Top adult leavesSeed leaves remainingThis second individual isn’t growing as tall. Baptisia probably bracteata seedlings!Possibly green milkweed seedlings in that pot with the Baptisia. In the cactus tiered planter, a mystery seedling. Mystery seedlings in the rose/bluehearts planter. Still hoping for bluehearts!A brome grass. I need to key it. Not one of the common non native ones. Not sure if volunteers or I planted.
We got 2.75” in less than 24 hours!Missouri Fluttermill primrose baby survived pouring rain even under the rain barrel! Left seedling is Winecup and upper right seedling is Astragalus crassicarpus!Two possible yuccas in the green section. Not a milkweedNot a milkweed?Maybe a milkweed Known milkweed (probably viridiflora)The skinny adult leaves of known milkweed. New book The Gardener’s Guide to Prairie Plants by Diboll and Cox mentions many milkweeds first adult leaves are skinny even if the eventual adult leaves are broad. Either that or I got the species wrong. One of two Blackfoot daisy survived earwigs and is now growing flower buds and a few new leaves!Perennial coreopsis begins!Briar was pretty miffed it rained HARD most of the day. So before our walk she curled up in disgust right on my big Liatris mucronata from home. Thanks. The Mexican Sage from Judy is up!A sedge?Partridge peaOldplainsmanMysteryCaliche planter babiesThe tomatoes have gotten a bit sunburnt from past rain with sunlight after, so this time I flicked water off and put them in a less intensely sunny spot. Trying to get them hardened off for planting. Like Briar, Shacks was disappointed by rain and not being out. Paula brought him some favorite juicy grass and he loved it.
Williams pride apple is blooming. Seckel pear has started to leaf out and the Liberty apple behind it too. I think this one is the bud on the Arkansas Black Apple. Or maybe McIntosh. I forget already. Update: Paula checked and it’s McIntosh. Butterfly milkweed coming up in the rainbow garden!
Cruising around! We heard an upland chorus frog sing from a pond as we drove by. It sounds like a finger running over teeth of a comb!I need to add captions and descriptions to the rest of the pics, but this Spiranthes sp was neat to see coming up!Briar and Paula in safety hunter orange. False garlic with tiny moths. Paula caught a Little Brown Skink!The skink did not want to stay for a visit. A prairie verbena!Armadillo!!! Briar ready, but actual briar vines kept her from following it far. First Lomatium of the day. Briar helped by putting her nose by it. Arnoglossum sp! LeavesBigger Arnoglossum species leaves!The lovely valley we walked around. Had some damp spots. Milkweed! Probably Asclepias verticillata??Echinacea probably angustifolia? Leaf and last year’s seed head. Thanks for laying down in the mud puddle, BRIAR.Nostoc algae and scale lichens!Paula found this great potter wasp nest!Eventually found a big patch of Lomatium blooming. Some Lomatium in light shade. Some Lomatium almost done blooming. Some Lomatium out in the sun. Another prairie verbena. A puccoon just opening!
Antennaria neglecta (prairie pussytoes) from Missouri Wildflower Nursery is doing well!The second pussytoes is even putting out long shoots… maybe it will spread by runners??Three germinating Asclepias viridiflora!!A Datura wrightii from Wise Co TX that Mom gave me!False garlic is blooming nicely!These leaves are in the right place for Helianthus mollis, ashy sunflower, we planted last year as a seedling outside from seeds indoors.
The greeneyes is starting to bloom in the backyard prairie! This grew from seeds that I put out a year, maybe two years, ago.Hmm… What is this brown lumpy thing on the butterfly milkweed?An exciting, dare I say unexpected, find by Paula… The Unexpected Cycnia moth caterpillar!I spotted this second Unexpected Cycnia caterpillar on a different plant a few inches away. Apparently they only eat milkweeds, so we are very pleased to find one in the orange butterfly milkweed section of the rainbow garden. It’s also our 150th yard species on inaturalist!A dead cicada. No fun buzzes but Briar hoped.Watermelon in the farm share this week. Yum!!
Maybe Phacelia?I found at least four leaves full of my amazing tree hopper friends.Each leaf had a different set of adults or immatures.Adults get taken care of too.Babies!!!The leaf bends where the treehopper eggs were.Lace bugFrogfruit east of patio is doing well. Just moved a piece there this spring.Nice true bugDog flower highly mobile.Monarda future flower bud??Baptisia and okraRudbeckia maxima from Abby has a new leaf.A planthopper (Flatidae) on curly dock. First time for this family in the yard?? I used to see them regularly at home.Rattlesnake master still lives.Passionvine (seeds from Bartlesville) doing well in their second year.Tiny bee on butterfly milkweedHedeoma in with Datura.
Just a bit of prairie here at Ruby Grant Park in NW Norman.Oh wait! A box turtle!!It is good pollinator habitat and good prairie too. I heard one Eastern Meadowlark singing and at least one Dickcissel.A weevil on green milkweed pods.A family of baby milkweed bugs on green milkweed pods. We looked but didn’t find any Monarch butterfly caterpillars.Sideoats grama grass.Abby has suggested this is bottlebrush squirrel tail grass.It has very exciting seedheads!Thanks to Mom and Abby for identifying this as Apocynum cannabinum, or dogbane.There was a lot of it along the trail and we saw the dogbane beetle that eats it too!Possibly prairie acacia?A non native lady beetle on the acacia.Really great stands of Rudbeckia amplexicaulis here!
Strawberries! Just a few left. They peaked back a while ago.Lemon balm is blooming.This salad contains garden radishes and garden lettuce.Butterfly milkweed in backyard.Verbena halei is leaning under the ironweed.The yellow in the rainbow garden has stopped blooming but the rock garden primroses are blooming!Standing cypress is looking magnificent after several days of tons of rain.