Showing posts with label peony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peony. Show all posts

Monday, May 19, 2025

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!  

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

fair weather and feathers

 We've been hard at work outside!



So many spring things in bloom or on the cusp...

jacob's ladder

peony

anemones

euphorbia

lilacs

ferns, lily of the valley

Lots of creatures out and about, too!

mayfly

tan slug

may beetle

net-winged beetle

eastern tiger swallowtail

teeny tiny feathers!!

And more beauty on our walks...

multiflora rose

purple phacelia

ferns

mayapples

wolf's milk fungus

It's a really nice time of year.



Have a great week!