A Monarch Butterfly in My Garden

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Late afternoon the day before yesterday, I was walking around my garden when what should I see, but a large orange butterfly.  I immediately thought it might be a Monarch as it seemed too large to be a Painted Lady.  It must have flitted around and through the garden for a good 10 – 15 minutes before it finally rested with its wings open in a spot where I could get a photograph.

Male Monarch Butterfly

Male Monarch Butterfly

It was clearly a male Monarch butterfly.

I was amazed to find him again, yesterday — 24 hrs. later, still in the garden.  I keep fantasizing that he’s feeling that he has found a spot where the world is as it ought to be.  There still seem to be plenty of nectar flowers available — boneset, goldenrod and a butterfly bush. Plus there’s plenty of milkweed should a female arrive to lay eggs.  (I wish this male could somehow get a female to join him.)

I reported this sighting to Journey North (http://www.learner.org/jnorth/sightings/query_result.html?record_id=1407963782).

My Serviceberry Saga

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I have wanted a serviceberry tree for several years, and finally we bought one this past April and had it planted professionally by the nursery. It was near the end of blossoming when we got it, but produced a lot of very tasty berries later on which the birds enjoyed immensely.
About three weeks ago, I noticed that something was eating the leaves at an alarming rate. The person at the nursery looked at my pictures and thought it might be some kind of caterpillar, though I hadn’t seen anything on the tree at all. She suggested we spray the tree with Neem oil, a topical, organic pesticide. So with some reservations, we sprayed the tree twice, one week apart, but without any effect. Today, the pest expert at the nursery called us and said he thinks it might be a leaf roller wasp, a native wasp that cuts out semi-circles and then rolls her larvae up in them, along with some pollen, to pupate. A larger tree isn’t affected very much by the leaf damage, but it can be significant in a smaller tree like ours. The expert isn’t entirely sure of his diagnosis, so I will be showing him more pictures, and in the meantime we will just hope for the best.

My serviceberry tree is showing some significant damage

My serviceberry tree is showing some significant damage

It's even more defoliated now!

It’s even more defoliated now!

A close-up of the half-moon cuts in the leaves

A close-up of the half-moon cuts in the leaves

Bare twigs with only the central leaf veins remaining!

Bare twigs with only the central leaf veins remaining!

A Blue Wasp on My Mountain Mint

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I’ve been seeing what I thought was a blue wasp on my mountain mint, but couldn’t get one to hold still long enough to be photographed.  This evening I finally got a shot where you can definitely see his/her “blueness.”

Blue Wasp on Mountain Mint

Blue Wasp on Mountain Mint

I think this must be a Blue Spider Wasp (see http://nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/the-world-as-we-know-it/send-probably-a-spider-wasp-version-2/ for a much better picture).

Now It’s Green-headed Coneflower Time in Virginia

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At last (late July – early August) the green-headed coneflowers (GHCF) — Rudbeckia lacinata — are blooming.

By now (08/01/14) the spring bloom of the garden is almost totally gone. The boneset is blooming throughout and the GHCF are standing tall at the back.  (In another post I’ll discuss the current “weedy” state of the garden.)

The Garden as of 08/01/14

The Garden as of 08/01/14

Whereas the Monarda attracted large bees, the GHCF attacts tiny bees. Here’s a view of the GHCF closer up in late July.  Although there are a swarm of insects on the flowers, you can’t make them out in this photo.

Green-headed Coneflower Closer Up

Green-headed Coneflower Closer Up

In this REALLY close-up view, not quite in focus, you can see 3 little bees if you look carefully.

Close-up with 3 Tiny Bees

Close-up with 3 Tiny Bees

Finally, in this short video, you can see some bees buzzing around the flowers (you may need to watch it a couple of times to be sure to catch the bees — if you’ve ever had a visual field test this is a little bit like that):

 

Hoary skullcap

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My hoary skullcap is coming into bloom!  This is its third year and the best it has ever looked. The bumblebees and sweat bees seem to like it, too!  I have no idea how it got its unusual name, but it sure makes it an easy one to remember!

Mountain Mint – Another Bee Favorite

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I’m not sure if my mountain mint (given to me by my friend Suzette) is Virginia Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) or some other mountain mint.  It comes into bloom in July and likes full sun.  Bees (particularly small ones) and wasps adore it.  Getting a picture of these fast-moving insects is practically impossible.

In this picture you can spot at least 3 small insects …..

Mountain Mint with Bees

Mountain Mint with Bees

….. A second later, the bee at upper left fully revealed its “greeness:”

Mountain Mint with Green Bee

Mountain Mint with Green Bee

Suzette keeps planting more mountain mint and keeps getting even more bees and wasps.  We’ve wondered:  if everyone planted mountain mint in their yard, would the number of bees and wasps keep expanding indefinitely??

Bonnie’s Potted Plants on Patio

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Bonnie's Patio Pots

Bonnie’s Patio Pots

This picture somehow got lost from my previous post.  Some of the pots (the big ones in back row) are my house plants that I have had for years and bring out every summer.  They always get new growth then. The 2nd from left in back row is almost 30 years old. The flowers in front include a begonia, some daisies, a geranium, and something I can’t remember.

 

 

 

The Ladies

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The introduction to our blog mentions that some of us have chickens, and that would be me.  I started keeping a small flock a few years ago after reading too many times about the horrible conditions of commercial poultry operations.  I figured the least I could do is provide a small number of chickens with a better life than that.  Mine have free range of the yard from mid-day until they decide to return to the roost at nightfall.  (Our three dogs use the yard in the morning.  Since two of them are bird dogs, we have never let the dogs and chickens mix.)  Pictured above are Dana (left) and Amy.  Dana is an Aracauna and gives us beautiful blue eggs.  Amy is a barnyard chicken and is our long-time best layer.  Her eggs are brown and have big dark yellow yolks.  In addition to eggs, they give us nice pooped-on straw for the compost pile, so I make sure they get their fill of lettuce from the vegetable garden.   Oddly enough, they do not like spinach.

Evening primrose

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At the Idaho Native Plant Society sale, someone told me that most people don’t care for the evening primrose.  So, always rooting for the underdog, I bought four of them.  The leaves do lay on the ground in a weird way, and the blooms – which come out at night – last just one day, but I still think they are pretty.  Also to their credit, they don’t like much water.  The flowers on my plants are either white or a very pale pink.

One of My All-time Favorite Flowers

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One of my all-time favorite flowers is Rudbeckia triloba, known as “thin-leaf coneflower” or “brown-eyed susan.” It blooms late mid-summer.  I love masses of them.  If you stare into their faces, as in this photo, you can become a little hypnotized and imagine they are cheerfully looking back at you.

Rudbeckia triloba (thin-leaf coneflower)

Rudbeckia triloba (thin-leaf coneflower)

Like other Rudbeckia, this one swarms with bees, in this case tiny bees.  This greatly enlarged photo shows 2 such little bees.

Triloba with Bees

Triloba with Bees

— Robin