Fire Ant-ics

I'm defying the heat and spending more and more time outside.  I've been really excited about the number of insects I've been able to find pretty easily.

Carpenter bees are never hard to find around here!  I think they're so pretty.

So is this Ailanthus Web-worm Moth, but it's a minor garden pest, although like the carpenter bee it does assist in pollination.

It's the time of year for spiny-backed orb weavers, and they've made huge webs in our front yard, anchored from the hemlock branches to the ground.  Situated as they are by a flower bed, they catch a lot of bees and other small insects.

Another favorite of mine is the crab spider.  Look at its creepy pose...ready to give a fatal hug!

Crab spiders like to hang out on flowers to surprise pollinating insects.  If you want to find one, have a look for its discarded food.  This dead moth was directly beneath this flower head.

If I'm still for long enough, hummingbirds will come. 

We have mountains of lantana blooming, although the butterfly bushes are about done.  The chives are up, though, and drawing lots of insects.

The orange ginger lilies, too.

No real autumn leaves yet, but at least we've got some pretty berries.

Elsewhere in the yard, I still find the usual lizards...

...and southern toads.

And...fire ants!  I've had my first bite, obtained when weeding in the yard yesterday.  Just one bite on the inside of my index finger, which promptly swelled.

Within a few hours, the swelling had reached my ring finger and I couldn't make a fist.  There was no pain, though, and the swelling is mostly gone today. 

No offense to the fire ants, but we've had a very welcomed visitor for the past 2 weeks.  Percival Wemys is back!! 

Was it two years ago that he started spending nights crouched on our front porch ledge?  Well, he's back again.  Carolina wrens have a 6-year lifespan, so it could be the very same bird.  He's a bit of a late riser, so sometimes Todd has to use another door in the morning to take the dog out!  :) 

In other news, I've been working like crazy on my quilt top.  Three more blocks to sew, then I have to 'square up' each block and sew them together.  Then, of course, I have to 'baste' the quilt and then do the actual quilting.  I'm really nervous about that part but I'm taking a class to help me prepare.

Otherwise, it's just lazy cats sleeping through hot summer days.

Have a great week! 

Chive Talkin'

I am so pleased with the late summer garden here.  The chives recovered from the black bean aphid attack, and are just beautiful now.

 One of the things I especially love in the garden is height.  My blazing stars didn't make it (the deer - sigh), but the chives, planted all along the edge of the side bed, provide a lovely height against the shorter daisies, marigolds, and zinnias. 

On the other side, I have sprawling lantana and butterfly bushes, all taller than I am. 

It's just as untidy by our front door.  I've scattered impatiens and transplanted liriope, moved ferns and helleborus, and I'm pretty pleased by the disorder.

 

One of the fun things for me about digging around in the garden is, of course, the insects.  I get a kick out of finding their hiding places.  I often see their shadows on the backs of leaves.

Sometimes they're so swift that by the time I move to the front of the leaf, they're gone.  I did catch that last shadow, though - a katydid.

The leafhoppers love the lantana, and I love the leafhoppers.  Look at the range of colors and patterns on their bodies!  They are little works of art. 

Of course, we always have butterflies.

 

I found a beautyberry bush sprouting up in the middle of one of the beds.  Of course, I left it there to add to the disorder, but not before helping myself to some of the branches with ripe berries (ripe in the fall, not the spring - whoops!).  They make beautiful bouquets.

So do the other flowers.  Usually I spread out the blooms with random greenery, but this time I decided to do an old-fashioned, "come as you are" mix.

 Someone gave me a limelight hydrangea stem this week, and I immediately cut it in half, rolled it in rooting hormone, and planted it.  I'm hoping to get some growth so I can plant it.  The deer have eaten my hydrangeas here, but I can save it for our next place.  They aren't exactly rapid growers, so I've got time.

 

 I hope you've got some color around you too.  Have a great week! 

Elementary, my dear Watson...

There are, I think, two keys to successfully observing wild creatures in their native habitats.  One is patience.  Many times I've taken my camera to a place with no visible activity and sat quietly.  Insects start bustling about within five minutes, then come the butterflies, and next the birds and squirrels.  Another important key, though, is being able to spot clues that creatures leave behind.

I saw this dessicated cricket caught up in the fern fronds on our front porch.

Instantly, my mind was racing.  What eats crickets?  Well, birds, snakes, reptiles, spiders, frogs, and fish.  But since this was on the front porch, it would have to be a spider...or a mantis.

Sure enough, a praying mantis was lurking nearby.  It seemed smaller and more delicate than the big mantises I'm used to in Indiana, with a stubbier abdomen and beautiful lacy wings.

Of course, it had the characteristic of all mantises, who are efficient killers:  those long, serrated forelegs.

They never stop watching you.  Insects are so unbelievably aware of our presence, all the time.

Here's another example.  We've had many fine sunny days lately, and I've been able to spend more time outside.  Last week, I saw some droppings on a canna leaf.

The size told me it was too big for an insect, and it wasn't runny enough for a bird (TMI?).  I suspected it might be a lizard, and I found him before too long, hiding on the same plant.

I haven't seen many anoles this summer.  I wonder if they're more prevalent in the fall here?

Despite the black aphids, those chives I'd feared lost earlier this month bloomed nicely.

They drew all sorts of attention.  Bees...

Ants...

And even butterflies, although they mainly stayed with the butterfly bushes and lantana.  Black tiger swallowtails and eastern tiger swallowtails are the most common.

The air is filled with little red fluttering things, but they aren't ladybugs like I initially thought.  They're related to leaf hoppers and look very similar, but they're actually (two-lined) spittle bugs.

They can be disastrous to lawns, feeding on the turf grasses that are common here in the South.  We haven't had any trouble, but we'll have to keep a close watch!

Speaking of lined, a huge striped fly landed on one of our windows recently.  He had what I call "Halloween legs" and must've been a full two inches long.

I was never able to figure out what he was!  If anyone knows...

Anyway, I encourage you to grab your magnifying glass and put on your deerstalker (that's the type of hat that Sherlock Holmes wore!), and see what you can find in your own yard with a little deductive reasoning and patience.

Have a great week!