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!  

toothless men and a turkey hen

 Is it the "cat days" of early summer?

Maybe!  The bramble flowers have dropped and fruit is setting up.

On our apple tree, too!

The brief window for peonies is here.  The windows are always open and we can smell them from the yard, and of course I bring them inside!

Todd has started his yearly ritual of getting a little exercise every few days by mowing sections of the field.  

New young pine cones are setting up for the season...

Sugar snap peas are popping...

...and speaking of "popping," my Sissinghurst poppies are starting to open!  I almost like them better as closed pods.  They remind me of a toothless old man!  So much character.  :)  The flowers themselves are so delicate and fleeting, but I enjoy the leaves and pods for weeks.

Hot days and cool nights bring amazing morning fog.

The porch spiderwebs are bejeweled...

...and morning walks are magical.

I regularly hear turkeys gobbling in the mornings, and see them sometimes, too!

Others are out scouting around, like the southern yellowjacket queen, looking for a good place to start a nest.  Not in our mulch pile, please!

Pollinators are out and about...

Lassioglossum sweat bee

tarnished plant bug

paper wasp

Future pollinators too, like this Painted Lady caterpillar, starting to pupate!  

It's an exciting time of year, one of my favorites.  I wake up early...really early.  I open the windows by 5 a.m.  The frogs sing loudly until about 5:45 a.m., and then the birds start.  Sometimes I go out on the porch.  The garden by the porch is in full bloom...

Owls are hooting in the forest and turkeys gobbling faintly in the field.  If I sit in the porch swing, the little song sparrows that live in the side garden start to sing, just a few feet away.  Claudia is rubbing against my ankles...the porch is her domain.  I feel like I'm in a Disney cartoon sometimes!

It's so peaceful here, even though this is a really busy season for us.  We're working hard now to get things done, so that in the heat of summer, we can relax.  

Have a great week!