Posted by wilde on June 25th, 2007 — Posted in Vegetable
The first week of summer is proving to be a hot one here in central Pennsylvania. Temperatures in the 90s and bright all-day long sun is making for some limp plants by the end of the day. Late afternoon shade from the nearby trees starts their recovery, but a few need the cool of the night to fully be rejuvenated.
In early spring I transplanted a grouping of Rudbeckia from a bed next to the house to an open area in the front yard next to the lane. The root ball was huge and too heavy to carry on my shovel. I pulled on the old tops from last year’s growth to drag the plant onto a large plastic bag and then dragged the bag and plant over to the new area.
Rudbeckia doing well in full sun.
The centers of this Rudbeckia sp. are yellow and not chocolate-brown.
The reason I even mention this flower garden plant in this wildflower and wild herb blog is that earlier I reported it to be a black-eyed susan, which was obviously wrong.
The black-eyed susans are blooming though - I saw a bunch yesterday while out driving.
What else is blooming now?
Many of the summertime garden flowers are blooming - lilies, foxglove, dahlia, marigolds, larkspur, cactus - to our delight the list goes on and on!
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Posted by wilde on June 13th, 2007 — Posted in Animal, Vegetable
Now I know that all those big-sounding rain drops that I hear the day after a storm, well, they aren’t always water. And those falling leaves aren’t always from the activity of mischeivious squirrels, either!
I made a strange discovery today when surveying the land for damage from the storm last night. We did lose at least three good sized trees due to lightning. We’re thankful to have such nice neighbors with chainsaws, but that wasn’t the strange part.
Feces of striking similarity to that of tomato hornworms, which is found on and around tomato plants in the summertime, littered the tops of everything under these oak trees! The red surface of the farm truck hood made these “caterpillar berries” stand out - otherwise, I’m not sure I would have seen them at all.
Caterpillar dung fallen from the oak trees.
The old farm truck caught a lot of these caterpillar berries.
Nature intertwines us all. Indirectly, these oak trees are fertilizing themselves in the midst of being eaten by insects. Voracious insects were helping to spread nutrients to the grass and herbs that lie in the understory and eventually to the tree itself. One doesn’t need to go to the Amazon Rain Forest to find examples of organisms being dependent on one another for survival.
Leaf damage as evidence of caterpillar occupation.
Now, my curiosity needs fed…is it a certain type of caterpillar that leaves such symmetrical, tell-tale poop? Or is it that all caterpillars are so geometrically inclined?
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Posted by wilde on June 13th, 2007 — Posted in Vegetable
Late Spring flowers made an appearance this past week in between the rains. Yarrow and foxglove are blooming and the orange day lilies first bloomed three days ago.
The bright purple triangles of spiderwort have been beautiful and blooming for a week now. Not that each individual flower has been blooming that long - on the contrary, both the day lily and spiderwort flowers last only for a day.
Spiderwort flowers really don’t even last the whole day. You have to see them before noontime, or you will find them with their petals curling up, their flower heads drooping, and finally all of it wilting into a mass of gelly.
Purple petals and stamens of spiderwort contrast with the yellow anthers and green foliage.
Spiderwort flowers droop in the afternoon after showing off their purple and yellow beauty.
This morning the first Rudbeckia flowers to show any signs of yellow pointed straight up as if to thank the heavens for last night’s rain. In the heat of midday the new growth of these black-eyed susans gets a bit droopy. The coolness of the night seems to revive them for another day in the sun.
Black-eyed Susan just starting to open its bright yellow flowers.
Rudbeckia flower opening itself to the sunshine.
Echinacea flower structures are assembled although they are still green. They will have to put on some size before they turn out their purple-pink blossoms to be recognized as Purple Cone Flowers.
Green flower starts of echinacea.
Purple cone flower leaves, stems and sepals feel sticky due to the fine, stiff hairs that cover the plant.
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