Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

Western Honey Bee (<em>Apis mellifera</em>)

Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

The mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum) is starting to bloom. I won’t claim it’s a hive of activity yet, but there’s certainly a bit of a buzz. Mostly I’m seeing honey bees (Apis mellifera) on them so far, but the mountain mint is very attractive to a wide variety of insect life from small beetles and bugs to bees and wasps, and some butterflies. The buddleia next to this tends to get more butterflies, though. It loves the sun and the insects are out in the most fierce in the heat of the day. Not my favorite time to sit there with my camera but it’s sometimes worth the effort.

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Rose ‘Munstead Wood’

Rose ‘Munstead Wood’

Rose ‘Munstead Wood’

The second of my three new David Austin roses has started to bloom. It’s called ‘Munstead Wood’ and as you can see, it’s a very double, old fashioned bloom. What you cannot get from the photo is the fragrance, which is very strong. I had to put some hardware cloth around this and one other because the rabbits were biting off the buds and eating them. Now that it’s protected, it’s going to town, with quite a few buds getting ready to open. Of course it’s still a relatively small plant, less than two feet tall, but I’m expecting it to be large enough that it provides a nice point of color in the middle of the garden.

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Stock Photo

Stock (Matthiola incana)

Stock (Matthiola incana)

Over the years I’ve thought about selling photos as stock but I never really got into it. I’m not really sure if I’d actually make any money at it. I sort of doubt it, honestly. I know that now and then I get a reasonably good photo and I certainly enjoy both taking and looking at them. But whether they are actually suitable for stock is another matter. And of course it isn’t just that. They would have to be found among the hundreds of thousands of other stock photos. I’m sure there are ways to increase your chances but I’m not sure I care enough. So, I’ll just stick to what I do and occasionally post a photo with an attempt at a clever title. This is stock, Matthiola incana.

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Fiery Day Lily

Day Lily

Day Lily

I love this day lily. It’s growing by our front walk in the shad of a pink dogwood. It seem really happy there and the colors are more intense in the afternoon, when they house casts its shadow over them. I love these colors, they’re so hot. It’s nice that they are along our walk, so I see them every time I go out the front door. Most of our day lilies are the more standard orange, which is nice, of course. We could do with more like this. Maybe I’ll divide these and spread them around a bit. Maybe I’ll even dig up some of the more aggressive perennials and replace them with these.

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Back Patio

Patio Blants

Patio Blants

These are the containers in the south corner of our back patio, outside our kitchen door. They’re doing pretty well right now and really brighten up the back yard. There’s a lot of green in the yard, which isn’t all that unusual. Having some intense colors is really nice and annuals are so easy. There are some day lilies in the foreground on the left, which are in a container that fell over a few years ago and has been lying on its site for a few years. They don’t seem to mind in the least. There is also a hanging basket with Lantana in the upper left corner. Technically it is a broadleaf evergreen shrub but it isn’t hardy here and is generally grown as an annual.

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Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens)

Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens)

Common Eastern Bumble Bee (Bombus impatiens)

Pretty much all the flowers in our garden are attractive to insects. I suppose that makes sense, because that’s what flowers are supposed to do, in order to get the insects to (inadvertently) pollinate the flowers. It’s interesting to me, though, that some flowers are attractive to many different insects but some seem to attract a specific subset. Yesterday, I was looking at the Monarda (bee balm) and noticed that the large bees were almost exclusively carpenter bees (Xylocopa virginica). Today I was looking at the gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides) shown here and the large bees were exclusively common eastern bumble bees (Bombus impatiens). Just interesting, that’s all.

On a mostly unrelated note, I really, really don’t recommend you plant any Lysimachia species in your garden. The bees love it, but there are other things they like that aren’t so overwhelming.

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Coneflower

Coneflower

Coneflower

I love patterns in nature. Some are seemingly random but others, like the swirls in this coneflower, are strikingly organized. Even the random patterns have a rhythm to them, like the meandering of a river or the branching of an oak. Patterns are all around us and it’s worth looking for them and being reminded that it isn’t all a matter of chance. I’m a firm believer is a creator who designed all that is. I don’t understand some (or even most) aspects of the design but I appreciate them, nonetheless. This is a relatively simple pattern but very satisfying, at least to me.

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Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)

Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)

Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)

After work, except on days when it’s raining, I’ve been trying to sit in the yard to read. It’s started to get warm lately but I’ve still gone out, sitting in the shade after 5:00 PM, when it’s not quite so bad. I take my camera with me and look around for something to photograph. While I was reading, this gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) came and sat on the stake holding up our new hawthorn tree. It looked around for a little while and then flew off. There are quite a few of them around and since they are insect eaters, I’m quite happy to have them.

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Western Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

Western Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

Western Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)

We took a drive to Lewis Orchard to buy peaches today. It was very hot and being out in the sun with masks on was not really all that nice but we managed and bought enough to make a cobbler and have plenty left over to eat simply cut up with whipped cream. From there we stopped at our friends’ farm. The last time we were there Greg said I should stop to see the bees but we left the other direction so didn’t. This time we stopped and I got a few pictures of the honey bees (Apis mellifera). I also happened to get stung on my nasal septum, which wasn’t the most fun, but a honey bee sting is, thankfully, not that bad.

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American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis)

American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis)

American Goldfinches (Spinus tristis)

There are some birds, notably the American robin (Turdus migratorius), that doesn’t really compare favorably with its European counterpart (Erithacus rubecula. While the European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) is a lovely bird, I think our American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) is quite beautiful. This is a female (on the left) and male (on the right). They really love the Verbena bonariensis and it’s fun to watch them as they land and the stems bend under their tremendous weight. I enjoyed this couple for quite a while this morning.

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‘Fiery Meadow Mama’ Coneflower

‘Fiery Meadow Mama’ Coneflower

‘Fiery Meadow Mama’ Coneflower

I could see a fairly large garden with nothing but varieties of coneflower (Echinacea species and varieties). One problem we have with them is that the rabbits and deer seem to like them and many that come up have their flowering stem bitten off so we don’t get flowers on them. The few that do bloom are great, of course, but then th bugs get to them and the petals get holes in them. They’re still nice, but not as photogenic. Because of that, we hesitate to buy more coneflowers. This one, called ‘Fiery Meadow Mama’, nearly made me make an exception. Wow, what a flower. There was another called ‘Cone-fections Hot Papaya’ that was mostly red and with a larger center that was nice, too. But we restrained ourselves.

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Rose ‘The Poet’s Wife’

Rose ‘The Poet’s Wife’

Rose ‘The Poet’s Wife’

In April I ordered three David Austin Roses. They arrived on May 3 and because they were bare root, I put them in a pot until I could get around to planting them in the ground. I planted them two weeks later on May 17. This is the first of them to bloom. It’s called ‘The Poet’s Wife’ and it’s not clear for whom it is named. As you can see, it’s a yellow rose and along with the other two, I’m hoping it will do well in our garden. It’s supposed to grow to about four feet tall, although measurements like that are generally very specific but in practice fall within a very broad range. We’ll see.

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Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Cathy and I went for a relatively short walk in the neighborhood this evening and I took some photos on that as well as in the yard a bit earlier in the day. But then the sunset was so nice, I figured I should post that. There haven’t been many great sunsets lately. They seem to come in bunches. I’m rarely going to pass up a sunset if it can be helped. Sometimes I’m driving and it really isn’t convenient to stop or there’s no place with a good view, but when it’s a matter of walking out the back door and looking between the trees, I’m there.

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Asclepias incarnata ‘Ice Ballet’

Asclepias incarnata ‘Ice Ballet’

Asclepias incarnata ‘Ice Ballet’

We’re big fans of Asclepias and have three species growing in our garden. We have a few varieties of Asclepias curassavica, a tender perennial native to the Caribbean and Central and South America often referred to as blood flower. We have several Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed, a hardy perennial native to our region. We just bought a few plants of a variety of Asclepias incarnata called ‘Ice Ballet’. The species is generally pale pink but this variety is a creamy white. It’s also a native to the area and is known as swamp milkweed. These will go in a spot that gets very wet when it rains, as these don’t mind that and there are a lot of things that won’t grow there.

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Ripe Gooseberries

Ripe Gooseberries

Ripe Gooseberries

The gooseberries (Ribes uva-crispa) are just about ripe. The squerrals are eating them as they ripen up and I don’t think we’re actually going to get much of a harvest. That’s our own fault, because we haven’t protected them and aren’t going out each morning to pick them as they ripen up. I don’t mind, terribly, although I have been picking and eating them when I do go out. They are just the right combination of sweet and tart. If I had a bit of land and used some of it for vegetable gardening, I think I’d plant a row of these and put a net over them. I might put a net over this one next year, although it’s against the fence and that might make it tricky.

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Spigelia marilandica (Indian Pink)

Spigelia marilandica (Indian Pink)

Spigelia marilandica (Indian Pink)

Here’s a second photo for the day. After our walk in the park, we went to the Agricultural Farm Park and walked through their demonstration garden. It’s really changed since we were here last, about two months ago. There was one plant in bloom that really caught our collective eye. It’s a Maryland native commonly called Indian pink (Spigelia marilandica). What a beautiful flower. This is something I’d really like to get. I’ve done some searching and it seems like finding seeds will be difficult. There are a few mail order places that have the plant but most of them ship in the fall. Hopefully I’ll remember to order some then.

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Cicindela sexguttata (Six-spotted Tiger Beetle)

Cicindela sexguttata (Six-spotted Tiger Beetle)

Cicindela sexguttata (Six-spotted Tiger Beetle)

Cathy and I went on a new trail today. I don’t know if the trail is actually new but it was new to us. We walked in the Rock Creek valley between Muncaster and Muncaster Mill Roads. As the crow flies, it’s probably a mile from end to end. The trail winds quite a bit and there’s a bit of up and down and based on a map we found, it’s more like 2.5 each way. So, about five miles. It was pretty hot and very humid, but we really enjoyed the green and also the birds that were supplying the background chorus most of the way. We saw quite a few of these six-spotted tiger beetles (Cicindela sexguttata) as well as ebony jewelwings (Calopteryx maculata), a damselfly with black wings (except for on females there is a conspicuous white spot at the end of the wings.

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White-marked Tussock Moth (Orgyia leucostigma)

White-marked Tussock Moth (Orgyia leucostigma)

White-marked Tussock Moth (Orgyia leucostigma)

I was sitting outside this morning, taking a break from doing some yard work, when I noticed this caterpillar on the tire of my car. I moved it to a plant, figuring it would be shown to better effect there than on the black tire, and then I got my camera and took a few photos. It is a white-marked tussock moth (Orgyia leucostigma), a species native to our region. Interestingly, the adult females are wingless and therefore flightless. If you find one of these, you’ll want to avoid handling it with your bare hands. Its hair is known to cause allergic reactions, especially in areas of the body with sensitive skin. I let it crawl onto a leaf to move it, so as to avoid any issues.

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Clouds

Clouds

Clouds

Cathy and I took a walk this evening and enjoyed an occasional view of the sky. Our neighborhood has well established trees, having been built up about 50 years ago. Different parts of the neighborhood have different street trees and some of them have lasted better than others. Many of the original red oaks (Quercus rubra) are gone, while others are very healthy. The willow oaks (Quercus phellos) are more uniformly healthy and generally quite large. There’s one street I call the cathedral because of how the willow oaks form a Gothic nave over the road. The maples (mostly red maples, Acer rubrum) are at the other end of the spectrum. Some are fine but most are less healthy or have been removed. There are sycamores (Platanus occidentalis) scattered around and they are generally healthy, as well. Anyway, the link between the trees and this photo is that the trees mean that most of the time while walking we don’t get an uninterrupted view of the sky.

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Euphorbia amygdaloides subsp. robbiae (Wood Spurge)

Euphorbia amygdaloides</em> subsp. <em>robbiae (Wood Spurge)

Euphorbia amygdaloides subsp. robbiae (Wood Spurge)

I took a few more pictures of plants on Cathy’s work table today. This one is a spurge called Euphorbia amygdaloides subsp. robbiae, also known as Robb’s wood spurge. It’s a nice combination of greens and yellows and something nice for the herbaceous border. The Euphorbia genus has something like 2,000 species and they range from small annual plants to trees and there are species from many parts of the world This one isn’t native to North America, but I’m not bothered by that. One thing you want to be careful of with these plants is their milky sap, which is poisonous if ingested and a skin irritant.

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