKM4cG6eYTF0K0vymzll5CgBmRucx2-5lysQ8mbYLG0qRrkHnHfQQA0fYuWwCERJewUqkDsoQ3XJZ-fwkEehK30zpd6xwElcrZUncauA7UioQpo9pQyWzMI/s640/118251422_10220952798002817_7461099583998406690_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>First off I will say, given her choice of shoes, Melania probably doesn't garden regularly. (Added: There are images of her wearing sneakers while gardening but she does not look natural in them. So I'm still thinking she doesn't do a whole lot of gardening.) I question how much of the changes can really be attributed to her and not the White House Landscapers and members of the Historical Society who would be taking care of anything worth protecting. </p><p>The main cause of the controversy is how 10 Crab Apple trees were moved. These trees were originally planted by Jackie Kennedy so there is some historic value to be had. But lots of news outlets are saying they were "Ripped Out" or "Cut Down," and sometimes both; ripped out first and cut down later just to spite them. They have, in fact, been taken to an off site location and will be replanted elsewhere on the White House grounds. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSACpgKgY0BW8e5fHlWd6FxJJFV_aBGiu3VvVhI01cMH2CHEKNbumiG6mLzVm5WAk55RQVTWs3ns9AEniRwiPt-bb2t9eaAe0SHoXaUNZcWYUX_gekrbfj8eoCDfjCaBhtXkpk06TLVCI/s480/the-rose-garden-in-spring-bloom-at-the-white-house-in-news-photo-1595880668.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSACpgKgY0BW8e5fHlWd6FxJJFV_aBGiu3VvVhI01cMH2CHEKNbumiG6mLzVm5WAk55RQVTWs3ns9AEniRwiPt-bb2t9eaAe0SHoXaUNZcWYUX_gekrbfj8eoCDfjCaBhtXkpk06TLVCI/w600-h400/the-rose-garden-in-spring-bloom-at-the-white-house-in-news-photo-1595880668.jpg" width="600" /></a></div><p></p><p>Lots of people are reporting with pictures of the trees in Spring, when they're flowering and looking pretty. There are also lots of colorful varieties of tulips adding to their glamour. So it's not fair to compare that to how the garden looks in Summer. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2SIwcMhON-b541n_8LnTUbInnkOFbfUrisxPIaWgLNW1HbtmIvwwIHfITF3xCCb0dlOPEPfjAIMBQXWzMM8lwuIrv4IMOucPNmHg6nXpRpp6US22LMhggItE4inv22m-yOsCdkx3Pbk/s980/whitehouserosegarden_040717getty.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflHR9FNr_CTBbQLJolVwHUA5vFPwMlXQ0BZg063IqqsH089qO11QOhPpkfOk8dzp8-Rz-fFYCI50ZAMrbKBqVCXyfiEKR_Yfs1or6OSZ51-l0YSQlIz-WZ8pZbTat2M3Vb94ZBTFhlJY/s2048/Barack_Obama_takes_a_stroll_through_the_White_House_Rose_Garden.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflHR9FNr_CTBbQLJolVwHUA5vFPwMlXQ0BZg063IqqsH089qO11QOhPpkfOk8dzp8-Rz-fFYCI50ZAMrbKBqVCXyfiEKR_Yfs1or6OSZ51-l0YSQlIz-WZ8pZbTat2M3Vb94ZBTFhlJY/s640/Barack_Obama_takes_a_stroll_through_the_White_House_Rose_Garden.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>Crab Apples, when not in flower don't always look pretty, especially when they're 50 years old and have been pruned to hell over the years. Part of the reason they were removed was to allow additional space for cameras to be for member of the press to do their job. Holding press meetings outside, where there's better air flow, and sunshine, reduces the risk of Covid transferring from person to person. <br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OD7QxD5YzE_iCzWN7INZeOCxbo8CHbaHGQimsNZ-_rlmM5ao8K2OHz2zfeHUC3YCSCO7cJjiirMiiWpCQ3r7mgKjG8-cnqza8KY0gTLpRCJI6WX3QZSJImdudrH0VxNyMJ1wbQa1NmU/s1400/1228152859.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="1400" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5OD7QxD5YzE_iCzWN7INZeOCxbo8CHbaHGQimsNZ-_rlmM5ao8K2OHz2zfeHUC3YCSCO7cJjiirMiiWpCQ3r7mgKjG8-cnqza8KY0gTLpRCJI6WX3QZSJImdudrH0VxNyMJ1wbQa1NmU/s640/1228152859.jpg" /></a></div>Along with the red/pink, white, and blue, flowers the only addition was a much needed side walk to make the gardens more handicap accessible and enjoyable from both sides. The Trump administration is far from being environmentally friendly but
the reduction in the lawn is at least beneficial, as is the addition of
Anise Hyssop, a native plant acting as the blue in the gardens here. (Though it could be one of the Asian hybrid cultivars.) In a <a href="https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1297181975359496193/vid/1280x720/cRHmyepnforghBj1.mp4?tag=13">C-SPAN video</a> of the gardens some of the White Roses actually look like they're more of a light cream or faint yellow color. <br /><br />People are now saying the garden looks like a cemetery... Personally I blame that mausoleum-like white house in the background. That's just my opinion. <br /><p><br /></p>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-90802840188781002232020-08-18T00:00:00.002-04:002020-08-18T00:02:57.773-04:00BUGSHOT 2019 Anza-Borrego<p></p><p></p><p></p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="420" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xs3oRXREm5U" width="620"></iframe></p><br />MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-47973583708814495632020-07-08T00:36:00.000-04:002020-07-08T00:36:20.430-04:00Ant Chat: Stealing Nectar from Milkweed <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="420" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l6ojVJa1A9M" width="620" youtube-src-id="l6ojVJa1A9M"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I realized I haven't posted in a while and I have some new editing software that I wanted to test out, so I made a video. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEyhxl5rbI5OMrzb-Cv5muIYf9hqGj0yl_6pEZnzFxeGu6koJw1YpwjxxP749ccmfNuLq0PbFDt4fOBfYRJjbBWZfIPbDF-MxhVsq4VSKPqFlpDv7ZU6wyUCMHxRcpdjCnD6kncyh7HBk/s4608/P7072173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEyhxl5rbI5OMrzb-Cv5muIYf9hqGj0yl_6pEZnzFxeGu6koJw1YpwjxxP749ccmfNuLq0PbFDt4fOBfYRJjbBWZfIPbDF-MxhVsq4VSKPqFlpDv7ZU6wyUCMHxRcpdjCnD6kncyh7HBk/w500-h375/P7072173.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Asclepias sullivantii</i> or Prairie Milkweed or Sullivan's Milkweed as it's known. This species is so timid compared to Common Milkweed, <i>A. syriaca</i>. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Common Milkweed form a lead tap root that every few inches sends out diagonally upward pointing roots that upon reaching the surface produces a new stem away from the main stem. This process repeats though for every new stem produced and the starting stem keeps on making them every few inches. So you can have a 6' deep root with dozens of these upward stems going back to the surface in all directions. And, especially in full sun settings, this can create a patch of Common Milkweed that's really not appropriate for most garden settings. <br /><br />Sullivan's Milkweed doesn't do that. So you get a plant that looks fairly similar but isn't anywhere near as aggressive in a garden setting. My one complaint with it might be that it's too slow growing. Last year I only got one flower, one single flower, on the whole plant all because Monarchs had laid eggs on it and it the caterpillars ate them. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhum5OehPy8P-4L0oWnkLPkpoSjqKoFP5EzauDMq2TWMdqgeG0jc7UOmGXgJZnKHD-Bxz19rWU1TtdImTvB4OenSfwN1M7UVx-Gz02eKQmfhEvRgzWYyNvSvhcvjAz-ozCwMEfpMPDVw1c/s4608/P6262106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhum5OehPy8P-4L0oWnkLPkpoSjqKoFP5EzauDMq2TWMdqgeG0jc7UOmGXgJZnKHD-Bxz19rWU1TtdImTvB4OenSfwN1M7UVx-Gz02eKQmfhEvRgzWYyNvSvhcvjAz-ozCwMEfpMPDVw1c/w500-h375/P6262106.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Asclepias incarnata</i>, Swamp Milkweed, aka Fragrant Milkweed. Really most Milkweeds are fragrant but only at certain times of the day. This one though, right when the afternoon shade hits it, it smells like warm cupcakes right out of the oven, covered in honey. It's great. It's commonly sold at nurseries and has a number of cultivars. Sadly it's a short lived perennial lasting about 5 years, but it's pretty easy to grow from seed outdoors. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihzWsjYTdRwsHpycmGRZKK3HRRntZ5-YUARzMrnCxBOyeM06jqXTwJ1X8XiTQxCZSdbCmsldj1rsITBbB4rYVddNyCt-PvTeWHmq8Xmf7Q8kDTPCt693cqIve1Pq45PC4xMiHY3yLI-ac/s4608/P6202066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihzWsjYTdRwsHpycmGRZKK3HRRntZ5-YUARzMrnCxBOyeM06jqXTwJ1X8XiTQxCZSdbCmsldj1rsITBbB4rYVddNyCt-PvTeWHmq8Xmf7Q8kDTPCt693cqIve1Pq45PC4xMiHY3yLI-ac/w500-h375/P6202066.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Asclepias purpurascens</i>, Purple Milkweed. This species is not for everyone but by all means if you know a grower and have other species to fall back on give it a try. Basically this species likes some drainage in the soil, hates having its roots exposed, and might just randomly die if it's put in the wrong place. They're a little finicky. I've planted this all over my yard and most of them don't last long, but a few hold outs tell me the plant likely doesn't have a tap root. I don't think they're as drought tolerant as other milkweeds either. But the flowers are some of the prettiest in the genus. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnemCa8A-FUHs6fWPRCWYJFhXk57V8J4oW_Gk3sAGyeH9RRUCh0ix0g7nGCMniIbOZlQIBqqhZgjIrvRLPmnu_xptdO5XDJUukWcZeKn4caJE2oREIJKV2Q9crPq_J8_C03t9Y4BwEU8/s4608/P7062151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnemCa8A-FUHs6fWPRCWYJFhXk57V8J4oW_Gk3sAGyeH9RRUCh0ix0g7nGCMniIbOZlQIBqqhZgjIrvRLPmnu_xptdO5XDJUukWcZeKn4caJE2oREIJKV2Q9crPq_J8_C03t9Y4BwEU8/w500-h375/P7062151.JPG" width="500" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Asclepias tuberosa</i>, Butterfly Weed. This is the most garden friendly of the bunch. It's one of the first native plants to really show the industry what native plants can do. There was a drought in the midwest and people noticed their gardens looked pretty dead but then looked out in the fields and roadside ditches and saw this plant still green and covered in bright orange flowers. While it's true this and many native plants are drought tolerant they also benefit from some watering in a garden setting. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWH31KvmrTXECLa5a97SUxDVaHLNld3yd71JMmGJ77c3BF_LZfYAeqIBqkinPsx6dxJT8NaTsXK3GC8Zv9RUavqE9NrFoW6TGX1ZlhCxfe0uDM-iuUQ5JQC2TFZGGY8grzW8mRLaFk2C0/s4608/P7072182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWH31KvmrTXECLa5a97SUxDVaHLNld3yd71JMmGJ77c3BF_LZfYAeqIBqkinPsx6dxJT8NaTsXK3GC8Zv9RUavqE9NrFoW6TGX1ZlhCxfe0uDM-iuUQ5JQC2TFZGGY8grzW8mRLaFk2C0/w500-h375/P7072182.JPG" width="500" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Also featured in this episode was <i>Rudbekia hirta</i>, the Black-eyed Susan. It's not flowering yet but I see them covered in aphids right near the flowers. This has never hurt their population and in fact they seem to be doing better than a hybrid I bought that didn't get any aphids. That's not to say aphids are beneficial, though having ants crawling all over the plant might have stopped some of the damage insect herbivores were causing, but more likely the hybrid cultivar was just selected for it's beauty and not its resistance to any of its natural pests. <br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-52803156930812954392020-05-27T21:22:00.000-04:002020-05-27T21:31:57.727-04:00Bloopers in Beekeeping <div>
So I haven't kept honeybees now for the past 4 years. It was a fun hobby that barely paid for itself and created a love hate relationship with my neighbors. My neighbors behind us would get buzzed now and then when mowing the lawn, which is an experience that's always scary when it happens to a non-beekeeper. The same neighbors though know I have a bee suit and whenever paper wasps or yellow jackets made a nest around their home, I'm usually the one they called. </div>
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Well this past spring a swarm of bees landed on the borough hall and the police who are still friends with my dad gave him a call. He went and caught it and surprised me one day, placing the hive in a spot that I've since planted a garden... so I told him it had to move. Also because I haven't kept bees for 4 years I've actually been trying to get rid of our beekeeping stuff, so we don't really have the basic tools anymore. </div>
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We scrounged together enough stuff to get the job done. There's a spot along the side of our house that will be better for a beehive. We wait for nightfall, load them on a cart and carefully haul the hive around the house. We have to take the long way because the spot is technically out front and there isn't a gate on that side of the house. It's dark as we move them down the driveway, along the front sidewalk because other gardens block a more immediate path across the front lawn. Moments later we make it around the house and put them in the new spot. </div>
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The next day comes and I realize that somehow I completely forgot that you can't just move a beehive. Foraging bees only imprint where the hive is during the first orientation flight they take. This tells them where "home" is, and they will only do it if the hive is moved a few miles from the previous location and they don't recognize any landmarks in their flight. Basically we didn't' move them far enough from the old spot. So all of the bees that went out to forage that morning went back to the old location in the backyard where the hive was yesterday. Hundreds of bees were just flying around this one spot not quite sure where to land. Eventually they took up residence in an old hive box I was going to throw away. </div>
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So.... we just had to load the hive back onto the cart and take it for its nightly walk around the house hoping the neighbors don't realize what we're doing. They're back in the starting location now and we put the box all the foraging bees settled into on top so everyone should be happy now. </div>
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The hive still has to move though so the plan is to leave the hive on the cart and just move it a few feet each night until we make it to the fence. Then one night they'll just be on the other side of it and back to the new spot where I want them put. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan. </div>
MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-68002757013629383442020-05-07T00:27:00.003-04:002020-05-07T00:27:57.524-04:00Murder Hornets!!! Old News Goes Viral I guess everyone is so sick about hearing Covic-19 news that they forgot the Asian Murder Hornet thing <u><b>HAPPENED </b></u><u><b>LAST YEAR</b></u>. In fact, as far as I know, as of the publishing of this article, no hives or individuals have been found in the U.S. or Canada in 2020. Now it's still early in the year, so that could easily change. But until it does every article going viral at the moment is just fear mongering or responding to fear mongering. <br />
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So here's the issue, lots of these articles are titled something like Asian Murder Hornets Discovered In US For First Time. They are all published within the past week or so but also quote a few people who encountered them last year... So this is actually old news that no one really cared about ~8 months ago. Then they usually play up how just how dangerous these Asian MURDER Hornets are, OMG!!! And there's this implication that they're going to be everywhere by the end of the year.<br />
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What's lacking though is anything current. Their hives are annual, growing to a great size by the autumn months and dying out completely from lack of food. It's only through a new generation of queens that survive the winter that they species survives each year. So if they are in the U.S. and Canada still, their hives currently aren't that big. And even if surveys don't come up with anything this year, no one can really say with confidence that they're not here until about 5 years of no sightings. They might be establishing someplace outside of where the surveys are taking place, they might not be doing that great here, they might be able to make it out of the traps being setup, lots of issues could be going on. <br />
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Articles from colleges and scientific outlets are adding damage control to the theme. The U.S. and Canada already several native Hornets, Yellow Jackets, European Hornets (which are a problem in themselves), Cicada Killers, and even Bumblebees that the general public is more than likely going to assume are Asian Murder Hornets thanks to sensationalist articles.<br />
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Again this is all because a total of ~4 hives were found in 2 locations. I actually couldn't find a good source on this because one article included someone finding all of their honeybees dead and just assumed it was them. There was no information given as to what destroyed this hive or even what condition it was in. <br />
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Assuming they are found and do establish, it will be quite a few years before they make it to the east coast. The new queens each year are only going to fly X amount of miles each year so their range is going to slowly expand unless they tuck themselves away in fire wood or something that's being transported, for example.<br />
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Some people have contacted me saying they're are worried about what they can do to help Beekeepers defend against them. Honestly we're not quite there yet. But their fear mostly comes from a clip from a National Geographic documentary that's often linked with these articles. It shows these hornets destroying a hive of Honeybees.<br />
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Well here's the thing with that; throughout Europe and Asia, there are Beekeepers. And there are hives of Honeybees that are bred to have a defense against these hornets. They actually ball up around the scout hornet marking their nest and cook it with heat generated from their wing muscles until it's dead. Alternatively a small strip of metal screen the hornets can't fit through stapled over the entrance also works. It's like a $5 fix. Somehow that didn't make it into the documentary though. <br />
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As for the threat of a hornet nest (Asian, European, or Native) posing a threat to people... there is a whole industry of exterminators and several well stocked shelves of pesticides at your local hardware, garden center, and in most grocery stores that can take care of that. MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-25807166135377650172020-04-09T23:54:00.000-04:002020-05-06T22:44:43.888-04:00Winter Ant Queen on Trillium One of my favorite ant species to photograph are<i> Prenolepis imparis</i>, the Winter Ant. Their queens are beautifully colored, they fly early in the year along side a lot of our earliest native wildflower and sometimes the two "blooms" line up. That's not the case here, but I'm glad to say I didn't have to stage this photo; I walked out in my garden one day and saw it happening. <br />
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This is a patch of Trilliums in the garden that mostly divided this year. It's fairly shady and just under our deck. And it was fairly cold in that spot as opposed to locations in the sun. <br />
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One of the main factors I look for when going out to spot <i>P. imparis </i>queens is a day with temperatures above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. That is the bare minimum temperature queens of this species need in order to leave the nest. One degree lower and they won't take off, though you may see one or two who have been warmed by the sun taking flight.<br />
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I'm at a point in my obsessive plant habit where I have Trilliums now dividing into large clumps and spreading a lot by seed. Lots of other plants too are filling in in places around the garden so chances like this are becoming more common without me having to stage them. <br />
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And because it's in my yard I don't have to venture far to find it... though this image isn't a good example of that. She's just moved onto a stick that pushed up one of the Trillium leaves. <br />
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While it's great that this happened by chance, it wasn't the best location to have happened. The low lighting meant I should have been using a different camera with a flash on it. I took about 70 photos and only the 7 here were really worth showing. They're nice photos but not the best I've taken of the species.<br />
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Here's a shot from last year for example, in a different location with better natural lighting and with the same camera. <br />
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The queen was sort of cooperating because it was too cold for her to take off. The whole time I'm taking images though I was thinking, 'Man wouldn't this be better if she was on a flower that was open.' <br />
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I did soon after took her to a <i>Trillium sessile</i> that was blooming (and smelled amazing!) but the added sunlight was enough to warm her and she took off shortly after this photo was taken. MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-61153006031684376852020-03-27T18:59:00.001-04:002020-03-27T18:59:50.718-04:00Some Early Bloomers<br />
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Bloodroot, <i>Sanguinaria canadensis</i>, came up in the front garden again. I'm particularly proud of this patch because they're entirely grown from seeds I bought online. I believe it was Prairie Moon Nursery. They took two years to germinate. I dam near weeded out the very tiny first year leaves which are about the size of a quarter and barely an inch off the ground. The following year though they started making full sized plants and even had flowers!<br />
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The late winter days when they flower are often met with seasonal winds that topple other flowers that might be blooming. We have crocuses in our lawn for example and the wins flattened the flowering stems to several patches thus the flowers were destroyed. With Bloodroot though the first leaf forms gripping hold of the flower stem for added support, making wind damage less likely to happen. Eventually the flower fades and a seed pod forms which becomes heavy and falls out of the way for the leaf to take center stage. The seed pod lays on the ground or pretty close to it by the time the seeds are mature. Elaiosome on the seeds entices ants to carry them off and start new colonies of bloodroot elsewhere. <br />
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Twinleaf,<i> Jeffersonia diphylla</i>, is another late winter/early spring bloomer. However it seems to embrace the fact that it's flowering at a horrible time of year. Blooms last anywhere from 8 hours to 4 good day and often the petals fall off simply by touching it.<br />
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By good days I mean it's warm enough for them to have opened. On bad days they have enough sense to close up so those days don't seem to count with their internal counter.<br />
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The name Twinleaf comes from their leaf formation which look like a set of elephant ears.<br />
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Later on the flowers turn into acorn-shaped structures that are supposed to spill open but more commonly break open and allow ants access before they get to that point. I often see ants going in and removing the elaiosome packets from the seeds without ever moving them. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7YUG8QBaIUBRqm0dH4RV5dDICBoHomIDKS63Oulr9HJw5YCLeVbee56LhrPrSDPzD6zoODJYqcJBaGgy4Ol0ioRLDIuVlJle-5Ce1FMxARt6LKvDHldHkqylBVXaGK0aQPs2t0MGNms/s1600/P3201591.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7YUG8QBaIUBRqm0dH4RV5dDICBoHomIDKS63Oulr9HJw5YCLeVbee56LhrPrSDPzD6zoODJYqcJBaGgy4Ol0ioRLDIuVlJle-5Ce1FMxARt6LKvDHldHkqylBVXaGK0aQPs2t0MGNms/s640/P3201591.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Trout Lily. It's been so long that I put these in the ground I forget if the yellow or the white one. Regardless, these mostly form colonies of plants that produce single leaves sticking up all over the place. I'm told individuals that have two leaves coming out of the same hole "might" flower which would be nice. After a decade of growing these it would be good to finally see one bloom. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilXXtzwkwkTQM4iJvaBE-T8jpNYoMpGlmYb3PNbe7FAyMT-f6d1K2-fs4tnP0oGFvPlsvBpJcJ06F1c92x-d1u-beKB-EyuajttcPaTJQs1NMT47qyAtz2zHJ-hd6BRi4c1QQCYDDHYE/s1600/P3261644.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjilXXtzwkwkTQM4iJvaBE-T8jpNYoMpGlmYb3PNbe7FAyMT-f6d1K2-fs4tnP0oGFvPlsvBpJcJ06F1c92x-d1u-beKB-EyuajttcPaTJQs1NMT47qyAtz2zHJ-hd6BRi4c1QQCYDDHYE/s320/P3261644.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Spring Beauty,<i> Claytonia virginica</i>, is a beautiful little lawn weed. There is quite a bit of diversity with this "species" which is more than likely a complex waiting to be unraveled. Basically it's been noticed that the length, width, and vanes on the leaves vary in populations as well as the flower shape and color... you know all the basic things that define different species.<br />
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The population I have going all have narrow grass-like leaves, and white flowers with pink vanes that slowly darken up to magenta as time goes on. And this is fairly typical for this species. There is a form in NJ that has yellow flowers though. <br />
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Virginia Bluebells, <i>Mertensia virginica. </i>When I went to the Mt. Cuba Center the first time I heard one of the gardeners complaining about how weedy this plant was and what a pain it is to rip a clump of them out... A few years ago I bought a whole flat of these and put them all over the yard. Thus far they've spread a bit but not to the levels of Goldenrod or Monarda that I was expecting them to be. They don't seem to be reseeding either so hopefully that changes too.<br />
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This is another one with lots of mutations in the wild that aren't offered commercially. Some only have pink flowers, only white flowers, some hue purple or various shades of light blue; all of which have been photographed by random hikers on the internet but have yet to fall in the hands of a grower to propagate them for commercial sale. This is partly why I'm hoping my plants reseed and chance upon a prized mutation to disperse to friends or put in the hands of growers. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNaC96j_Knc84_a8uDbyU0Spvp0AJaLLY9cub_-VAh29WZ_5TnrfhTKUsFCzdSd37p4EdXOJTDWv-lYkhe22I2qQm-CXuaqtfmMc_oGwcw5-TKmInRBD4Y3ifwAGgX7w1nQqYe2JQ68o4/s1600/P3261651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNaC96j_Knc84_a8uDbyU0Spvp0AJaLLY9cub_-VAh29WZ_5TnrfhTKUsFCzdSd37p4EdXOJTDWv-lYkhe22I2qQm-CXuaqtfmMc_oGwcw5-TKmInRBD4Y3ifwAGgX7w1nQqYe2JQ68o4/s640/P3261651.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Jacob's Ladder, <i>Polemonium raptans</i>, is a different story. This is one I didn't see to much of at The Mt. Cuba Center so I thought it would be fairly innocent to grow. Well same story, I bought a flat of it and planted it all over the yard. I've found it's a bit more tolerant of dryer sites and does seem to be producing seedlings in these dryer sites. The established plants though are spreading out quite a bit from the tiny plugs they were just two years ago. They're doing wonderful things growing up into nooks of tree roots around the trunk but are quickly going to become a ground cover in a few years if left alone. I'll update and talk about this plant some more in coming weeks. MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-54519206903104829702020-03-26T15:45:00.001-04:002020-03-26T16:28:59.811-04:00Ant Chat: 2020 Winter Ant Flight<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1gyqV6NKtJQ" width="640"></iframe><br />
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<i>Prenolepis imparis</i>, The Winter Ant, was flying here last week. This was the first main flight for the species in my area. This wasn't as nice a video as it could have been partly because I'm getting over Bronchitis and with the current COVID-19 pandemic going on it's not a good thing to be sick in general. Thankfully the ants were good enough to hold a flight in my yard so I didn't need to venture off to a park to find them.<br />
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In General, you're looking for a warm day. Queens don't fly unless it's 68F or above out and days when it just hits 68 really aren't good enough. You'll find colonies sending queens up but very few of them are taking off. Days well into the 70's are much much better because as soon as the wind blows or the queens fly off they're not immediately getting chilled. </div>
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The next thing to look for are trees, or large wooden structures. The days when this species flies tend to be windy and they need to forage on aphids and scale insects that feed on trees so plants are kind of important with this species. Swarms of males will gather around the trunks of large trees and tall shrubs which is easily seen when looking up towards the sun. Their wings glitter and reflect the sun's rays. I say "wooden structures" because friends in Philadelphia, PA. once reported finding a swarm along a tall wooden fence near one of the many parks they have there in the city. So even in an urban setting you can find this ant. <br />
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Once a swarm has been located you want to hang out a few minutes. Males greatly out number the queens of this species a good 200 to 1 or so. Often there will be several trees near one another so spend a few moment casually walking around the trunk to each and repeat. If there's leaf litter by the trees you may want to kick it away as the queens tend to blend in with it almost perfectly. <br />
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Lastly this is somewhat anecdotal. I've long suspected that males were attracted to the color of the queens along with the pheromones. While recording video and taking pictures I noticed several males land on the monitor to my camera. Further anecdotal evidence, when I was a very young child (not even 10 years old) I had a bright yellow plastic shovel meant for moving sand at the beach. I assume I had used it outside in the winter to play with the snow. And sometime that winter I went out and found it full of male ants. I was too young to say what species it was but I'm pretty sure in guessing they were <i>P. imparis</i> males. It's just one of those things I've been meaning to experiment with. <br />
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<script async="" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4405748987828880" src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-9100705203627436192020-03-26T15:40:00.000-04:002020-03-26T15:40:06.923-04:00Wildflowers Coming Soon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAS95NXnogE3iGgX1zo9IvBsWNOk7gsfIRrHdJybhL-BotozakGEmiLz2jMtapH_24Ubond8hJZJPmXVhtyjKyZ9ZK6cxyzO0iEJ5A47mlwugck5WIOn33oDaiL3ldn2WKsvNXfzrugb0/s1600/Spring+Beauty+winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAS95NXnogE3iGgX1zo9IvBsWNOk7gsfIRrHdJybhL-BotozakGEmiLz2jMtapH_24Ubond8hJZJPmXVhtyjKyZ9ZK6cxyzO0iEJ5A47mlwugck5WIOn33oDaiL3ldn2WKsvNXfzrugb0/s640/Spring+Beauty+winter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Spring
Beauty, <i>Claytonia virginica</i>. It's actually started flowering here so let's start there. The thing is, only one or two of them are blooming and the patch now is turning into it's own sort of lawn. So better photos will be on the way instead of this edited one. It's a small grass-like plant right now
but each of these strands continues to grow and unfurl through the
garden/lawn and produce lots of little flowers along the way.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib1Lg2a66Cr3GvdMjRkZdCeUKXw7treqnteM_0eKOkGuywvNCSqL6GA-7c2dNQuX0gdseqtVS5yftoANwbnTiGDtspXFDE7CLKBvCWc8-_IhdQwNKQTMghCzgAfYUL7h3R7NyUHvTTEog/s1600/Fernleaf+Phacelia+winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1359" data-original-width="1600" height="542" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib1Lg2a66Cr3GvdMjRkZdCeUKXw7treqnteM_0eKOkGuywvNCSqL6GA-7c2dNQuX0gdseqtVS5yftoANwbnTiGDtspXFDE7CLKBvCWc8-_IhdQwNKQTMghCzgAfYUL7h3R7NyUHvTTEog/s640/Fernleaf+Phacelia+winter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Fernleaf
Phacelia, Phacelia bipinnatifida. I have finally gotten this god dam
plant somewhat established in my yard! This is a biannual that only
flowers on it's second (and last) year of life! Also they have to cross
pollinate from a plant that wasn't related to their parent. Between
driving to Delaware each spring and dealing with what has to be one of
the worst online nurseries on the internet I'm glad to see these coming
up on their own.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEico9FBHBgVb4bC_yw6eNHYtM8AvhjFtyT_2ZSdoANSMiTSoKzB1wQoFNbAf9Xe94Z7Ul63W56-TazYGq-K4tO2GeO-5KL5cWmd1XoJ3FxCz04emjpvGs9C6cgeWpgKl-HDp2j8QxX2Jyc/s1600/Giant+Waterleaf+winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEico9FBHBgVb4bC_yw6eNHYtM8AvhjFtyT_2ZSdoANSMiTSoKzB1wQoFNbAf9Xe94Z7Ul63W56-TazYGq-K4tO2GeO-5KL5cWmd1XoJ3FxCz04emjpvGs9C6cgeWpgKl-HDp2j8QxX2Jyc/s640/Giant+Waterleaf+winter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Giant
Waterleaf, Hydrophyllum appendiculatum. This plant lived up to its name
the first year I planted it growing a good 3' tall and wind. Subsequent
generations though have either been annual or biannual growing only a
few inches tall, flowering and then death. They keep coming back though.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp27zN9cTSWMKehWTLgLtVZmvjsA2Ex8tg2T_i6gVJ76mh0IzZHWjaRxkcUiA3_Pg-m-i4cbZs9ITxlkKeJRCSdWBMd4CeljS7wW4J4AovKFN409veNl63x0XfG2xuIEj9gh_x-K9lCZs/s1600/Waterleaf+winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp27zN9cTSWMKehWTLgLtVZmvjsA2Ex8tg2T_i6gVJ76mh0IzZHWjaRxkcUiA3_Pg-m-i4cbZs9ITxlkKeJRCSdWBMd4CeljS7wW4J4AovKFN409veNl63x0XfG2xuIEj9gh_x-K9lCZs/s640/Waterleaf+winter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Hydrophyllum
virginianum, more of a late spring bloomer. It's just a little tuft of
leaves now but the patch quickly expands to fill up the garden.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguy7F_XBTc9vL2QTi7-ZHSwucfR9upyu2dwArfcwYT3xpDfFh-JmrmnRXXe2e0EsB03LbiA2JIEeGwemBfPnFjpbFG1Rlk3mSZTalqH_7CPvEcaOeMJ63XyTLoFMDzVax3bOgsA5HPSag/s1600/Golden+Alexander+winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguy7F_XBTc9vL2QTi7-ZHSwucfR9upyu2dwArfcwYT3xpDfFh-JmrmnRXXe2e0EsB03LbiA2JIEeGwemBfPnFjpbFG1Rlk3mSZTalqH_7CPvEcaOeMJ63XyTLoFMDzVax3bOgsA5HPSag/s640/Golden+Alexander+winter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Golden
Alexander, Zizia aurea. This is a native carrot though I don't think
the roots are meant to be eaten. I think it's a biannual too but I'm not
certain. Some years the patch is lush and full with plants but others
there are bare spots. This is a host plant to the Black Swallowtail but
I've found they only lay eggs on the flowers in the spring time, and
plants are largely ignored over the summer in favor for non-native like
Parsley and Queen Anna's Lace.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaPdKXi_-46HOxO4nnk1ux0ljMBlH6u1szBXOE_qeFT7CLmb-NG0ZWrB4m2md3BOV0epfPrWknH7X5chzQ35ObV6aooA_gF-inPYBNrMLZIqBQCOlhpqqy0JtTy5v_2baI8YGgPuRMUfA/s1600/Jacob%2527s+Ladder+winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaPdKXi_-46HOxO4nnk1ux0ljMBlH6u1szBXOE_qeFT7CLmb-NG0ZWrB4m2md3BOV0epfPrWknH7X5chzQ35ObV6aooA_gF-inPYBNrMLZIqBQCOlhpqqy0JtTy5v_2baI8YGgPuRMUfA/s640/Jacob%2527s+Ladder+winter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Jacob's
Ladder, Polemonium reptans. This plant is semi-evergreen, maintaining a
rosette of leaves all winter. Light blue is more true to their normal
bloom color.</span></span><br />
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Roundleaf Ragwort, Packera obovata. This plant suffers from having one of the worst common names ever. It's actually one of the more striking yellow flowering plants of spring.</span></span><br />
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<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Wild Hyacinth, Camassia quamash, a native bulb that should be planted along side Easter Flowers.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_wYKVmBWJ0rbAWR-G-n0oRQSHsIE6HRxl0W8TxE8Wph_F0QFenBkkdM5Qp552QUEhMsHD-etKG7XC0ZrQerf_bH1Uqsrw4RouQbpj8kxsbAr2W37Vh38QWWx36hyphenhyphenlFkvLgB4EEOsUJI/s1600/Woodland+Phlox+winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ_wYKVmBWJ0rbAWR-G-n0oRQSHsIE6HRxl0W8TxE8Wph_F0QFenBkkdM5Qp552QUEhMsHD-etKG7XC0ZrQerf_bH1Uqsrw4RouQbpj8kxsbAr2W37Vh38QWWx36hyphenhyphenlFkvLgB4EEOsUJI/s640/Woodland+Phlox+winter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span aria-live="polite" class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">Woodland
Phlox, Phlox divaricata. I think this is a cultivar with thicker petals
called 'Blue Moon' but I'm not certain anymore. Patches of this plant
only come back when there's no mulch or barely any leaf litter.
Originally the plant was fragrant but for the past few years I haven't
noticed any fragrance, making me think the original plant has died out
and these are all seedlings.</span></span>MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-71462998987590814862020-02-01T19:39:00.002-05:002020-02-01T19:39:46.983-05:00Witch Hazel Flowering <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Even in the dead of winter there are plants that have evolved to flower. Along with a random Snowdrop that came with an Easter bulb set one year, our Witch Hazel has decided to open up. I'm not sure if this is technically early for this species due to an unseasonably warm winter or fairly normal for this species but we're glad to see it flowering all the same. <br />
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Normally Witch Hazel has yellow or orange flowers but many hybrids have vivid combinations there of the two. The Rare Find Nursery catalogue we get in the mail has about a page and a half devoted to assorted cultivars in lots of different colors. This particular one is called "<span dir="ltr"><span class="_3l3x"><span>Amethyst" and hues more on the purple/red side of the spectrum. </span></span></span><br />
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Regardless of the cultivar, because they flower int he late fall mid winter range they're almost exclusively pollinated by flies. There are reports of honeybees working them too and I'm sure dozens of other little insects that over winter in the adult stage. These insects all require warm days above 45F in order to function, that's also when Witch Hazel plants produce a faint fragrance to attract them.<br />
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I'll be keeping my eyes out for any pollinators on our shrub. It's still fairly little though so I'm not expecting to get much.<br />
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Hope your winter is going well. <br />
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MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-81701017241449942912020-01-15T21:27:00.003-05:002020-01-15T21:27:37.710-05:00Photobucket Outage So I used to host a lot of my photos on Photobucket. Sadly they had a power outage at one of their facilities and they were down for about a week. I've gotten a message explaining that my images might come back but honestly I'm not putting much faith in that. It still tells me I have photos but I can't see or access them. They don't load when I click on them. So until that gets fixed (if it does) a lot of my old posts are gonna have error messages. MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-39959583524146896922019-11-11T17:09:00.000-05:002019-11-11T17:09:42.019-05:00Aphid Sex!!! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Aphid Sex!!! For most of the year aphids reproduce asexually, cloning
themselves over and over again, occasionally producing winged forms that
fly off to new host trees and start new clonal colonies. Well before
winter sets in they change strategies and start producing sexual
reproductive females and males. The males mate with these new females
and instead of cloning themselves the females lay eggs which survive the
winter and the cycle starts all over again next year.MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-33859198604001381612019-06-19T16:44:00.000-04:002019-06-19T16:44:06.539-04:00Ants and Azure Caterpillars. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMuDPKkZuPDisRfCBfaHp5_R-Eh6oVHDc1lwRP-e4atoNrdU77iLbMvGOULnleVz4Oe9l3R_bPHJ6GxnW2WhKgdLuW6r4SbwtQs_T5551huYz1XYgo5np-OMYLf-oIcFP5POFsa-8wedw/s1600/P5300940.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMuDPKkZuPDisRfCBfaHp5_R-Eh6oVHDc1lwRP-e4atoNrdU77iLbMvGOULnleVz4Oe9l3R_bPHJ6GxnW2WhKgdLuW6r4SbwtQs_T5551huYz1XYgo5np-OMYLf-oIcFP5POFsa-8wedw/s640/P5300940.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
A couple of weeks ago (about three) the Spring/Summer Azure butterflies were out and I managed to find one laying some eggs on the New Jersey Tea, <i>Ceanothus americanus</i>. I'm calling it a Spring/Summer Azure because my understanding is that both Spring and Summer Azure butterflies are species complexes, meaning several nearly identical-looking species that scientists have been taking for granted as being the one or fewer species.<br />
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The resulting caterpillars mostly hatched and chewed on the flowers. They take on a white coloration and blend in with the petals near perfectly. This would be the perfect camouflage were it not for the huge orange ant tending it. <br />
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This is a <i>Camponotus castaneus</i> worker. It's a ground nesting species we have in the eastern United States and Canada. Normally they only come out and forage at night but I'm guessing these caterpillars are producing a noise similar to a queen ant or larva when they require tending to.<br />
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I'm not certain on the noise aspect for this species though but some members of this family do. They require a special microphone to hear also and are really just a series of muffled clicks and chirping sounds.<br />
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What I am certain of is the caterpillar produces nectar on occasion which the ant is sipping at. This can actually change the ant's behavior making them guard the caterpillar instead of steal nectar from the flowers. Ants do steal nectar from <i>Ceanothus </i>flowers but not all of them will the caterpillars oddly enough and I don't know why this is. <br />
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In years past I've seen <i>Lasius americanus, Camponotus subbarbatus</i>, and <i>Tapinoma sessile</i> tending the caterpillars. But on the same plants I find <i>Temnothroax curvipinosus</i> workers nectar scraping, stealing nectar from flowers, and generally foraging on the plant. Oddly enough I've never found them tending an Azure caterpillar. This might just be because the other species mentioned would easily conquer them for supremacy over the right to occasionally drum their antenna on the caterpillar. Clearly this is an experiment I should preform but I don't think I'm equipped I test out any of the findings beyond saying "Yeah they will tend them in the absence of other ants," or "no they don't bother with them."<br />
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Also on the topic of <i>Caponotus castaneus</i>, they've been fly the past week and I managed to find a queen under a rock in the yard. <br />
<br />MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3855702103486387217.post-20735489709027022232019-04-21T01:07:00.002-04:002019-04-21T01:07:33.357-04:00My Garden on EasterEaster is conveniently happening at the peak of wildflower season in my yard. Lots of wonderful colors to look at that are all on theme with the holiday. It's a shame my family doesn't gather at my house for this holiday but in a way it's a blessing. So many non-native bulbs though they certainly serve their purpose. The thing about Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths, and "Easter" Lilies is they thrive best in full sun. Almost all our native ephemerals are shade plants. It's a shame they're not sold in as much abundance or bought with the same enthusiasm.<br />
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I rarely get to show off my garden to family members I don't live with.
Often the holidays they do come over my garden is transitioning from one
season to the next and lacking in flowers. Despite the diversity in my
garden few of the species bloom with any abundance. They don't always demonstrate their usefulness either. <br />
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My camera doesn't capture the detail it should in this photo. <br />
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Second attempt wasn't much better I should probably stop trying such wide photos of small objects. <br />
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Trees are probably the best way to entice pollinators into the garden. This beefly is a little late to the party but cooperated for a photo on a cool day on the new Witch Hazel I've added to the garden. On warm days I've seen it (more likely others) flying around on the Native Plums when they flowered then a day before those blooms closed up onto the Beach Plum tree and now onto the Apple Tree which started flowering this weekend. <br />
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Beeflies are important pollinators for certain plants like Woodland Phlox, <i>Phlox divaricata</i>. Long tongued bees and flies are the only insects that can reach the pollen anthers hidden deep within the tube-shaped flowers. Without them populations of these flowers diminish in size or blink out entirely. Unlike creeping phlox, <i>Phlox divaricata</i> is a short lived perennial. When pollination occurs though they are abundant seeders and spread far and wide.<br />
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But the other thing about beeflies is that most of them are parasites of Bumblebee hives. They invade the nests, lay a few eggs and the maggots eat the wax. Bumblebees don't really pollinate phlox though, so in order to have the pollinator of this Phlox species you need enough wildflowers and trees established to support a few bumblebee hives. <br />
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As an aside, I did a google image search for "Bumblebee Phlox" and almost all the images that come up are of Carpenter Bees which chew holes in the sides of the Phlox flowers to gain access to the nectar and probably don't pollinate the flower. Bumblebees do visit Phlox but of the images taken I only saw the summer flowering species. Not <i>Phlox divaricata</i>. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but it seems rare if it does. <br />
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Our ephemerals get away growing and flowering now because most trees have yet to leaf out. When they do though they secrete a small amount of sugary sap. Here a<i> Nylanderia faisonensis</i> worker is exploring a few leaves on the sapling I planted last year. <br />
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Sap isn't always a good thing though. The flower buds to our Flame Azalea, <i>Rhododendron calendulaceum</i>, are so sticky with sap that insects that land on them get stuck. This is probably an added way to entice humming birds to visit the flower but I don't think it's always successful. More likely it's a method to prevent ants from crawling into the blooms when they open and stealing all the nectar to them selves. (I've actually found opened Flame Azalea flowers that had ants all stuck to the stems of their flowers). Whether it's intentional or not, it's probably still to the humming bird's benefit should it chance up on one. <br />
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These types of flies are becoming more abundant in my yard too. I've caught them visiting more than a few of my Trillium species. I had assumed all the large white flowering Trilliums were pollinated by bees but this photo tells another story. The pale yellow/white dots on the fly here are actually pollen. <br />
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These are <i>Trillium flexipes</i>, note how fat the petals are to form a triangular shape overall and how the pollen is pale in color. <br />
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This is<i> Trillium grandiflorum</i>, note the bright yellow pollen and how the petals are ruffled along the edges. The petals aren't as wide either. <br />
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I know for a fact that Honeybees and Bumblebees will visit these flowers but only when the patches are in abundance. Maybe ~25 plants all flowering within a few feet of one another? My plants aren't quite there yet but given time they'll get there. <br />
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I've found our native Jacob's Ladder,<i> Polemonium reptans</i>, makes a beautiful companion plant for them. They're just short enough to fill in all around underneath the Trilliums and the blue flowers are a nice addition. <br />
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I bought a nice big flat of these from New Moon Nursery a few years back. They were a pain in the ass the rip free from the plastic flat. The roots seem to push outward all the way up the plastic. I was ripping the foliage clean off the top of them and probably did that to most of them before I figured out a good method. Pushing up from the bottom worked but required a lot more force than expected. They really didn't want to come out of there! <br />
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Fernleaf Phacelia, <i>Phacelia bipinnatifida</i>, has FINALLY started to establish in my yard! Of all the spring ephemerals in eastern North America, this is probably one of the best ones to plant for honeybees... a shame I don't have hives anymore. I've been trying to get this plant to grow in my yard for probably the last 8 years now.<br />
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The issue with it is that it's a biannual and the only place selling it online basically has an <b>F</b> rating from the Better Business Bureau. I bought from them once and they sent me Watercress by mistake, yes that little invasive lawn weed with exploding seed pods everyone tries to get ride of... This place Sells that... to people... for money... and they pay them to do it apparently...<br />
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I called them about the mistake and they refused to help me until I had sent them pictures to prove they had made the mistake and then demanded the plants back at my cost! About a month later I received a trash bag in the mail of Fernleaf Phacelia roots that were lacking any green growth to them. This was in May so the plants had already flowered which they do at the end of their life cycle... So they sent me a bunch of dead plants.<br />
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So in order for me to obtain this species I have to drive to Native Plant Sales in Delaware and Pennsylvania (I'm in NJ) and hope they happen to be selling this species.<br />
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I fell in love with this stuff at the Mt. Cube Center in DE where it grows in huge abundance on some years. One time during their annual Wildflower Celebration I was telling one of the gardeners there I'm friendly with how I wish the species were more available to sale, especially in seed form. You'd think someone would sell it in seed form given that it's a biannual or at the very years recently germinated plugs. The Gardener couldn't believe no one was doing that and then told me, to my horror, that they actually cull the stuff there every few years! They fill up huge trash bags with it.... I wonder if that awful online nursery I bought from was stealing from their garbage?<br />
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Anyway, as you can see my efforts to get this plant started has come along. It's growing nicely beside some Jacob's Ladder. Several years of planting 1 quart sized pots of it have started something of a seed bank. The only thing holding it back now are the rabbits which have a real liking for the stuff. One year I had a great big plant growing a good 3' across and then the next day it had all been nibbled down into nothing. <br />
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Virginia Bluebells are another one that's supposed to spread like crazy. So far my plants have only enlarged in size each year. I'm not seeing any seedlings at all. It's another plant the gardeners at the Mt. Cuba Center occasionally have to weed out when they get too aggressive. <br />
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Woodland Poppy, <i>Stylophorum diphyllum</i>, has spread like a sort of weed though not in the direction I'd like it to. I stared with maybe 6 plants of this one year and they've spread quite a bit, but died out where I initially planted them. They seem to like growing away from other plants instead of next to them though I do like that they're spreading.<br />
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This species is also called the Caladine Poppy, but I hate this name because I have no idea what a Caladine is besides a different plant. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/celandine">Webster's Dictionary</a> says it's basically a yellow flower scientifically known as <i>Chelidonium majus</i>, which is an invasive weed in America often mistaken for <i>Stylophorum diphyllum</i>. So it's common name refers to a species that it isn't... What? Is the dictionary wrong? It seems to be implying that the Calandine Poppy is the Calandine Poppy but not that Calandine Poppy, rather it's this Calandine Poppy over here.<br />
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If you google Calandine Poppy it certainly gives you <i>Stylophorum diphyllum</i>. So someone stole a name somewhere or is wrong. <br />
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The Eastern Redbuds in my yard are now all very well established and the perfect overlay to the ephemeral garden plants beneath them. Eventually the red/pink petals will drop from the tree and sprinkle the color to the display below. <br />
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I had assumed the Spring Beauty, Claytonia , would be pinker before I planted it. That was the intent anyhow. I tried planting a pink flowering <i>Phlox stolonifera</i> which I read is aggressive spreading and one of the hardest phlox species to kill... well it died out. <br />
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Right now the only pink under the tree are the shriveled up petals<i> Trillium pusillum</i>. Interesting thing about this plant, I bought them from a nursery selling them as <i>Trillium catesbaei</i>. At least I think that was this nursery. I don't keep good records of all the plants I buy and from whom but given how much of this I have coming up, I would have had to have bought a flat of them. They've taken this long to ID because this is the first time one of them has flowered. <br />
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Trillium viridescens, looking handsome as usual. <br />
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This is by far the most successful Trillium species in my yard. Each late afternoon they produce a faintly pungent scene of rotting apples and get swarmed by vinegar flies which transfer pollen from one flower to the other. They all started as just three plants, but that's become three large clumps of flowering stems with patches of seedlings all around them and then strays like the one photographed here coming up in other places. <br />
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I'm gonna have to start giving them away as gifts. <br />
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More Jacob's Ladder doing well. I planted so much of this because I'd given up on Fernleaf Phacelia and wanted to move onto something easier to grow. Despite having such a good year with Phacelia, ultimately because it's a biannual I have no idea where it will come up next year, unless I collect seeds. <br />
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Round Leaf Ragwort. This would be having a good year but isn't. Basically the past two years, a female rabbit used the patch to have her babies in. She cleared out a nest in the middle. Then this year we got a puppy... (I'm amazed my Trilliums are holding up as well as they are.) She's has also decided to make this spot in the Ragwort patch her little spot to lay and chew things like plant stem. <br />
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<i>Trillium cuneatum</i> growing beneath one of my few non native plants. The non native Bleeding heart was a mistake on my part. Back when I started gardening they were in the same genus as the native ones. So I have this gigantic bleeding heart plant I've started dividing and spreading about. <br />
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I didn't know <i>Trillium cuneatum</i>, was so amazingly fragrant until last year when a different one started flowering. While <i>T. viridescens</i> smells like rotting fruit, <i>T. cuneatum</i> is much more like fresh apples. Oddly though it doesn't seem to get anywhere near as many pollinators to it. I've yet to see anything land on them actually. <br />
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Another of what I'm calling T. cuneatum though I suspect one or the other is a different species. These are flowering for the first time and relatively short. They're newly planted this year so the stems might not be so short in future. <br />
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I have another one that's just as big as the red flowering one (two pictures up) but with flower petals in this shade. They all smell the same but that might be coincidence. We'll see what they do next year. </div>
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There are Trillium species that remain this short though.<br />
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I've been finding Trillium growers (even reputable ones that don't steal from nature) have difficulty distinguishing some species apart. Lots of reasons for this. Growing them from seed they require 2 years to germinate, produce a single leaf of foliage for the next 2 to 3 years and then all look fairly identical until flowering. Take into account having to move flats around in a green house and it's easy to see over even just a 5 year period how things can get mixed around. Likewise Trilliums are prone to hybridizing with some frequency. <br />
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<i>Trillium luteum</i> is another one I've had for a long time. They've mostly started to divide like my<i> T. viridescens</i>, but I've noticed when they do that they don't flower as much. I've never gotten them to produce seeds, nor seen anything visiting the flowers, even though they smell nice and lemony. Hopefully as the Trillium patches continue to grow in size I'll get more of the flies, beetles, and bees that pollinate them taking closer attention. <br />
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Red Trilliums I've been finding very tricky to ID. I'm going with <i>T. vaseyi</i> because that's what the nursery said they were, but I'm not certain how they ruled out, <i>T. sulcatum</i>, or <i>T. erectum</i>. Actually I can kind of see how it isn't <i>T. erectum</i> which I assume would have a larger flower with slightly longer petals. <i>T. vaseyi </i>and<i> T. sulcatum</i> seem to differ only in whether they stick the flower above or below the leaves. Mine just opened today so and have the flowers above the leaves suggesting <i>T. sulcatum </i> ... but they might hang under the leaves in a day or two...<br />
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Whatever the case, I'm happy to see they're at least getting pollinated both by vinegar flies and some sort of pollen beetle. <br />
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Maybe I should cave in and plant more tulips; no one cares what pollinates those. MrILoveTheAntshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11892923962645751984noreply@blogger.com