Plant Sightings

The growing season has officially come to an end for 2007.

We had a hard frost last night. Lost a basil plant and a few pepper plants from the garden, but the lettuce was protected enough by the old storm windows we placed around the lettuce patch.

I think the bear was looking for something to munch when he/she visited us last night. Looking for food and eating it is about all they do this time of year. The hunters are out shooting up the small game, so the bears are probably moving around a bit more than they might without the hunters’ presence.

I’m sure the bear was here because a heavy planter, which is about a two foot cube, was knocked over on its side. On closer inspection we saw where a claw had punctured the plastic tub.

The dog went nuts this morning when he went out first thing and there’s no doubt he picked up some of that garbage-like bear purfume that was lingering. Not that I detected it, of course!

Without the windows open as it’s too cold now, I’m not sure when or how we’ll see that bear again but you can be assured that we stop and look out the windows every chance we get!

Nearing the end of summer we can always find some neat-looking critters somewhere on the vegetation that surrounds us. Many times the bugs and insects are making a meal out of a carefully planted and nursed garden flower or plant. Sometimes we see cool-looking insects perched on the house or vehicles. If they’re different than ones we normally see, somebody runs to get the camera.

Today, looking out in the back yard I noticed from a distance that my small White Flowering Dogwood trees, Cornus florida, were really taking a beating. The leaves were obviously being eaten as the little trees looked almost stripped bare from where I stood on the porch. But what or who was eating the leaves?

Closer inspection revealed two small visitors to the dogwood trees and they were still munching away as I snapped these pics.

This brown caterpillar with four white head spots — dashes really — seemed very busy munching on a dogwood leaf.

I didn’t touch it with my bare hands because I saw long hairs, or setae, projecting from its body. Some of the caterpillars have what are called urticating spines which can really pack a wallop and sting ya’ good! I wasn’t taking any chances with getting stung so I carefully removed this critter from the tree before it ate the last leaf.

Brown caterpillar with white dashes on its head and a lighter brown streak down its back.

This little green fellow was on the underside of a dogwood leaf. Its back was rather dome-shaped and its belly did not have distinct feet or legs. The head end was definitely more rounded than the pointy tail end, but as it sat on the plant I couldn’t really see a head per se. As close as I can tell its the Yellow-shoulder Slug caterpillar, Lithacodes fasciola .

Undulating its “belly” allowed this little yellow-green fellow to move fairly quickly.

Lying on its side — notice the shadow of a wave of motion that traveled down the length of its body as the slug caterpillar tried to upright itself.

This is the time of year that the asters and goldenrods are blooming profusely in open, fallow fields. At the edge of our woods, where the tree line meets what we call a backyard, a small group of White Wood Asters, Aster divaricatus, blooms every year.

A small patch of low-growing White Wood Asters lies in the shade except for some filtered sunlight that reaches them in the early part of the day.

The white flower heads lose their short petals easily, so these flowers are not for picking. We just appreciate them being there.

The False Solomon Seal berries are now crimson red with white speckles. Their collective weight draws the tall stems almost down to the ground. Eventually, the berries will either be eaten or lay upon the ground to start the growing cycle all over again.

Underneath the shade of a White Oak several native False Solomon Seal plants lend color to the area with their bright red berries that appear every autumn.

False Solomon Seal berries form at the terminal ends of the two to three feet tall plants and mature to a bright red color with speckles of white.

Extremely hot and dry weather produces visible changes in the landscape. Trees drop leaves too early for the autumn leaf drop. Hues of yellow and red can be seen among the dull greens of the forest.

Grass stops growing and sounds like crinkley paper when walked upon. Mushrooms hide in the sweet syrup of their fungal thread-like mats, waiting for a wet opportunity to assemble themselves and appear above ground.

Insects flourish in huge numbers as they drink the sap of their favorite plants. My Rudbeckia that I carefully transplanted this Spring all but withered to a crisp. Over the last week I saw the stems and blooms drying up, and counted the early death as another victim of this year’s drought and extreme heat.

A beautiful Rudbeckia plant sporting its bright yellow flowers in the middle of July.

I took my pruners and a bucket out to the once beautiful rudbeckia to clip off the dead stems. At once I saw hundreds upon hundreds of red aphids!

The same Rudbeckia plant a month later after attack by aphids.

Aphids come in many colors and will attack many plants. Some aphid species are very particular about their host plant, others not so much. With literally thousands of species of aphid around the world, it would be surprising to not come across them at some point.

Aphids line up along plant stems with their heads pointed toward the stem so that their needle-like mouth parts, called stylets, can pierce into the plant. Here, they drink the plant’s juices to the demise of the plant.

Red aphids all along the stems of a rudbeckia plant.

When conditions are right for it, aphids breed without sex so many, many young can be produced in a short amount of time. Note the small aphids next to the adults.

Aphids will drink the plant’s juices from stems and flowers. An identifying characteristic of aphids is the presence of two short projections, or cornicles, that extend from the posterior of the abdomen. A sweet honeydew liquid is released from the cornicles which is sometimes farmed by ants. Indeed, the presence of ants is sometimes a clue that aphids are nearby.

Note the abdominal cornicles projecting out from the shadow of an aphid.

I filled a bucket with the stems that I pruned and dumped that in a compost heap. The remaining stems are about 10-12 inches tall. I’ll be watching to see if there will be more plant growth into the fall or if the aphids continue to consume this once beautiful plant.

Wildflower walks will take you to interesting and new places once you’re grabbed by the adventurous spirit of finding new plants and flowers. Sometimes that feeling of awe comes in the form of seeing a favorite flower blooming or an alien-looking insect.

Walking down the lane to pick a few blackberries after breakfast, I spotted this cool damselfly. His thin body appeared bright metallic green and his wings looked of black lace.

A neon green damselfly called the Ebony Jewelwing, Calopteryx maculata, briefly rests on a touch-me-not leaf along the lane.

Lots of garden flowers are blooming now…marigolds, purple coneflowers, daisies, dahlias, rudbeckias, spiderflowers…the list goes on and on.

Native flowers blooming now include the tiger lilies or day lilies along the roadsides, butter-n-eggs, enchanter’s nightshade, touch-me-nots, thistles, milkweed, and lots of other “weeds”, including catnip.

A volunteer catnip plant, Nepeta cataria, grew between some slate and gravel rocks in the driveway last year. We didn’t cut it down as we wanted to collect some seeds and spread the feline love. This year the plant looks like a flowering bush. Small volunteers from last year’s seeds were transplanted to various sunny locations during late spring.

A large catnip plant releases its skunky scent every time the car brushes past it in the driveway.

Catnip flowers in several colors, so you may hear that catnip blossoms are white, pink or purple. Inspect the blooms close up and you will see why.

Unopened flower buds look softly pink and the opened catnip flowers are white with a few spots of purple.

Buzzing bumblebees busy themselves all around the catnip blooms. It’s time to harvest some of that catnip for the kitties before it all goes to seed. I’ve spied a few places in the country where it grows wild and that’s where I’ll collect seeds for next year’s crop.

Miss Laverne guarding her catnip bush!

By the way the blackberries I had collected this morning were delicious! I look forward to making a cobbler or something yummy with blackberries in a few days.

A couple weeks have passed since we first saw this family of ducks. So far, only one of the ducklings has disappeared, but we’re hoping the rest will make it through the summer.

Family of ducks taking a rest in a field of clover.

Reading about the varieties of wood sorrel in my field guides I came across a picture of a tall yellow-flowering kind that I had not seen before, so I made a mental note of it. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see a Great Wood Sorrel plant on my berry walk this morning down the lane. Growing in the shade next to the lane, this Oxalis grandis specimen is about 16 inches tall.

Small clusters of flowers arise from the leaf axils and the leaves are held out quite straight and horizontally.

With the number of times we’ve walked up and down the lane we don’t expect to find any new plants. We were quite surprised to see this pretty flower – a weed, really, hiding in the shade of the oak trees.

The light green to cream colored flower of thimbleweed has five sepals and numerous stamens.

The central leaflet is wedge-shaped and has curved sides, a feature that distinguishes the plant from other anemone species.

Thimbleweed flowerbuds, blossoms and fruit rise above the three- or five-parted leaves.

This member of the buttercup family, Anemone virginiana, has an interesting fruit which obviously lent the plant its name – Thimbleweed, also known as Tall Anemone.