July 2021
Wildflowers are pretty for sure but the other reason for having them is to help out the insect world that depends on them. Big event for me this morning is the Spicebush Swallowtail visiting the Butterflyweed growing along my walkway to the polebarn.
When I took this photo a couple hours ago I was not sure what Swallowtail as I could not get a good view with eye or camera. Just now I went out to check on grill and it was back and holding its wings closed so I could spot the tell-tale blue whoosh thru the orange spots. I also got to watch a male (assumed) trying to beat her into submission. She was not ready…
Another plant drawing visitors was the Many-flowered Beardtongue now on its second month of flowering. It may go another month since some of the flowertips got eaten - there will be more as those recover.
This is a Greenbean in my garden but it's vining all thru a huge 8-foot Smallanthus that volunteered last year. I can't bring myself to pull it up despite sucking so many nutrients from my garden soil. There were many bees and Skippers on the Smallanthus but too fast for a photo. Besides only bumblebees are big enough to land on the keel and tunnel into the flower.
Making a comeback in my shady yard was Wild Petunia (Ruellia) - recent rains may have given it this new surge. Mostly it flowers in May between the early spring and midsummer wildflowers.
Creeping around the edges of the woods is this Creeping Cucumber (Melothria.) The flowers are not very big but I imagine some insect has a taste for it or the leaves or the tiny cuke it produces.
Score of the day was to finally get a closeup of Sanicula flowers. With flowerhead being about 3-4 mm, the individual flowers are a pinprick. Gotta love those Velcro hooks after the flowers fall off.
And finally, just cause it was odd, looking like a pile of my typical clay subsoil, is this fungus.
That all for me today. I did check on fall wildflowers on my morning walk-around and they are coming along nicely. Looking out the window right now, there's 1000 shades of green in any shape one could imagine. Thanks for stopping by and see ya in the comments.
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