Spring flowers completing the cycle
- Curious about something you saw while walking in the woods? Spot the coolest bug ever? The prettiest flower and butterfly? Stumble on a rock and found a fossil? Or was it? This is the place to show your discoveries and share in the knowledge of the natural world right outside our doors. Join in the fun everyday at The Daily Bucket.
Late May 2014
Well here goes - photos I took yesterday to fill a Daily Bucket today.
First up are Blueberries - I believe this is what is classified as a Highbush Blueberry. I'm struggling with these members of the Heath family. Everytime I'm out with someone, names get tossed around and attributes gone over and all that "leaves" me more confused. They always talk of Elliott's Blueberry but I think they just like to say Elliottii
-- El lee OT Tee I )
It's a bumper crop this year - lots of rain at the right time. And yes, even tho there are only a few ripe, and they are very small, I ate them.
More plants gone to seed below the fold plus a couple bugs that wandered into the pictures.
Coral bean - Erythrina herbacea
These are one of my favorites this time of year. I was lucky to have 2 colonies in my woods. They also are scattered along the old road by me but this year the blooms are not as strong as last year when the stalks did not freeze back. This stalk is down to the last 2 blooms (unopened) and a seedpod forming below. I've been told to plant the beans when green because if you wait, the shell turns red, gets hard and is tough to germinate. It's in the Pea family.
Florida Flame Azalea - Rhododendron austrinum another member of the Ericaceae family.
If you search for Flame Azalea, you probably will see Rhododendron calendulaceum - a northern version of the plant with smaller blooms than the FL species. Down here it's an endangered plant altho if you know where to go, you see it often.
and some bug on the Azalea with very long antennae
Indian Pink was blooming earlier this month - gone to seed now. Because I want to have more of these beauties, and I do not want to wait for it to spread by rhizomes, I read about harvesting seeds. The gist - wait for the seeds to turn brown but get them before they explode.
Redring Milkweed - another plant that was blooming just a couple weeks ago in my woods. This one looks to be forming a pod. Something to keep an eye on ...
Some of you may remember a previous bucket when I mistakenly identified a Persimmon as a Sourwood. I got corrected in comments quite fast, a few times. THIS is Sourwood!
and finally - I do not think this dead bug is going to fit in the hole but that never stopped ants. I don't know the species but I do know they are not Fireants. These guys build a circle of soil granules around their hole as opposed the big mounds of Fireants.
Thanks for stopping by. Now it's your turn to note what you see outside your doors. Or what you hear - like I am hearing the hawks at their nest right now altho it's getting warm enough now to close the windows.
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