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Spotted St. Johnswort
Spotted St. Johnswort (Hypericum punctatum), with lots and lots of spots. They show up, as volunteers, in my gardens. Volunteers most welcome. Five yummy yellow petals with many stamens surrounding a central green pistil. Those petals, of course, spotted. Spots of black, the leaves but also the stems. Green flower buds show the spots too.…
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New To The Garden
There was a new vendor, Beloved Brook Natives, at the Greene Farmers Market yesterday morning, with marvelous native plants. My wonderful husband bought two Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata), and brought them home, along with a farmers market breakfast. This afternoon I put them into a garden just outside the kitchen window. I got a good…
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Confusing Bumblebees Revisited
Confusing Bumblebee (Bombus perplexus), a species of Bumblebee that is native to northern North America, where it can be found in Canada and the eastern United States. Confusing Bumblebees live in colonies made up of one queen and the female workers. New, mated queens, overwinter in a state of dormancy emerging in the spring. The…
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Ghost Pipe
Ghost Pipe (Monotropa uniflora), quite the surprise to find. What in the world?It’s an herbaceous perennial plant which is found in much of the United States, with the exception of the Southwest, intermountain west and the central Rocky mountains. It’s also found in Canada, and in parts of northern South America. Ghost Pipe is a…
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This Afternoon
This afternoon a Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) caught my attention as it alighted on a Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurpea). Looking well-worn, as if it had spent its few weeks taking great chances, perhaps escaping a predator or two. I appreciate Great Spangled Fritillaries in part because their host plants are various species of native…
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Correction To Common Yarrow
Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). A native plant with wispy, fernlike, delicate leaves. A herbaceous perennial plant that grows to 3 feet tall that generally produces just one stem, but sometimes up to 3 stems. Those delicate leaves are alternate 3 to 5 inches long with leaflets on each side of the central stem, and those…
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Common Eastern Bumblebee
Common Eastern Bumblebees (Bombus impatiens). This one at Apple Mint (Mentha suaveolens). And this one, also a Common Eastern Bumblebee, on Peppermint (Mentha piperita). These Bumblebees are gentle creatures. They don’t form swarms. Only the females have stingers and if you are stung by a Common Eastern Bumblebee, perhaps you deserve it. It takes much…
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Orange Sulphur
Ah, what a beautiful summer day. Lots of rain the past few days along with loads of humidity. Now, today, a tiny bit cooler and the humidity is down. A good day for being outside seeing the world of nature. Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurpea) with a pollinator visitor, an Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme). As butterflies,…
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Dessert Tonight
Oh such beautiful berries. Wineberries (Rubus phoenicolasius). Unfortunately they are native to China, Japan, and Korea. Introduced to North America as an ornamental plant, and for its use in breeding hybrid raspberries. A vigorous plant that now grows in many parts of the United States, primarily in the Appalachian Mountains where they can form dense…
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Frogs At The Pond
There are several species frogs that visit the pond that I have just above the vegetable garden. The one that I see most often, and frequently in large numbers, is the Green Frog (Rana clamitans). They’re the first ones to become active in February, when it is mating time. The top two images are Green…