plants
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Pods and Seeds
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa).Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).The seeds of the above.Another Common, with Milkweed aphids (Aphis nerii) and Variegated Ladybugs (Hippodamia variegata).
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Pollen Bumble Rumble
Flying between these absurdly large flowers of hybrid rose mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos), this bumblebee was practically glowing yellow from all the pollen.But note how the wings remain mostly clean. Bees are hairy, the hairs statically charged to help pollen stick to them. Of course, you wouldn’t want your wings to be laden with pollen or…
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Breaking: Monarch Sighted in Brooklyn
I saw my second Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) of the year today. This was my first in Brooklyn; in Brooklyn Bridge Park, feeding on Joe-Pye Weed (Spotted JPW, I believe, Eupatorium maculatum). As you probably know, we have done quite a number on this spectacular species, through deforestation in Mexico, reducing its food crops further…
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Freshwater
I was enjoying the life above the Duckweed (Lemnaceae) recently, marveling that I’ve never seen so many Eastern Amberwings (Perithemis tenera).There were also a few Blue Dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis), making more Blue Dashers.A damselfly of unknown provenance was depositing eggs. And then, along the edge of the lake, some disturbance from below. There was an…
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Local edibles
I’ve eaten a lot of rhubarb in my time, usually with strawberries. I’ve never seen it gone to seed, though, before now. Rheum rhabarbarum.In the same community garden, Red Currants! Ribes rubrum.Elsewhere in the borough, High-bush Blueberry, almost ripe! Unfortunately, gleaners usually pick these too soon, cheating themselves (and me!). Vaccinium corymbosum.
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More Sumac
Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) in exuberant fuzziness.
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Sumac
The flowers of sumac (genus Rhus) are astonishingly small.
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More Galls
The world of galls is vast: I don’t know what these are, but they evidently darken into these rather glossy, bean-like structures:Another. It’s just a splotchy discoloration on the top of the leaf, but underneath there’s some interest.
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Plants and other lifeforms
A few more from Maine. Here’s Low-bush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) in flower. I’m mad for those little Maine blueberries, which I get frozen and eat all winter.Starflower (Trientalis borealis).Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis), a wildflower relation of Dogwood.Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) needs to be revealed. Hiding its light under a bushel. This is a plant I’ve never run…
Backyard and Beyond 