apple scab and color fab

Mid-May is a wonderful time of year.  It seems like everything is bursting into flower or buzzing around said flowers.  

altica beetle

golden northern honey bee

yellowjacket

white-tailed deer

eastern tent caterpillar

woolly bear caterpillar (in pupa stage)

We've had our mason bee house out for a couple of years but this is the first time it's been occupied!

Mason bees are solitary bees and fantastic pollinators, much more so than honey bees!

Claudia has been a little more active then she was during the colder weather...

A LITTLE more active.

She caught a vole this week!! 

The perennial garden is filling in nicely right now.  I have to keep reminding myself that this was just dirt or grass when we moved in!

Most of the flowers won't pop for a few more weeks but I love the greens!  

And we have SOME flowers.

peonies...so close!

Lots of columbines!  This is Nellie Barlow...

purple and red columbines

sweet william

Unfortunately, one flower that we missed this year was the apple blossom.  Normally our tree blossoms in mid-April.  

This year, not one...single...blossom.  Instead, unsightly spots and curled leaves.

We've got apple scab, a fungal disease.  We need to treat the tree before it's fully leafed out, so it's too late this year to do anything.  A shame, because I'm STILL pulling frozen apples out of the freezer every week for oatmeal or apple cake from last year's crop.  I'll be missing those apples this winter!

Back to work.  Have a great week!