Lily Pad

 You might find a frog on the side of the porch. It happens.

 But would you expect to find one inside a day lily?

Hiding spot, feeding hole, great place to meet the opposite sex?

 Do you leap in a single bound or climb the stalk, waiting for the flower to open it's doors?

And do they know the doors close after dark?

Yard Bugs

There are bugs everywhere, and especially where there are flowers. I could spend all day trying to capture these impatient sitters. Below a few captures.

Just seems like another carpenter bee going up the wall.

Until she turns around and lets you know she isn't all bluster -queen has a stinger and an all black head. She was out looking for a new spot to nest.

Everyone digs lady bugs, and some of us don't discriminate -we even dig ladybird beetles that hail from Asia. This one hides out under the lily leaf.

Crawling up the other side are the young ones and we celebrate them because they are voracious eaters of soft-bodied insects like Aphids.

Don't be afraid.

A Metallic Green Bee, or what I like to call Christmas ball bees, possibly Agapostemon virescens. You may have noticed the very same bee, here on a Tradescantia flower, flying over the Evening Primrose in the first photo.

Fingersnail

There was a snail in our cut basil. They don't do much damage down at the beach farm so I still have a heart. A snail slithering (if you can call it that) on your skin is a strange sensation. Try it sometime. The best way to remove a snail from your skin is a quick flick of the wrist.

Unusual Sight

No, not the allium blooming before summer. The dragonfly, err damselfly, err whatever you call 'em. Look at those googly (can we still say that?) eyes.

Carpenter Bees Do It

On Sunday morning I was out grousing about the trash and dumped potting soil. I realize now that picking up trash is gardener's work. No one else seems to mind, or maybe they see litter as humanity's flower and, as you know, one should never pick the flowers. But I digress back to grousing.

As I made my way down the sidewalk, there were many, many carpenter bees. They live in the apartment building's sill, and this spring there appears to be many more than usual. I am quite used to them and consider them my unarmed guards. The males do not sting, but their curiosity and male on male aggressivity make apiphobes wary. I really like these bees. They exhibit very interesting behavior and tend to live, generation after generation, in the same location. Maybe this is why I think they recognize me -he who brings nectar (primitive-type bee speak).

As I was saying, I was making my way down the sidewalk, picking trash, and two bees locked together and had landed inside my jacket. Not until they landed did I realize this was not the usual battling males, but a male and female in the middle of Carpenter bee coitus. I have not had much experience with the females, but I know they have a useful stinger, and I didn't want to be where I wasn't wanted. I managed to slip off my jacket and drape it on the rail, but then I wanted my camera which was buried in a zipped pocket underneath their business. If it weren't for their preoccupation, I may have suffered a sting. Instead, two photos before they flew off, separately.

You can see how to identify the males from the females. The yellow or white patch between the eyes give the male away. If they are mating, their respective positions could tell the same.

Click on this one for full size.

November Bugs

This past weekend was glorious weather, so I went out to the beach farm to plant a bit more garlic and pull some brassica. I found myself kneeling, searching the soil for creatures after pulling a particular weed, which I cannot name, with several minuscule white creatures.

The weed.

The bug. Seriously small -those are grains of sand beneath, amazing I saw them at all. Good, bad, or ugly -still don't know.

It made me curious about other inhabitants of roots. I found this millipede in the roots dead basil plants.

I turned to see this fly on a recently cut broccoli floret. 

Lapping it up, eh. A testament to the sweet juices of autumnal broccoli. Click on the image for even more detail.

Cat On A Cold Frame Roof

The side yard, with the poor man's patio, and the pots and the unplanted perennials.

The alyssum bounded back. It's common, and I like it.

Basil is still going strong. I've managed a clip schedule that has kept the basil green and healthy.

I thought this was a picture of the Aconitum, Monkshood, but it isn't. It's part of the zoo.

If you didn't see him before, you will in this enlargement.

But this one was easy to spot.

And again over here.

When I was out taking some pictures, trying to clean up the side yard a little, there were three gray cats hanging out -all related. The third was with the other, on the cold frame lid behind the grass. The cats jump on the cold frame and the polycarbonate lid caved in. Drats cats. Enough of you! You may notice the clipped right side ear. Some in the hood have been working on fixing the cats, and we understand it is a long haul project. It's tougher because these greys are so human friendly, sometimes they follow their feeder around the block.

Field Guide To Frank's

The helianthus hopper.

I love this little guy, Christmas ball green.

But so does this guy. When we say eyes in the back of his head, we mean him.

Expecting mother in the latest cosmos colors.

"mlom, mlom, mlom, mlom. I hate when you watch me eat."

Really, I mean it.

Kingmaker

This is what I saw first -the chewed sides of milkweed seed pods.

chomp chomp chomp

I had not seen any butterflies visit my Ascelpias tuberosa and started to question its good name. These are Monarch caterpillars -storied to feed only on milkweed -now I get it, butterfly weed. My milkweed has grown so well this year that it may have just earned the right to host a couple.

That's a serious turd.

Now I get to wait for them to pupate, chrysalis photos coming in a few days? What's exciting about these two monarchs is that they are 4th generation, which means that when they exit the chrysalis, they will be off to spend the winter in the mountains of Mexico, returning to the southern U.S. next spring to mate. Welcome to Frank's Bed & Asclepias, I hope you enjoy your stay.

Meanwhile, just below the monarchs are these orange aphids. These are also newcomers and prefer the milkweed too. The crazy thing about these aphids, unlike all the other aphids I've had here, is that they are the same color as the flowers of my butterfly weed. While no way conclusive, Aphis nerii seems to be a possible species.

Eternal Sleep Of The Carpenter And The Cicada

The Carpenters

As my landlord famously said, "Day divebomya!"

The male carpenter bees are very curious and defensive. They might even get in your business. This one, above, gets real close to my camera to check it out.

You can tell the males by the yellow-white marking between the eyes. The males don't have stingers, and the females that do are rarely seen. Those dive bombing bees are the males protecting their turf and fighting for mating rights. My mail carrier is much more comfortable with these guys now that I told him they don't sting.

Their aggression is usually directed at each other, but can also be directed at you or me, or other bugs in their territory. That territory is about the width and half the length of my front garden -allowing me to claim that they are guarding my plants, these sentries. You can see how the bee on the left is geared up for a strike against the other on the right, who's stance is more "casual." I find many bees on the sidewalk that have not made it through these battles (or so I presume).

It's tough out there, but you needn't worry about their aggressive posture -you are as likely to get into a scrap with a carpenter bee as a possum is likely to wrestle a man; interspecies battles being so uncommon after all.

P.S. My landlord has the wooden sill sprayed with some noxious chemical every year. It kill some, but they always come back. No, the hole carved into the sill is not good for your home, albeit only a couple of inches deep. Old holes are re-used, new holes are carved out. Use treated wood for your new sill, and properly flash it. Leave wood out in the yard if you would like to attract carpenter bees.

The Mantis Chronicles

I've two resident mantises in the side garden this year. One above, the other below.

Here, it lay in wait for pray -the borage an excellent spot for flying treats.

Front legs wound up, they spring into action -grabbing a yellowjacket. But the bugger fights back with jaws or stinger and it happens to escape. I watch the mantis tend to the wound with its mouth.

A few minutes later I see that the yellowjacket's luck has run out. Mmm, exoskeleton.

And here's where it tore the head off, dropping it to the ground below.

Superfly

Aster Creature

I'm not ashamed to name the Asters as some of my favorite plants in the garden. They do most of what I ask, including surviving overcrowding, heat, wind, drought, and massive infestations of bugs that help to mottle and yellow their leaves all while continuing to put out new growth in preparation for fall flowering.

Please, click on these photos for a closer view. The black dots, no doubt, are bug poop.

This is Aster 'Alma Potschke.' It survived multiple transplants last year, then a clobbering by a baseball bat, and this year a garbage pail toss. Now the pests.

These are the critters. A quick glance might yield you aphids, but one really must get close for these. Their backs look somewhat sculpted and lacy, with stripes. The nymphs, which are everywhere, do not have this feature and are clearly spiny. My quick internet search yields the Chrysanthemum Lacebug or Corythucha marmorata as a possibility, in the family Tingidae or Lace Bugs. It seems these pests are named for the nursery trade plant group they prefer to infest. But they aren't touching my mums, and seem to love asters.

So far the Lace Bugs haven't touched my newly planted showy goldenrod, Solidago speciosa.

Eff That Bee!

It was on the euphorbia. A honey bee approached within an instant. It leaped to the ground. Those legs are wound up like springs. At this stage, not much bigger than a dried ol' yew needle.

Don't like bees, but camera's okay.

Visitor

I think it's a kind of swallowtail. It landed briefly on everything, including the parsley. I thought it might have been laying eggs. I am reminded of Marie's post of parsley munching fatties.

I'm No Birder...

...but I had an encounter with this bird in Prospect Park while I was talking with a neighbor, near the lake.

I had never seen it before. Significant markings include bright yellow tips on its tail feathers, a bright red patch on its wing, and a super hero black mask on its face. Yellowish-ochre underbelly and reddish-ochre head with gray, black and white elsewhere.

It was flitting around the tree we were standing under, I then noticed at least three others follow it to the tree. Photographing this bird with my little Canon A80 was nearly impossible -no significant zoom, and, well, birds keep moving.

I got enough shots, and the markings were memorable, that I could look it up in my handy Audubon Society Nature Guide -Eastern Forests. Cedar Waxwing, Bombycilla cedorum, summers and winters in our area and is common to most of temperate North America. They love berries, like park settings, and enjoy fresh water. Look for it in trees near you.

Don't Throw The Babies Out With The...

Many friends say to me that they do not get praying mantis year to year. I have had a reliable pair every year and while I was cleaning out the garden it occurred to me the possible reason why.

While I was snipping old perennial branches and disposing of them in bags (sorry, no room for composting those), I had one of those moments of pause -am I forgetting something? I was standing in front of the dead branches of the pineapple sage, Salvia elegans.

Yes, I remember! The egg case of the praying mantis is attached to the sage! I went through my branches strewed across the sidewalk and yes, there it was. The prior year the eggs were deposited on the tomato supports and I almost completely forgot about seeing this last fall on the sage.

Last fall.

I grabbed the branch, putting it in a safe spot until I was done cleaning.

I then tied it to the rose trellis and clematis vine, knowing that I wouldn't mess with this area too much. Whew, mantis free season averted! Although, the first ones came from somewhere -my guess is that they came in a potted nursery plant or as an egg case on a plant transplanted from another garden.

Humble

Charlotte's last web, with wind-blown seeds.

Rose, Spider, and Camera

An unaltered photo of Grandma's tea after an accidental flash exposure.

The glowing magic spider after the same.

How it was meant to look -seductive in its own right. I'm hoping that my next camera can process the hot pinks/magentas better than my current Canon A80.

And here the spider I found today when I went to cut some parsley. I noticed a fat thread connected to the climbing hydrangea, which led my eye to the web. I've never seen a large spider like this in this garden. I expect to see these in the woods, under an eave, near the night light. I must remember it is there, tomorrow, when I go to cut some sage.