Do you know how to identify a dogwood?

 

 

By its bark.   Hahaha!!

 

No, really!!  LOOK!!  It's unique.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

 

Have you seen this in the woods?  It's called Strawberry bush.  Its botanical name is Euonymus americanus.

 

It is a low growing shrub, 2-8 ft tall with squarish green stems and twigs.  It's kinda weedy looking.

 

The local name ("local" meaning Southern Appalachian Mountains) "hearts a-bustin' with love" refers to the rough, crimson seed pods splitting open to expose the bright glossy orange seeds.

 

You may know the cousins of the strawberry bush:  Winged Euonymus or Burning bush, Euonymus alatus.  They are sold in garden centers, and are often planted on roadways, medians, and interstate hillsides.  Joe Willig planted one near his garage.  It has gotten really big, and it now belongs to Mark and Karen.  I'm keeping an eye on that one, then I'll know when to start looking for their brilliant fall color around town.  It won't be long now....

 

Meanwhile, we are enjoying our Hearts a-bustin with love.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

 

I checked on our Fritillary caterpillars and they have completely devoured the passiflora.  OH! NO!

 

But wait!!  There's good news!!  I learned that Fritillaries overwinter as caterpillars.  They finish eating and growing in the spring when their food source reemerges.  

 

That made me feel better, knowing that I was not expected to provide enough food for all of them to survive.  Jon keeps reminding me that they have been doing this for a very long time without human intervention.  Nature has it under control.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

I saw these caterpillars in my garden, and didn't recognize them.  However, I did recognize the plant they were eating: Passionflower.  I have been resisting pulling it out all summer, hoping it would bloom.  I got no blossoms, but this may be better;  I love raising butterflies.

 

I went to the Stokes Butterfly Book and discovered that Gulf Fritillaries use passion vine for a larval food plant.  Then, I looked up Gulf Fritillary to see what their caterpillars look like.  Guess what!!!  They look like that!!

 

Here is the adult on an onion blossom.  It was very close to where I discovered the caterpillars.

 

 

I'm so glad I found a picture of this butterfly.  I took the picture back in early June.  I wonder if this is the mom.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

 

Chestnut Oak, Quercus prinus.  

 

Like most of the Oaks, they are tall trees, typically 60 - 70 feet, sometimes reaching 100 feet tall.  They have dark, deeply ridged trunks, and leathery leaves.

 

The leaves look a lot like Chestnut leaflets, with rounded teeth.  Acorns are BIG, and a major food source for deer.  The years we have small acorn crops are the winters the deer eat EVERYTHING in your garden.

 

This year the Chestnut Oaks are loaded with acorns.  This stand of trees is on Five Forks Drive, near Solitude.  

 

Be sure to look for them on your walks or drives through the neighborhood.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

 

 

I saw spring flowering bulbs for sale in the garden center, and I bought my red tulips.  But I'm not planting them yet.

 

It's getting close to time to plant bulbs, but not quite.  I think we need to wait til fall is officially here.  I'm afraid if we plant them now and it stays warm they may begin to sprout.  Then there will be nothing in the spring.

 

Go ahead and get the ones you plan to grow now, while the selection is good.  Keep them in a cool, dry place until

you're ready to plant them.  Besides, half the fun is the planning stage.  I love dreaming about where I'm going to put more daffodils, and what color pansies I'm going to grow on top of my tulips.  Check out gardening magazines and catalogs for ideas for spring bulbs.  They're so much fun!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

 

I just learned about hyperlinks!!  So I'm practicing on YOU!

 

This is where I check for good planting days.  Thought you might like it.

 

Just click on the link and you will get to the website.

 

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

I am curious about those yukky looking webs in the trees.  I don't know much about entomology,  so I went to Wikipedia and read about tent caterpillars and webworms.

 

I just learned how to upload a hyperlink.  So if you're interested, here are the links to learn more.  

 

 Webworms in Wikipedia

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

 

 

Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum.  Very prolific in our woods.  Almost "weedy."

 

Sourwood usually grows to a height of 20 - 50 feet.  They bloom in late spring in pendant clusters of white bell shaped flowers, and what we are seeing now are the resulting pendant clusters of seed pods.  The dry seed pods will stay on the trees through most of the winter.  

 

When in flower, the bees love them, turning the nectar into sourwood honey.  

 

Apparently, some tent caterpillars like them too.  I wonder which butterfly or moth creates those horrible looking tents... Thank goodness the trees are deciduous, so they can drop their leaves and grow new ones in the spring.  

 

Beginning soon, they will start showing their beautiful crimson fall color.  You can already see some young ones changing color!  Look in the underbrush on the roadsides, and you'll probably see some red sourwoods.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

Here's another good reason to grow Echinacea.  Butterflies love them too.

 

I think this is a Pearl crescent.  This pose is typical for Pearl crescent - with its wings spread flat.  It sure made it easy to approach and take a picture.  Almost like he posed for me.

 

Crescents get their name from the small light color crescent near the edge of the hind wings.

 

Their larval food is asters which abounds here.  I'll get a picture soon.  But their nectar favorites are Black-eyed Susans and white clover.  Lots of that around too.  

 

This is fun, researching and learning the names of butterflies, so I can share fairly accurate information with you.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!