We've seen lots of babies in the last few weeks.  Tis the season!

 

Remember to drive slower than usual, especially around the curves.  "Thanks" from all the momma deer.

 

SAFE TRAVELS!!!

 

 

Here's a good one!  Today I read that the collective noun for ladybugs is 'a loveliness.'  A loveliness of ladybugs.  I like it.  I even dress up in a ladybug costume for Halloween, and feel quite lovely.  
 

Don't tell Henry.  He hates them.  They invade his house like there's no tomorrow.  We still visit on Halloween just for a tease.
 

Harlequin Ladybugs were intentionally released in 1979 in the US as biological warfare to control the population of aphids, corn borers, and other herbivores (insects who feed on garden plants.)  They have since become an invasive species, causing a whole new set of problems.  Just ask Henry.  
 

Anyway, I thought it was interesting and hoped you would too.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!!
 

 

 

 

 

We were visiting a friend the other night (keeping our distance of course) and saw this dragonfly on the wall.  I took the picture, and then later noticed the shadows.... Interesting.  
 

We have a fun reference book called Animal Speak, by Ted Andrews.  He describes animals, insects, birds, and reptiles using their unique qualities to help us understand them, and help us understand ourselves.  Dragonflies and damselflies are about light and color and iridescence.  How intriguing that they have both shown themselves to us in the last week.  It makes me think more deeply about light and color and the mysteries therein.

 

I hope you get to see dragonflies in your travels, and take the time to reflect on their iridescence as a gift.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

We saw this insect in the park.  Its color was so vibrant, we had to stop.  It held still for a full minute!!!  I used my new favorite app SEEK, and it called it Beautiful Demoiselle.  Had to look it up.  According to SEEK, scientifically it is Calopteryx virgo, or European damselfly.  
 

According to Wikipedia, Calopteryx virgo lives in Europe.  'The distribution of the beautiful demoiselle covers all of Europe with the exception of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands and Iceland.  On the North African Mediterranean coast, its southern populations in Morocco and Algeria can be found.'  No mention of Southern Appalachia.  
 

I sent an email to iNaturalist, SEEK's creators, and asked about other damselflies in our area, and I got this back:  'Seek's image recognition model doesn't take location into account, it relies purely on visual similarity,'  plus a link to four species of damselfly spotted in north Georgia.  This one is probably Superb Jewelwing, Calopteryx amata.  Ya gotta love that!!!!
 

I love this app even more now!!!  Information AND support!!  Did I mention that's it's free?  
 

Whatever species it is doesn't really matter to me;  we were just captivated by its beautiful iridescence.  And now you get to see it too.  Maybe you'll see some in your travels.  I hope so.  They are so beautiful:  superb, in fact.  
 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Didn't need SEEK to identify this guy.  This is the groundhog that lives at Meeks Park.  We've seen him lots of times, always in the same area.  Usually, though he scoots back into his den.  I guess he was sunning himself, or trying to catch a breeze, because he sat right there while we took 6 pictures, and didn't try to hide.  I don't know scientific names for mammals;  I guess I could look it up, if I needed to know.  OK, here we go...

The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
 

The groundhog is also referred to as a chuck, wood-shock, groundpig, whistlepig, whistler, thickwood badger, Canada marmot, monax, moonack, weenusk, red monk and, among French Canadians in eastern Canada, siffleux.

 

Groundhogs are true hibernators, spending 4-6 months sleeping in their dens.  They spend the fall fattening up, storing energy to maintain their bodies through the winter.  They can slow their respiration to 1 breath per minute, and lower their heart rate from 110 to 4-5 beats per minute.  They also lower their body temperature from 96 degrees to 40 degrees, just above freezing.  Then, sleep and sleep and sleep.  
 

I love seeing groundhogs in the park, and now I have new respect for their resilient nature.  I'm glad I looked them up.  I learned something new.  I still don't want to see them in my garden or tunneling under my deck.  
 

Maybe you'll get to see him next time you're in the park.  
 

 

HAPPY CRITTER SIGHTING!!!

 

 

Jon opened the basement door yesterday, and look who was there!!!  A Corn Snake.  Not poisonous, and really quite beautiful.  This one is about 2 feet long, and it slowly wandered off.  We took a video, but I don't know how to upload a video onto this site.  Sorry.  I'll work on that....
 

I looked in our Snakes of the Southeast book, and I think they may have used this one for their ID picture.  Their picture looks exactly like this one.  There is another picture showing it constricting a rat, but I'll spare you that photo.  Just so you know, though, corn snakes are also called red rat snakes.  
 

The good news is, when threatened, corn snakes generally try to escape.  This one didn't seem threatened at all; it just meandered along the house wall and out to the woodpile.  We didn't feel threatened either;  we just watched in fascination, and took pictures.
 

Love seeing critters up close.  Also glad Jon was there to identify it.  I might have been afraid, not knowing what it was, just that it was A SNAKE!!!  OK,  I'll get back to garden pictures. 
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

We saw this Praying mantis in the sage today.  Beautiful!!  It was about 4 inches long, and didn't move for a long time, well, long enough for me to go inside, get my camera, come back out to the sage, and take a few pix.

 

We've seen them in the gardens before, sometimes eating our precious Monarch caterpillars.  I don't really love that, but it's the way of Nature.  Everybody has to eat something.

 

I read about Mantises, and learned that there are over 2,400 species in the Mantidae family of insects.  They live all over the world, and got their common name:  Praying mantis, because of the way their forelegs are folded while they remain stationary, waiting to catch and grip their prey.  And I loved this description:  Mantids are "mostly ambush predictors."   That paints a pretty picture, doesn't it? 

 

I hope you get to see one in your garden, they are so pretty.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I told you I know very little about the life cycle of frogs.  True....but....

 

I also know that they hatch from eggs.  And this picture is of the empty egg case.  Same holding pond as yesterday's tadpole picture.  Just so you know.

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!!

 

 

 

Have you heard all the frogs' chatter lately?

 

Well, when we walked the loop on Sunday, this is what we saw down by the creek.  Tadpoles!!!!

 

I would love to chat about tadpoles, but I know very little.  Only that they turn into frogs!  ;)~

 

Thought you'd like to see what we saw.  

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!!

 

You heard correctly:  Jon feeds the deer in our front yard.  They stand out there and wait for him to bring the corn. They step off into the woods just a bit until he starts to leave, then they're on it!!!!!  They don't even wait for him to get all the way away.  Who trained whom?  Just sayin....

 

Back to the point of this blog:   Deer will eat just about anything.  No garden is safe.  I've seen lists of plants they don't like as much, but without enough of their preferred food, deer will eat anything!

 

You can see the Rutgers University list of plants rated for deer resistance at https://njaes.rutgers.edu/deer-resistant-plants/

 

We buy dried corn to feed them, hoping they will leave the Forsythia bushes alone.  We plant things that we know they don't like so much, like Rosemary and Sage and Marigolds.  But when they are hungry enough, they'll eat the Leyland Cypress trees and Junipers!!!

 

Mark had a good point about feeding the deer.  Spread out the corn, so that it isn't in a pile. If it sits too long and gets wet, it can mold and kill them.  Turkeys can die from moldy corn too, so let's not do THAT!!!!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!!