renewal. We all need to sleep in one way or another, and when you think of earth as a living thing - the soil is alive, under our feet, the lava boils. Life, action, mysteries.
The trees are beginning to bud and flower. Aquatic plants are reaching for the sunlight. I saw two waterlilies in bloom today. Egrets in pairs, signs of a new beaver dam being built, Coots - too many to count, wood ducks in pairs flying. Wasps, I found, inhabit a huge cypress snag - it stands tall and straight...and full of wasps! Tiny little turtles come to sun on exposed stumps. Carolina jessamine vines are beginning to flower.
A swallowtail butterfly fluttered through the yard. Robins have eaten the pyracantha berries.
The Four and Twenty Club are here again. They are a huge mixed flock of visiting Redwing Blackbirds, Common blackbirds and grackles who raid my squirrel and bird feeders. It's ok with me. I love to hear them.
Wait a minute. Did I say, "butterflies" here? If I get it right, there will be another album of butterflies and moths common to this area. Most are on native wildflowers. Can you tell me which are which? Of course you can! They're labeled! There are a couple that are unique because they are visitors or rarely seen here. The Harvester is the only butterfly with a carnivorous caterpillar. Some are camouflaged with eyespots; bright colors ward away predators as unhealthy to eat. Our butterfly season starts in August and runs through the last of October. By November, the migrant stragglers stop off for nectar but the migrations are over, for the most part.
I love my butterflies, and I encourage everyone to leave a spot in the garden for the weeds and wildflowers. And that is the purpose for this slideshow. All the plants are natives. (Weeds are wildflowers, too.) As I correct this entry, it is February 15. The redbud is full of tightly closed buds, but showing pink, anyway. Just an update!
1 comment:
Very nice. That is pretty cool on the page turning thing. Neat pictures... again :-)
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