Maybe My Milkweed Patch Is Sincere Enough!

Posted on July 27, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

Last Friday, July 24th, I went out into my backyard with a brick of suet for my suet feeder. Something fluttering caught my eye, and it was a monarch butterfly coming around from the side of my house into my backyard! I was transfixed, and watched in awe as it investigated my butterfly garden and swamp milkweed in the back. Then I followed it around my house as it literally checked and rechecked every milkweed plant I have in the yard! I must have circled the house 4 or 5 times, suet cake in hand, and NO CAMERA. As I’ve said many a time, my neighbors must think I’m batty, and one did actually stop her car as she drove by and asked me what I was looking at, and then she spotted the monarch for me as it circled around from the back of the house again to my side yard. I was able to get a good enough look at it to determine that it was a female, and she landed on the underside of several of my common milkweed plants before finally settling down on a butterfly weed in bloom for a bit of a drink before taking off for good.

That evening I started checking my milkweed plants for eggs and found what could be one egg, and then yesterday I found another, then two more today, all on common milkweed. They are all on leaves where I saw her land, ever so briefly. It is so hard to tell the difference between a monarch egg, which is ridged and pointed, and milkweed latex, which is a round drop, so I’m reluctant to call them all eggs, but they certainly could be. If they are eggs, they should hatch by the end of the week. Time will tell!

Here are some pictures I took with my phone, but they are a little blurry because the camera couldn’t focus well that close:

Possible monarch egg near the center of the picture. It looks a little pointed.

Another possible egg

Side view of another egg. Note how it is slightly pointed.

Fourth possible egg!

Early Summer, Virginia-Style

Posted on July 6, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

I forgot I planted some Rattlesnake Master last year. I discovered it in the garden a few days ago.

Rattlesnake Master

The Culver’s Root is in full bloom and swarming with bees and wasps. You can’t tell it from this picture, but this is one of those blue wasps.

Culver’s Root with Wasp

The Sweet Joe Pye is in full bloom and swarming with bees.

Sweet Joe Pye Weed

The Monarda fistulosa is in full flower and the bees are all over it. You can see a couple of bees here. My attempts to make a video of this have not been too successful.

Monarda fistulosa Early July

Much of my goldenrod is already blooming. This may be an “early” goldenrod. However, I think it was quite a bit later last year. (As you may be able to tell I have “stray” milkweed plants all over the place.)

Goldenrod Early July

If you’ve ever wondered “why grow goldenrod?” — here’s why. I found this little guy in my goldenrod. I think it’s a Pearl Crescent.

Butterfly in Goldenrod

I found this little butterfly on my Mountain Mint this afternoon. I haven’t identified it yet. My best guess is a Northern Cloudywing — a skipper.

Small Butterfly on Mountain Mint

My Liatris is very tall but seems to be behind Deb’s in Delaware — not blooming yet.

Liatris in Early July — not Blooming Yet

Early Summer, Delaware-Style

Posted on July 5, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

The 4th of July has come and gone, and my summer flowers are starting to ramp it up. The early-bloomers are humming with bees, and the late-bloomers are finally having a growth spurt after hanging back and letting the other ones go first. My wrens fledged a few weeks ago, causing quite a ruckus in the backyard for about two weeks, then Mr. and Mrs. Wren decided to get in the “family way” again, so now she is sitting on eggs and he is still proclaiming his territory and keeping a close eye on the box. After a brief hiatus in hummingbird activity while they were nesting, the hummers are back again in full force, and I am having a hard time keeping up with them so the feeder doesn’t run dry! So here are some pictures showing what is going on:

My Indian Pink was especially beautiful this year

I finally got a blossom on my common milkweed and the bumblebees found it right away!

The butterfly weed in my hot front garden is pretty happy, and I actually saw a hummingbird visiting it last week!

Butterfly weed

The bee balm bloomed extravagantly and the bumblebees and hummingbirds have loved it!

Close-up of a bee balm flower

My liatris is blooming very nicely after all the rain we’ve had this summer

I planted this little beautyberry bush last fall, expecting it to die over the winter, but it has done really well, even putting out a few blossoms, which a VERY tiny bee has found! Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Tiny bee, about 1/8″ long, in the center

My common sneezeweed, inappropriately named, finally decided it could survive in my hot garden!

Native honeysuckle. This is its second time blooming since spring.

Surprise visitors to my backyard! I have been hearing red-shouldered hawks screaming all spring and summer in my neighborhood, so I figured there was a nest nearby. This sight greeted me when I came down for breakfast last weekend–a young hawk sitting above my wren box, an adult on the fence, and a mockingbird harassing the adult!

And finally, my pokeweed is flourishing this year, practically looking like a tree! I harvested the berries last year (the ones the birds didn’t get first!) and took them in to TriState Bird Rescue for the birds to eat over the winter.

Mid-June 2015 in Virginia

Posted on June 15, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

Here’s what’s happening as of June 15, 2015.

The Sweet Joe Pye Weed is coming into bloom.

Sweet Joe Pye Weed Coming into Bloom Mid June

The Monarda fistulosa is starting to bloom and the bumblebees have already found it.

M. fistulosa with Bumblebees

My common milkweed patch is quite large and the bumblebees are all over it.

Common Milkweed Patch

Bumblebees on Milkweed

Speaking of common milkweed, does anyone know what this small mass of eggs is? (Lower part of leaf on right)

Eggs on Milkweed

My Culver’s Root is very tall this year and is starting to look very lyre-like as can be seen in this rather out-of-focus picture.

Culver’s Root

Some of my goldenrod is perilously close to blooming. I say “perilously” because this seems quite early to me.

Goldenrod Close to Blooming

Finally, my Eastern Red Cedar is loaded with berries this year. I can’t wait for the Cedar Waxwings and other birds to find them.

Eastern Red Cedar Loaded with Berries

News from the Milkweed Patch

Posted on May 30, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

My little common milkweed patch is growing every year, and one of them looks like it is going to bloom. I think being located on the east side of my house and not getting full sun is why they have never bloomed before. Monarchs have been sighted here in northern Delaware, and I have noticed milkweed growing all over the place, along roadsides and in fields, which is very encouraging to me. So now I have started the “milkweed prowl” where I inspect my milkweed every day to see if anything is happening. Yesterday I found my first milkweed bug of the season! According to Milkweed, Monarchs, and More: A Field Guide to the Invertebrate Community in the Milkweed Patch, it is actually called a Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis) and usually prefers swamp milkweed to protect it from its usual predators, but there it was on my common milkweed! I guess I’d prefer finding monarch eggs, but a milkweed beetle is better than nothing, and at least the milkweed is being used for something by a native insect!

Swamp milkweed leaf beetle

My common milkweed patch

Milkweed blossom forming!

June 1, 2015 News flash!

Yesterday while we were sitting out in the backyard enjoying the hummingbird/house wren show and watching the catbird snatch serviceberries off the tree (you know we have an exciting life!), I suddenly caught a glimpse of something orange and black from the corner of my eye. It was a monarch fluttering around my little common milkweed patch! It literally checked out every plant in the patch, then flew around the backyard and the other side of the house before returning to check the plants again. I felt like Linus hoping my milkweed patch was sincere enough for the monarch! Eventually, it flew away, but I am so encouraged that if at least one monarch has somehow found my patch, others may also find it. I’ll be checking that patch for eggs every day now for sure!

Inchworms Going to a Good Cause!

Posted on May 9, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

Today I received a delightful surprise!

For some reason I thought that “my” bluebirds were nesting somewhere else this year, although they were eating the mealworms I’ve been putting out daily. Occasionally I saw a female go into the nest box but thought she had built a nest without a mate!

Today I realized both a female and a male were flying in and out of the box with their beaks full of inchworms! Tiny cheaping noises were coming from within the box.

Here are a couple of pictures of Mr. BB working hard all afternoon. Mrs. BB never stopped long enough for me to get a picture.

Mr. BB Sitting on Fence with a Beakful of Inchworms

Mr. BB Waiting to Go into the Box with a Beakful of Inchworms

Even though inchworms are VERY numerous this year I really wonder how he manages to get so many into his beak at once!

A Work in Progress

Posted on May 8, 2015 by grammydebp

It was a long time in coming, but spring in Delaware is finally here and may change to summer very quickly. The trees are in full bloom as evidenced by the yellow-green “dust” that is covering every surface these days. I find myself prowling around the yard at least twice a day to see what has developed since the last time I looked–my neighbors probably think I’m pretty eccentric.

Unfortunately, my Little Joe-Pye up and died last August for some unknown reason, so I have replaced them with a couple new Sweet-scented Joe-Pye and some New York Ironweed. I am looking forward to seeing how they turn out. The hyssop I bought last fall is doing great so far, and the native honey suckle is about to bloom. This is the plant I used to replace the horribly invasive native trumpet vine, which by the way, is still trying to put out a shoot here and there.

So here are some pictures I took recently to show the progression of my flowers. The spring ephemerals are busily blooming right now, and I will miss them when they are done!

Woodland phlox

Foam flower tucked among the ferns

Wild geranium and Greek valerian

Jack-in-the-Pulpit–now I have two instead of one!

My shade garden with Virginia waterleaf, ferns, false Solomon Seal, and Green-and-Gold

Virginia Springtime Redux

Posted on April 24, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

I’ve taken several springtime photos that I never got around to posting. Here are some of them.

White Dogwood Opening 04/07/15

White Dogwood in Evening Light 04/14/15

Pink Dogwood in Evening Light 04/14/15

Serviceberry Finally in Bloom - the Flowers Only Lasted 2 - 3 Days

Serviceberry Finally in Bloom 04/16/15 – the Flowers Only Lasted 2 – 3 Days

My “Tulip Faces” – 04/14/15

Volunteer Columbine – 04/23/15

My serviceberry in all its glory!

Posted on April 22, 2015 by grammydebp

I got this serviceberry tree last year for a Mother’s Day gift, but by that time it had already bloomed and had set its fruit, so I never saw it in bloom. Then last August, something decided to devour its leaves, and I feared it would not survive ( see My Serviceberry Saga). I have been anxiously watching the buds on this tree since January, and finally this past Sunday, it bloomed! Here are a couple pictures I took to commemorate the occasion:

I also happened to be walking along the extremely wet side of my house after torrential rains the night before, and there was a spring beauty blooming in the grass! I was amazed and delighted, because I had planted a few last spring that a friend had given me, but then took them out because they had Japanese stilt grass mixed in and I definitely didn’t want that. It never occurred to me that one might have survived sans stilt grass. So here is a picture of my one and only spring beauty:

Spring in Idaho too

Posted on April 20, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

Spring has come in fits and starts this year, but here are a few pictures taken today. The desert primrose and the syringa bush are one-year old native plants. I don’t know what the bush with beautiful red flowers is, but we are pretty sure we did not plant it so it must be a gift from a bird passing through. It is currently full of bees. The chicks are almost two-week old Araucanas living in our patio room. As you can see, they are just beginning to get their pin feathers.

FROM WEEDS TO BEES

What's Happening in the Ruth Sisters' Yards All Over the Country