Posted on June 25, 2022June 25, 202206/25/2022 spittlebug A two lined spittlebug hanging out on one of my ceramic mushrooms. Mom and Dad gave them to me a long time ago.
Posted on June 25, 2022June 25, 202206/25/2022 basilica orb-weaver Paula spotted a very interesting spider web along the fence trellis today. It has a domed web with a very fine mesh web! Paula proceeded along the trellis and counted a total of 10 webs. We used this zoomed in photo to identify it as a basilica (named for the domed web) orb-weaver, Mecynogea lemniscata) in Common Spiders of North America by Richard A. Bradley.
Posted on June 23, 2022June 23, 202206/23/2022 The second Coryphantha sulcata seedling seems to have died, but the original is getting longer. Another two spotted bumblebee (Bombus bimaculatus) visited the mealy blue sage today! There was only one but I took a lot of angles. You can see the two spots if you zoom in. In flight you get the best view of spots. I liked the pollinating wasp zooming through in this picture. Baby mantis! I believe this is a baby red yucca, as that’s what I planted here, and it seems too sturdy to be grass. A big ol mydas fly in the backyard!! The native clematis likes its new sunnier spot about 20 ft to the west. It already has two or three new leaves! I weeded the strawberry/honey berry bed but got called in for dinner when there was still a patch left. Maybe tomorrow. I found a second pale zig zaggy spider in the backyard. Looking at it closer, I think it’s the wrong pattern and shape for Argiope aurantica, the usual banana spider. Filling up the bird bath intrigued the dog. African blue basil has flowers! One of the many marigolds in the raised beds (we mixed the old seedheads and plants in over the winter) is beginning to flower! The corn is going to town! A vaquero bean is flowering! A fine little bell pepper!! Cooling off after gardening with the mysterious Paper Protozoan. Note the hairy flagellum sticking out.
Posted on June 23, 2022June 23, 202206/21/2022 Gram guards the rooting juniperleaf. There’s a new pollinator garden on campus!! Very pleased at least one of the partridge pea seeds I sprinkled last year made it up. Paper wasps made a nest on the debris of the invasive clematis. A small lynx spider eats a fly Just noticed that the long true bugs have little flat pom poms on their antennae. A second individual. I think you have to see them from the right angle to get a good view of the antennae spots. Dog A helpful cat saw this wasp (maybe a spider wasp?) In the aloe and knocked the pot over. I took it outside and shooed the friend off. No dinner in the house for it. Only cat. I spotted a plume moth hiding on rain barrel stand. Potatoes in straw bale getting big. Hope roots are too.
Posted on June 22, 2022June 23, 202206/22/2022 Pebblebrook Park Monarda fistulosa American germander Sumac berries Probably bluehearts White prairie clover Greenthread flower with a geometrid moth caterpillar Sensitive briar Annual coreopsis Big red eared slider lady digging a hole for her eggs above the pond.
Posted on June 20, 2022June 20, 202206/19/2022 Will Rogers Zinnias came back true. A little Solanaceae volunteered in the rainbow garden. It conveniently has a yellow flower. Paula started a batch of kimchi fermenting. Walking onions for the green onion. Who is this This friend not want to play
Posted on June 18, 2022June 18, 202206/15/2022 to bee or not to bee, plus “freeloader flies” Before I left for work, I saw two bumblebees on the culinary sage flowers. Local bee expert José Montalva helped confirm the identification as Bombus bimaculatus (two spotted bumblebee) and sent me a very helpful article on the status of this and other bumblebee species in Oklahoma. It’s more of an eastern species so it is very cool to have them here on the edge of their range. This is also the third bumblebee species for our yard. This was the best picture though not the best identification angle. Big pollen bags on her legs! A little wasp on the purple coneflower. On campus, I saw several Fiery Skippers on lantana. Here’s another Fiery Skipper on campus lantana. Back at home, the blue flax is thinking about blooming! The Chef made egg drop soup with garden walking onions as a garnish. Car ride!! Saw a friend. Wow! Little lumpy beetles are on a lot of flowers right now. They’re cute. In the evening I saw one or two more two-spotted bumblebees, this time over on the perennial coreopsis. I didn’t manage to get a good picture of the spots in the evening. But I got some decent side views. Lightning bug! A paper wasp. An immature assassin bug eating some sort of probable pentatomid bug. Zoom in though and you’ll see several kinds of flies!! I’m not sure, but I think they might be some kind of kleptoparasitic fly that steals nibbles from bigger predators.
Posted on June 18, 2022June 18, 202206/16/2022 BLT with garden lettuce. Tomatoes and potatoes from farm share. Interesting creature Paula brought us some great new border rocks!
Posted on June 18, 2022June 18, 202206/17/2022 I had always assumed this plant, Dichondra, was introduced but apparently it’s not! The taxonomy is confusing but it’s at least probable that this is a native species. That’s great because it was hard to get rid of haha. Belly rub plz Gram is so long but he still loves to sleep on this scratcher box. Abby was right, this is Monarda fistulosa! It finally bloomed. I put these seeds out either in 2019 or 2020. Rainbow garden continues to do mediocre on yellow and orange. But the others are fantastic! I like that this plant hopper has a big spot on its underside.
Posted on June 18, 2022June 18, 202206/18/2022 onion time Oops. We disturbed this big beautiful toad. The toad hopped over our onions to nestle down under some bean plants. We turned the soaker hose on after we were done harvesting to make sure any other plants we disturbed weren’t too upset, and hopefully that will keep the toad safely into the cooler night too. Three kinds of onion! The shadiest bed has Inca pea beans planted over Thomas Laxton sugar peas which we removed as they were getting mildewy. Now the pea beans have room to grow. Our supervisor chose a shady, cool corner. Left are the dried Thomas Laxton sugar peas for next season. To the right are Oregon sugar pod II (the original kind I had) from earlier this spring. I am going to bleach them to prevent transfer of the mildew to next season. We also put the plant waste in the city yard waste bins as their composting gets much hotter than ours.