Texas Wildflowers

 

Milkweed City

Take me down to milkweed city, where the flowers smell great and the bugs are pretty... ...well, beauty is rather subjective. I'm sure another Milkweed Stem Weevil could be attracted to this one here.

Monarch butterfly caterpillars are the usual residents of milkweed city, since the plants are their favorite food. However, this large stand of plants has attracted many different tenants...

...like this pretty black Virginia Ctenucha Moth. I never realized that some moths are so active during the day.

This gorgeous Garden Spider was quite small, but they can get really large.

Here are two more monarch cats, munching away....

.....so they can grow beyond their current teeny size.

What's this? A drag race?

I never noticed this pretty butterfly before!

Turns out it's a Red Admiral.

This Daddy Long Legs looks small on the large milkweed leaves...

....but the Red Milkweed Beetle is easy to spot!

This sleek pollinator is a Bald Faced Hornet...

...and my froggie friend the Spring Peeper enjoys the sturdy leaves, cover, and insect buffet!

This exquisite Crab Spider has spots that actually match the blooms! Excellent camo!

A less attractive resident is this Robber Fly...perhaps he represents the "criminal element"of milkweed city.

Along with plenty of ants, milkweed city hosts the Banded Longhorn as well...

.....along with a spider I wasn't able to ID (yet...it becomes a kind of obsession with me :) I'll edit in whatever I find out later. Update 10/20/12: this is a Long-Jawed Orb Weaver, more info here and here ...better late than never, eh?

But it's the well-known "celebrity" of milkweed city, the Monarch butterfly, who's the star of the show (and the reason I've happily let this stand of milkweed get so huge). They aren't always too easy to photograph clearly, and I followed this one a long time to try and get a shot with the wings open. This was as good as I got....

.....most were near-misses like this (see it taking flight in the upper right-hand corner?)

They're even more dizzying in their "holding patterns" above the city...

....looking for a place to land.

June Bloom Day

Bloom Day? I got your Bloom Day right here!

For more detailed Bloom Day action, check out the links on the Bloom Day founder's page. Thanks as always for hosting, Carol!

Random Garden Happenings

Aside from veggie planting, there's plenty of other garden action at Millertime! Ants busy on the peony buds... ...harvestmen hanging out as well.

This clematis bloom is pretty, but what's up with the folded petal?

It's a spider hideout! Generally I find them to be beautiful, but the eyes on this Jumping Spider kinda freak me out.

The lupine blooms are always a welcome sight...

...as are the Showy Ladyslippers! This year there are two blooms forming-yay!

I got my first winter catalog the other day! Huh? (Actually I understand the wisdom of preparing to harvest in advance, but I was put off at the mere suggestion of winter this time of year. Heck, summer only started what, like ten minutes ago?! :)

Here's the area I'd burned off this past spring (can't you tell?)

I sure can't believe it looked like this barely a month and a half ago.

The taverns up here have a drink that's popular when the weather gets hot: lemonade mixed with vodka (the "basic" recipe, though this one sounds good too :) Anyway, the drink is called a "summer hummer", but here is my preferred variety...

See the droplet of water at the top of the image? I'd left my hose dripping over the deck railing onto a fern that's planted next to a tree and always dry. I turned around to find Mr. Hummingbird here using it as a shower! Glad to help, dude. Then I saw this "ghostly" weed orchid re-appearing, twice the size it was last year.

I had some guests over Memorial Day weekend, I think they wanted to hang out someplace quiet due to the extra ATV traffic.

My Wine Cap Stropharia bed has been producing very well this year, after a quick harvest only three months post-innoculation last year!

This gigantic amendment project needs to be repeated throughout the flowerbed areas. I began by laying down wet newspaper (I also used large paper kitty litter bags which gave me lots of coverage). Then I topped the wet paper with a 2-3" layer of composted manure....

....then covered that with a layer of wood mulch. Looks kind of "bright" at first, but it will fade in the sun. The plants in this area have really responded well, especially since we started getting rain.

Well, back at it then! :)

Odds and Ends From Last Summer

With the current conditions of wind chills in the -20's and 14" of snow on the ground, I've decided to rescue an orphan post from early last summer. This poor Eastern Tiger Swallowtail looks as though it's been caught in a storm as well, albeit not a blizzard.

This image doesn't adequately demonstrate the full scope of the problem, but I need a "rescue from fescue"! Some varieties of blue fescue grass behave very well, but this one was purchased by mail at Michigan Bulb where often the actual nitty-gritty variety of a cultivar isn't specified. Ah well, live & learn & shop more carefully!

I did manage to trim off the seed heads before it got any more out of control, but next year a big makeover is in the works (FYI-This grass will go to seed more than once a year sometimes!)

*Sigh* This was the last of the shiitakes, but I can't complain-this log has been producing since 2005! Guess it's time to contact my friends at Field and Forest Products for more spawn plugs to innoculate some new logs.
Last summer was very creature-heavy, with lots of traffic from skunks, squirrels, and these guys...

...Mr.Raccoon decides to move in closer...

....much to Gizmo's delight...
.....okay, maybe not!
The leaf rollers were pretty busy...
...luckily the milkweed plants were, too. Great news for my Monarch Butterfly caterpillars!

This cute little beach pea pops up here and there all over my yard, never getting too aggressive or unmanageable.

However this creature looks as though she certainly could become aggressive! This is a Common Snapping Turtle, and she startled me when I noticed her at my shoreline (apparently watching me). These images were taken at the time of year when snappers come ashore to lay eggs, but usually after dark. Was she waiting for me to get out of her way?
Guess so! (See her by the tree, swimming away?) Sorry ma'am, please feel free to come back later! (I think they usually return to the same spot every year to lay eggs, so I imagine she did. I have found shells dug up by predators in the yard before, as well as baby turtles trying to find their way back to the water. Fun stuff!)

I am very blessed to have an abundance of froggies in my yard, and last year was no exception. This is a Spring Peeper, isn't he cute?

Canadian geese goslings are cute too, as long as they stay out of my yard! The parents are very aggressive when protecting them, and they tend to try and take over. Definately not the kind of birds I seek to attract when I put out feeders!

That's right....move along....nothing to see here! Now this combo could never get old! Pink lupine and ostrich fern....

....I like this volunteer columbine by the wagon wheel, too.

Plenty of "chive talkin' " going on last year, too (you have no idea how long I've wanted to use that! :)

Hey! Volunteer sedum (not sure exactly which one), nothing wrong with extras!

This area is pretty "weedy", but I like it anyway...

....marsh marigold gets pretty leggy in this spot...

....Canada Anemone mixes nicely with spurge, IMO. Another frequent visitor this year, I saw a garter snake at least once a week all season.

My pal, the Red Squirrel, was bolder than usual (Or I just happened to catch him in the act).

Of course Jack-in-the-Pulpit is always a welcome sight...

....along with his garden mate Yellow Ladyslipper .

Red here doesn't look too impressed, though....

....maybe he had the same kind of luck I did with the "digital revolution"!

Now, if deer could transmit digital signal, I'd be all set! They were near my yard.....

....in my yard.....

.....seemingly around every corner! All season!And very un-apologetic about it! Naturally, they brought their appetites too :(
Another pest last summer was the emerald ash borer, and this odd purple thing was visible at the roadside all over the place. Of course, I had to stop and investigate...

....yep, it's an ash borer trap. Thankfully, I didn't hear that they actually found any in my area, but I'm guessing it's only a matter of time. Ah well, all good things must be challenged (or come to an end)... ....like this post!

Now back to our regularly scheduled winter!