Category: Supervisors

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05/30/2022 afternoon

A fleabane in the front yard.
Same fleabane, the leaves. This was in the lawn, so I need to decide if I will transplant or save seeds.

An Asian long bean from my aunt. Thanks to my aunt!!
Only one of many zucchini seeds has sprouted. I think they were too old. I will get new or save new next year.
Large leaf basil seedlings.
Purple beauty pepper has a flower bud!
Briar thought she was interested in my snack but it turns out broccoli isn’t her thing.
The swamp milkweed I just bought, receiving its afternoon sunlight.
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05/30/2022 holiday Monday

A megachilid bee on Gaillardia pulchella (blanket flower or firewheel).
I repotted the lemon balm into a clay pot so I could use its plastic one. In the upper left I also put one winecup in the very long tall head shaped pot. The root system was starting to escape the sprouting cells so I should probably plant its friends soon too.
I needed a lot of medium to large plastic pots to put showy evening primrose (here in middle) and Maximilian sunflower (next pic) in actual soil.
These are the Maximilian sunflowers I’ve been pulling from the prairie area, where the main plant we moved was last winter. I was storing them to give away in a tub of water and soil, but they were looking sad, so I figured it was time for potting. There’s so many they are crowded, but whoever takes them can separate them out. They seem very, very hardy.
While I had my hands dirty I repotted the ashy sunflower (Helianthus mollis). I figure it can get much bigger in this pot, and then we can plant it in late summer to overwinter in its final location (to be decided).
Someone (tail end pictured…) Kept wanting to bark at our fine feline friends in the plant window. So I made it less convenient.
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05/29/2022

Hard work entertaining and supervising the additional kitties!!
A very tiny buprestid beetle I haven’t seen before on Maximilian sunflower leaves.
Close up, a little blurry. It was windy.
No idea why she put her face in the dayflowers.
Very tiny bee on elderberry flowers.
Shackleton got a leash walk and likes my untidy and dusty staging ground for pots.
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05/28/2022 after planting

Plants I got from the “pop up” location of Prairie Wind Nursery: Copper canyon daisy, Pineapple sage, local genotype Baptisia australis (planted between roses near the trellis fence), Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata, planted near the elderberry as apparently they like similar soils), rattlesnake master (planted on drier side of brush pile), chives (the round green type as only the flatter white edges kind survived the winter this year), and five kinds of basil in my ongoing attempt to find where they like in the yard. Varieties were African blue (in raised beds in front of tomatoes), mammoth (small plant but big crinkly leaves) in the herb bed (where I have not tried any basil before), and amethyst, Genovese, and large leaf in the front strawberry bed near porch.

Mystery sunflower in the “prairie”. Rough leaf sunflower, or a bird seed sunflower?? It’s much narrower, but not quite like the ones I dug from home yard.
A much better capture of the long true bug. I feel it’s very svelte. The Gram of true bugs. So long. It’s on the native poinsettia.
The mystery seedling by dividing fence is definitely a legume and not passionvine. So, tepary from last year? Butterfly pea? Or maybe trailing wild bean from Abby?? We’ll find out…
Stripey plant hopper on Texas mallow.
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05/27/2022 home

Stripey plant hoppers are still abundant. Often on ironweed.
Briar observes Shackleton from an enforced respectful distance.
Shackleton does not want to be observed from any distance by a Dog. Gross!!
The Chef has designed and had printed reusable vinyl labels for his brewing endeavors. Art deco cat, maybe?
I think this is a common oak moth, Phoebaria atomaris. It’s on coreopsis flowers. I don’t think I’d seen one in town before, only at home in the woods, so this was pleasing. Correction from Mom: this is Isogona tenuis, the thin-lined owlet. Thanks for the catch, Mom!! Matches the striping much better. Internet says a hackberry tree specialist, and happily I have a little hackberry tree in the backyard I keep trimmed so it won’t get into power lines, but it can still feed our neighbors like this friend.
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05/20/2022

Beautiful plant.
Rocky mountain bee plant
Geometrid moth among the dayflower leaves.
The striped planthopper on the elderberry.
Very tiny bees on the widow sedum. One sitting, one blurring through in flight.
One Missouri fluttermill primrose among the strawberries!
During weedeater repair we found a DAMN EARWIG.
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2022/05/22 cool morning again

I sprinkled some grama grass seeds in this planter last winter so I am hopeful for this tiny grass sprout.
While it’s cool I decided I should go ahead and plant the showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). Its root was all tangled at the bottom and the soil fell off. It looks like it wanted to send out a tap root anyways.
So, it’s safely in the ground now. It is supposed to continue cool for several days, with rain too, so hopefully it likes its new spot.
I tidied up the plant shelves here by removing some pots where seedlings died.
I moved the winecup tray onto the table…
…Because some critter went rooting around in it. Hmph. Very rude. I tried to re-cover the soil on the survivors of the 2-4 that were disturbed. Fortunately many were left alone.
Frogfruit has started blooming!
Someone wants me to make guest kitties appear more.
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2022/05/21 a cool afternoon, good for last plantings before summer heat

Weird fungus in front strawberry bed where sweetgum roots are rotting.
Potatoes!
Some eggs on the house.
Dayflower. Someday I’ll figure out if it’s the native or non native species.
A mystery that came along from Texas.
It turns out these tiny things are seedheads, so I completely missed it blooming.
I looked at it in the microscope to confirm they are seeds. Abby suggested a Nutallanthus sp which looks right. I can’t believe I somehow missed the flowers! Maybe while I was at home in Texas in April?
A non native rye. It’s pulled now. Thanks Jeanne!
Mystery grass, up close of seedheads. Abby has identified as Vulpia sp, but that genus contains both native and non native species.
The same Vulpia sp, outside.
Guest cat Shackleton wanted and got a leash walk today.
He loves a good dust patch.
At the end of the water hose is a small Datura wrightii that I figured I should plant while we have our probably last spell of cool weather for the spring. I left its sibling in a pot until I find out if this spot has enough sun.
A baby Dalea purpurea (purple prairie clover) in the prickly pear planter! This was from a free seed packet from prairie moon. I didn’t use any inoculum.
Abby very kindly gave me one of her two seedlings from her Rudbeckia maxima! Really excited to watch this one grow!!
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05/17/2022 I meant to plant more beans but I got distracted looking around

A new kind of plant in the plant window.
Widow sedum in full bloom with a background of Englemann daisies.
A second baby two leaf senna is coming up in a container!! This one is in yard soil instead of potting soil. Very excited.
Briar lounges on the buffalo grass with the widow sedums to her left and Englemann daisies behind her.
Going through the house to go see front yard, I glimpse the new plant. Hi Shacks!
Rainbow garden orange is considering blooming (butterfly milkweed).
Fluttermill Missouri primrose is living up to its name with new seedpods produced!
A Venus looking glass volunteered in the strawberry bed! I love these. Apparently they’re annuals.
This tiny native cucurbit vine appears every year and I adore it.
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05/06/2022 emergency strawberry eating party

Fruit processing is a social endeavor among vaccinated friends.
The Chef’s magic strawberry sauce recipe… Strawberries and powdered sugar!
The angel food cake meringue.
Angel food cake must be cooled upside down for fluffiness.
Since they’re tiny angel food cakes I call them cherub cakes.
The Chef made everything look pretty.
Dog awaits her guests. She likes guests.
Paula had the excellent idea to use our garden cart stools as more seating. Farm to table eating!