An Un-tended Native Flower Garden

Posted on June 14, 2016 by ruthnativeflowers

I unfortunately have been unable to “take care” of my native flower garden this year. In fact, today (June 14) was the first day since weed-whacking the entire garden last fall, that I got up the courage to take a look at what has come back up this year. I was pleased to find so many old friends doing not too badly. Hopefully my untended garden will still be a haven for bees and butterflies.

The first thing I noticed was a row of Butterfly Weed.

B Weed mid June

Then I took a look at my Common Milkweed patch. It is definitely thriving, now coming into full bloom with bees all over it.

C milkweed 06:14

milkweed with bee

The Culver’s Root has re-appeared, very tall this year and just beginning to look like Culver’s Root.

Culvers root 06:14

The Purple Coneflowers are just coming into bloom.

P Coneflower 06:14

The Daisy Fleabane is pretty much in bloom now.

Daisy Fleabane mid-june

I THINK this is the New York Ironweed that I planted last year.

NY Ironweed mid-June

A tiny bit of very early goldenrod is already in flower.

early goldenrod mid-june

Notably absent or still quite small:

Green-headed Coneflower (not there at all this year). I miss this plant as it was a great attractor of bees.
Monarda fistulosa. It seems much smaller than I expected.

M. fistulosa mid-June 2016

Sweet Joe-Pye Weed. I may see small amounts of it coming up, but apparently not thriving. This is another one I miss because it attracted so many bees.

Early Spring in Virginia

Posted on April 2, 2016 by ruthnativeflowers

Actually it’s not so early anymore. The Redbud trees are past blooming already but were spectacular for a little while.

S0_redbud tree

S0_redbud 2016

My spicebushes grew a lot last year. They were in full bloom a couple of weeks ago.

S0_spicebush on bloom2 sm 2016

My Virginia Bluebells grow more abundant every year. They are in full bloom right now on April 2.

S0_va bluebells 2016

There are lots of violets blooming in my wooded area. I can’t quite identify this one from my Peterson’s Field Guide. It has flowers and leaves on separate stalks and the leaves are deeply cleft. By best guess is some sort of Sweet White Violet though it obviously has a lot of blue.

S0_violets

I love my deciduous azalea, though it’s gotten so tall I had a hard time getting a picture of the flowers.

S0_deciduous azalea

The dogwoods are coming into bloom. Here is my wooded area “shade garden” in a light rain this morning.

S0_dogwoods

My serviceberry is no farther long than Deb’s in Delaware and I have trouble getting a good photo of it because it’s so “airy”.

S0_serviceberry 2015 sm

Finally there are lots of baby ferns all over the shade garden.

S0_baby ferns

April 1st: Spring’s Coming, No Foolin’!

Posted on April 1, 2016 by grammydebp

I am always anxious for spring to arrive, and even though we had a mild winter here in Delaware, and trees and flowers are already starting to bloom, I’m still impatient. Today I prowled around my yard and took some pictures of some perennials that are starting to grow, and of course, a picture of my beloved serviceberry tree that is getting very close to blooming! A wonderful surprise was the appearance of three little milkweed seedlings from seeds that I planted last November and left outside over the winter.

Blue lobelia

Cardinal flower

Virginia waterleaf

Milkweed seedling

Monarda (Bee balm)

Serviceberry tree, almost in bloom!

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

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!

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

Some Old Friends

Posted on April 19, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

Finally some old friends are showing up.

My Sweet Joe Pye Weed has put in an appearance:

Sweet Joe Pye Weed Starting to Come Up

My common milkweed is suddenly popping up. As I recall by the end of last year my original one plant had transmogrified into at least 8 plants. I wonder how many there will be this spring.

Common Milkweed Coming Up

The Penstemon is putting in an appearance:

Penstemon Coming Up

I have several plants that I think may be Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa). I’m not positive as I think it is a little early for Butterfly Weed to be this far along. But at this point I don’t know what else it might be.

Butterfly Weed Coming Up?

This is the way my Climbing Aster (Aster carolinianus) looks from a distance. Old dead wood, right?

Climbing Aster from a Distance 04/19/15

Last year I was “cleaning up” by cutting away this old “dead” stuff, when I realized there were green leaves growing out of it! This year I know better. Here’s a view closer up. If you look closely you can see that there are green leaves growing out of the brown stems.

Climbing Aster Up Close

Finally, I don’t know that these would classify as “old friends” but the inch worms are back this year! I keep discovering them crawling on the back of my neck after I’ve been out in the yard. Sorry, they are too small for me to photograph.

Early spring in Delaware

Posted on April 11, 2015 by ruthnativeflowers

As with a good part of the east coast, spring has been very slow to come this year. I have been anxiously watching my yard for signs of survival after our harsh winter, and now I’m beginning to see some progress. Here are some pictures I took on April 9, 2015.

Serviceberry buds are getting close to opening

Cardinal flower and blue lobelia showing growth

Blue lobelia

Greek valerian

Dwarf goldenrod

Bee balm coming back and spreading!

Native honeysuckle

Hyssop

FROM WEEDS TO BEES

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

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