Posted on February 18, 2024February 18, 202402/18/2024 ready The elderberry is ready to go. I’ve seen two shoots coming up out of the ground that I need to move too.
Posted on May 29, 2023May 29, 202305/29/2023 rain Clouds to the west before the rain arrived! The elderberry has started blooming and seems to be attracting many small pollinators, including this little beetle.
Posted on May 27, 2023May 27, 202305/27/2023 hidden below the elderberry Briar rests in the cool plants below the now blooming elderberry.
Posted on December 16, 2022December 16, 202212/16/2022 rosemary recovery The rosemary was unhappy near the raised beds as the irrigation leaked there. The roots were rotting. The second plant was almost dead. Hopefully it will be drier here. Basil getting some sun. We’ve been nursing it along with nights in the garage. This Euphorbia maculata is still alive and looking lovely. Wes did some wine bottling today. The muscadine grapes were from the farm share and the elderberries were from our yard! Shackleton was enjoying scritches and sunshine until Briar showed up to gaze admiringly. He does not like the dog.
Posted on May 30, 2022May 30, 202205/29/2022 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.
Posted on May 26, 2022May 29, 202205/26/2022 Thursday the 26th. A winecup from two summers ago came back. This true bug was relatively long and thin, and is standing on greeneyes. It flew away before I got a better picture. Bee fly at woodland edge! I’m hoping this could be inland sea oats that I seeded two years ago. Edit: Abby agrees. There’s a passionvine label here but this could also be butterfly pea?? We’ll find out!! Across the fence from mystery seedling is a known passionvine. Showy milkweed has survived its planting. I think these are the Mexican sage from Judy. A small bee on coreopsis. Mystery grass. I will note here when I hear back from the grass expert! (Then I can check here next year when I forget haha.). Edit: Mom says is the native little barley again. This one is a volunteer so I’m glad it does well here! Doesn’t get taller than the buffalo grass too so it can stay in the “lawn”. Close up. A small native legume whose name I’ve forgotten. There are quite a few growing in the rainbow beds and in the backyard at the edge of the patio. A lightning bug on a rain barrel. A leaf miner in the native coral honeysuckle! I think this dark spot is the larva, visible on underside of leaf. So tiny! Overall the coral honeysuckle is beginning to get going. This one was from Judy! Thanks Judy! A wild grape that we dug from the front to make room for strawberries. Joke’s on us because there was root left up front and it’s now taking over the rain barrel stand too. Another black nightshade. I think their tiny flowers are so pretty. Elderberry just starting. I think a mealy bug? On ironweed stem. Liatris mucronata from home from last summer. Dicanthelium grass that came along with Liatris. A tiny insect on ironweed. Purple coneflower working its way towards blooming. A mystery leaf. The mystery leaf above came along with the transplanted wedge leaf Euphorbia.
Posted on May 22, 2022May 22, 202205/20/2022 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.
Posted on March 20, 2022March 20, 2022Potato time We decided it was time to try planting the potato eyes in the straw bales. This one was prepped by watering it and wrapping it in plastic. Paula plants the same variety in the unwrapped bale that received water and fertilizer. A little baby yarrow! Not sure if this is a transplant from home or from seed, but glad to see it. Maximilian sunflowers are still coming up from the area we dug up. We pulled them up and put them along the back fence. While digging a hole to plant a little elderberry shoot, I broke open an underground fungus ball. Neat!
Posted on June 11, 2021June 11, 2021Yesterday’s stuff The Chef got three jars of dehydrated onion stems/leaves from our harvest of granex bulb onions. The bulbs are still drying in the hall. My hat is irresistible to Gram. He tries to eat the string and tulle until I get fed up and put it up. Fleabane in full bloom! Photography is boring for dog. Dill starting to bloom. Elderberry is thriving. Full view. It’s just one plant! A tiny bee on Gaillardia pulchella. A young (?) lynx spider eats a house fly while sitting on coreopsis. Coneflowers are going strong. I need to look up the name of this skipper, which is sitting on a dayflower leaf.