New Camera

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS 12MP Digital Camera with 2.8-Inch LCD (Black)
Which I bought because it topped the list of a few macro point and shoot though really it seemed to be a narrow margin between that and the next four below it. Sadly it doesn't have any port to plug in a portable flash, (at least not that I've found). 

Also it does NOT come with the USB cord required to get images off of the camera and onto the computer! Thankfully my first camera years ago was a Canon and I still had a cord laying around. 

Raynox DCR-250 Super Macro Snap-On Lens
I also bought this which might have been the better buy because it's almost universally able to attach to any point and shoot camera.  

All of which came at the recommendation by Alex Wild, a professional photographer in the scientific world who teaches classes around the world with emphasis on photographing insects. (Though he's more so a professor at one of the Universities I believe.)

So after a day of shooting here's some of what I came up with.

Butterfly Weed Relations

Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Weed, has been at the height of blooming for a week now. Here you can see the red stripes I talked a little about earlier. I may try to start a lot of this by seed this year and try to get some that has deeper red flowers. At any rate I plan on doing a lot of seed propagating this autumn to see what I can really get established.

Bumblebees have been the main pollinator of the flowers so there's little to worry about. This species is self compatable too so they'll generate viable seed even if they don't visit other plants.

Milkweed gets pollinated in an odd sort of way. Basically the pollen anthers themselves break off and attach to the foot of the pollinator, then then have to get stuck in one of the 5 grooves on another bloom.

Hidden among the flowers was a wolf lynx spider (thanks Sara) which I saw had recently shed its skin.

Normally they're a gray color. What struck me about this one though was how it was almost mimicking the color of the milkweed flowers while its exoskeleton hardened up. I found several other spider skins attached to leaves under other plants.

My little meadow garden has been a good source of ant food for my Pheidole colony. The closest to a common name they have is Big-Headed Ants and while the major caste does have a large head it's not something the average person would notice. The ants are only 3mm long.

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle

The Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle, Labidomera clivicollis, is one of many colorful insects associated with milkweed. The orange and black coloration is almost universal signs that says "Don't Eat Me" or "I Taste Awful." The Monarch Butterfly, Milkweed Bugs, the Four Eyed Beetle and even the Milkweed Tussock Moth and Caterpillar all use this color pattern. Down South "Queen" and "Soldier" Butterflies are as brilliantly orange and black as the Monarch. There are even species that mimic these to not get eaten, such as the Viceroy which differs from the Monarch in that it's wings are smiling among other things.

Unfortunately this Swamp Milkweed Beetle has a liking for Purple Milkweed, Asclepias purpurascens, which is going to flower for the first time in my yard. Worst of all, it has a liking for eating the flower buds instead of the leaves. So I've moved it over to some Asclepias incarnata which is the species the beetle is named after. They also go for Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, and likely others as well.

Swallowtail Number Three Emerges

Good Morning! 

The third Eastern Black Swallowtail emerged today. And unlike the second, his wings are perfect. I've since lined the bottom of the tank with tissue paper. While it felt clean to me, the second one's wings were apparently delicate enough to still get stuck on the trace amounts of stickiness. His wings were so messed up that he wouldn't stop trying to flap them and tragically he ran out of energy by the second morning.

I'll be feeding him room temperature Gatorade, once it gets to be room temperature that is. And hopefully this one will live long enough for me to release him into the wild. It's going to storm here later today and possibly tomorrow morning so hopefully he doesn't mind being cooped up a day or two.

Honeybees on New England Asters

New England Asters, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, seem like they were made for honeybees to pollinate. I sat down for five minutes today with mine and it didn't take long before I had this photo. Granted there's probably 20 shots I didn't use, but the bees were making it easy.

The one fault of the New England Aster is it's a top heavy plant that always seems to fall over. I'm seriously considering espaliering the apple tree around it to hold it up. On the up side, fallen over limbs lead to neat side view shots like this.

Coreopsis Testing

Tall Tickseed, is but one of the plants I saw at the Mt. Cuba Center's trial garden. Their trial garden had been under construction until earlier in the year, but I hadn't been to it since their wild flower celebration earlier in this April. This plant caught my eye because I grow the non-cultivar of it, which is about 2 images shorter, around 4' instead of 7'.

There were a number of Coreopsis growing there. Here are some of what I thought were the highlights.

Coreopsis 'Summer Punch' caught my eye because it reminded me of the true species of Blanket Flower, Gaillardia aristata. One could almost grow the two together.

Coreopsis 'Sienna Sunset' it surprises me how much I like the color on this. The flower is a bronzed salmon tone that I want to say makes it a very unique color.

Coreopsis rosea 'Dreamcatcher' was the brightest and most lush looking of the purples. I think they said species growing in double rows there were annuals. The idea though was to grow them in a garden setting, but I'm not sure if that includes regular watering.

Coreopsis integrifolia had a very striking flower to it. I think they were growing it more to test its cold hardiness as it's native to Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. My fingers are crossed that it survives.

They were also testing out Heucheras. Now, the majority of these are shade plants, so what's photographed here is their full sun testing. That tarp that's going around in the back is covering the full shade area of the trial garden where they had hundreds of Heucheras growing. This isn't a group of plants that I've ever wanted to grow because they're more about the foliage than the flowers. They come in a wide variety of colors though and easily add class to the garden. The shade garden in the summertime in particular tends to need some coloring up. So these are a great plant but not for me. 

So the real reason for me going to the Mt. Cuba Center was to learn about the Asteraceae plant family, which I'll get into more detail a little later.

Black Swallowtail Before the Meadow

Another Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes, hatched today. This time it's a male. What surprises me though is this was the third one to form a chrysalis but the second one to hatch. I'll give the other one a few more days before jumping to conclusions but there's a chance it will wait until next spring to emerge. I have another 5 caterpillars waiting for make their own chrysalises, and I think that's it for this species this year. The females lay eggs on the Parsley, and the resulting caterpillars are surprisingly conservative eaters. Compared to other cats out there these barely nibble the plant early on. Later instars will consume whole sprigs in a day but you get a surprising amount of caterpillars per parsley plant. I've taken to collecting them once they're an inch long and feeding them Golden Alexander, Zizia aurea, in captivity. Golden Alexander is a host plant but the females will only lay on the tender new growth... once they're done flowering they're pretty much done growing, thus this is only a spring time host plant. The caterpillars are happy to eat it all the same.

Also note the meadow garden in the background. I haven't been updating over the summer that much because the orange coneflower, Rudbeckia fulgida, and butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, weren't as showy overall. The Sky Blue Asters, Symphyotrichum laeve, and Symphyotrichum azureus are starting to fill in nicely against the Showy Goldenrod, Solidago speciosa, and Coreopsis tripteris. The two aster species look way to similar to really tell apart, but that's okay as S. laeve tends to bloom a few weeks sooner than S. azureus, creating the illusion of a prolonged bloom.

Philadelphia International Flower Show 2012

I just got back from the Philadelphia International Flower Show 2012. This year's theme was an Orchid Orgasm! 

Actually this year's theme was Hawaii: Islands of Aloha, which is news to me because up until I arrived I thought it was Waves of Change or something. Anyhow this is easily the best flower show I've gone to so far.

Let's begin by discussing my strategy of showing up as early as possible. Despite being Sunday morning I was surprised to see how many old ladies skipped out on church to come see the show. Even then the crowds weren't as awful as they have been in the past and I wish the best of luck to anyone thinking they're going to be able to walk comfortably after twelve noon. The main theme exhibits are where all of the traffic jams occur. Supposedly more than 10,000 people are expected to show up the first day, and I can say from past experience that it's not an unrealistic goal for weekdays either. One women was practically forcing my hand into her purse as she pushed me out of the way to take a photo. The artistic, floral, and educational exhibits don't draw nearly as big of a crowd, so beyond the main exhibit everyone disperses nicely.    

You enter the show under curved view screens that display waves which help set the tone. They're lined with white orchids and something else that's rich with the fragrance of pollen. This sudden hit of fragrance at the entrance has always been a key point to making a good show, but wasn't as strong as in past years.

From behind, the big wave isn't nearly as impressive but it's nice to see the use of technology. 

The main theme exhibit is a massive waterfall which I wasn't able to do justice to. It's as tall as the Aggro Crag but covered in Orchids and has a waterfall down the front!

This is so much more impressive than a mary-go-round and two legs of the Eiffel tower that highlighted last year's show. 

Orchids take the place of Rhododendrons which where almost completely absent from the show itself. And it took me a good hour of walking before I saw my first bulb which is really saying a lot for the designers of this year's show. 

Exhibits were happily growing pineapple right in the scenery.

Star Fruit, Honey Melon, Bananas, I love it when food plants are used in these displays. (I would have centered this picture better but there was this women in a wheel chair who fought a lot harder than me to get a better angle.)

All I recognize here are Paradise Flowers and I'm not even confident with that ID.

I'm also unsure why some of them were growing hair.

Apparently this table won some awards. I have to admit I'm completely ignorant to the judging process or even what categories there are. Stopping to read anything just isn't practical at these crowded shows. 

This is the end of an exhibit who's line was moving to slow to even bother with. I liked the flowers here but the rest was manikins dressed in native Hawaiian attire standing around huts and surf boards, and at a glance looked stereotypical and offensive, despite its educational attempt. 

Despite the lack of flowers here, this was one of my favorite of the theme displays.

It shows more of a Hawaiian badlands area. Actual volcanic rocks were used throughout. The large tower to the left is made of stacked break pads and train wheel-like parts.

It's reminiscent of a meadow and I think that's why I like it so much.

 The landscapers this year seemed to be confused where to focus their attention. The main theme of the show is tropics so they have the option of going with that theme or staying true to what works around here. I might be mistaken and this could be an artistic exhibit but they've tried to create a lava effect. (My map has this labeled as a landscaping exhibit though.)

 For lack of a better image I like how this one was more casual in showing off an ideal back yard get away. They used actual white sand for their entire exhibit which expands far off to the right out of frame.

This was probably the smartest of the designs, as far as stirring up local business is concerned. Change out a few of the plants and I could see this being someone's back yard.

Also something I noticed about exhibits with ponds in them. Everyone keeps throwing money in them!

 

 To me this was as eye catching as the main theme exhibits. Note that some of the buildings have rooftop gardens. It's begging for a topiary Godzilla ... or lawn mower... or topiary Godzilla vs. the Lawnmower! 

 The models are well made, and the tiny plants are almost perfectly scaled to be trees.

 Sure the roads look a little cheap but that's a pretty good representation of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

 

 

 There was one there which a memorial to the Battleship Arizona, complete with names of the officers who died as the focus of their design.  

 

As a side note I noticed the really tall Snapdragons were in one of the artistic exhibits.

These are my two favorite staged designs. There were other art exhibits surrounding but I don't follow them that much. Paintings of flowers, dresses made of flowers, tiny window boxes of flowers... it all starts to look the same after a while. 

  

 The EPA had an exhibit on display featuring all native plants! I didn't have time to stop and read the labels to all of them but there were lots of small blue phlox coming into bloom.

 Rhododendrons (I think the only ones to appear at this year's show) were also part of their exhibit along side blueberry plants in flower.

Carnivorous pitcher plants were also flowering.

Blueberries in flower.

Fothergilla grande.

An issue with using natives is fewer nurseries grow them and aren't willing to expend their stock by forcing them to flower out of season. The result is often green and brown being the most common colors at this time of year. In years past I think they used witch hazel, and berry plants in their exhibit.

Onto what I'm calling the orgasm of orchids. What seemed like more than a third of the Horticultural part of the show was comprised of nothing but Orchids!

I knew this was a big family of plants but there was a ridiculous amount of variety here. 

 One of the prettiest pictures I took at the show.

 This one actually grew like a tree or Rhododendron with all it's flowers atop the taller stems.

 

 

 

 

 

 Here's an Orchid that wants to be a Trillium.

 

 Talk about out growing its pot.

 

 Pineapple!

 Ipheion... Why don't people just use Blue Eyed Grass?

 Didn't get the name of this one but it's nice. 

Someone had an Amorphophallus titanum at the show! This is a great big tropical plant that takes something like 50 years to make a very awful smelling flower. 

 And last of all there's the area reserved for the usual crap. Crocuses, Daffodils, Irises, Narcissus, Tulips, Hyacinths have all been included in the main theme exhibits in the past 4 years that I've gone to the show. While there's something wonderful to say that you can see them in professional designs buy them at any garden center, it eventually begs the question why anyone would ever pay money to see them at a show if that's all they're going to use. The fact that they were didn't use them at all is what makes this the best flower show I've ever been to.

Now a brief moment of shopping.

This vender was a crazy person. They're selling snowdrops in individual pots. You can buy them normally at any garden center by the bag for a few dollars. Some of them are 'cultivars' but it's hard to justify buying them this way. The pot and dirt are probably more expensive than the bulb inside of them. Having slightly more green spots, or a stem that's slightly shorter than normal on a plant that's barely noticeable to begin with ... Like do any of these honestly look that different from the norm!? They're Snowdrops! It's not uncommon for them to flower in the snow. No one is laying down in the mud or snow just to see how this cultivar differs. The effing flower even faces the ground! I don't even think they're double flowering!

 

Orchids, 3 for $20. If I knew how to grow them these properly that sounds like a great deal.

Seed packets for Thistle. It's a nonnative currently invading the west coast but thistle all the same. 

My only real complaint was that I didn't get laid at the show, though they were selling them. So that was the show this year. LOVED IT! 

Also Fun Fact: A Hawaiian Luau doesn't get the same result as Mardi Gras beads.