Field Notes: July 1, 2020


Links:

Tasks: none; wasn’t feeling well

Observations:

  • Weather: overcast morning; rain around mid-day; sunny again in late afternoon/early evening
  • Plants:
    • Bloom Report (not comprehensive):
      • Flower Buds: yellow daylily
      • Blooming: yarrow, spiderwort, red bee balm (LStH), chickweed, purple flowering raspberry (FW and RHF), wild bleeding heart, wood sorrel
      • Last Bloom: Allegheny vine (may be done entirely; blooms look spent)
      • Gone to Seed: wild geranium
    • Critters:
      • lots of activity on the yarrow flowers: grass carrying wasps (I think), mud daubers, potter wasps, various tiny bees, a few syrphid flies, a ton of green bottle flies, a maple clearwing moth, and an ant
      • bumbles visiting purple flowering raspberry and red raspberry flowers as well as penstemon
      • saw some strange looking beetles, possibly mating (weird orange goo was present) in the undergrowth around the red raspberries
      • seeing tarnished plant bugs, magpie moths, and white striped black moths around the garden regularly
      • pupae still present on underside of chokecherry leaf; look about the same
      • finally got a photo of tiny white moth I see around the garden sometimes; may be able to get an ID but photo is not great
      • saw a robber fly that appeared to have some prey (perhaps a spider) in its mouth; hanging out on black capped raspberry
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Field Notes: June 29-30, 2020


Links:

Tasks: didn’t do much, if anything; may have dumped some water that pooled in some containers, but wasn’t feeling well at all and it was raining

Observations:

  • Weather: rained on and off all day
  • Plants:
    • Leaf and Shoot Report:
      • longleaf groundcherry seedlings out front might be looking a bit better now; maybe the rain is helping (was worried that I was overwatering and backed off, but maybe I was underwatering)
      • new leaf forming on the sad looking purple flowering raspberry from T&S (near spigot); maybe it will survive
      • rain has knocked a lot of plants over; very large gaps in jewelweed patch; may be because of rain or could be a critter
    • Bloom and Fruit Report:
      • Flower Buds: snakeroot, pink wild yarrow
      • Blooming: red bee balm (LStH), pearly everlasting, purple flowering raspberry (FW and RHF), red clover, nipplewort, forget-me-not (sporadically where I miss pulling it), goutweed
      • Past Full Bloom: red raspberry, white clover, creeping buttercup, chives
      • Last Bloom: dames rocket
      • Gone to Seed: rhubarb
      • Fruiting: mayapple fruits getting bigger (bigger than I saw them get last year; maybe these won’t abort!), red raspberry (none ripe), black-capped raspberry (none ripe)
    • Critters:
      • sawfly larvae on eastern cottonwood leaves still turning yellow/green
      • syrphid flies visiting yarrow flowers
      • aphids completely gone from eastern cottonwood

Field Notes: June 28, 2020




Links:

Tasks:

  • Harvested castings from two worm bins (the blue bins), put back together, and gave to a friend; still keeping the two gray bins I originally had, but will be easier to manage them now and will have shared with someone who I know will take good care of them
  • gave some Canada woodnettle, some fox grape seedlings, and native plantain (P. rugelii) to someone from a local native plant exchange group

Observations:

  • Weather: hot and sunny all day until late afternoon; then overcast and brief rain (sprinkles); then rain all night
  • Plants:
    • Leaf and Shoot Report: Lake Huron tansy germinating in pots (thought they already had, but I think those were something else; these ones are visibly tansy)
    • Bloom Report:
      • First Bloom: red bee balm (LStH)
      • Blooming: spiderwort, purple flowering raspberry, chickweed, white clover, red clover, wild bleeding heart
      • Past Full Bloom: Allegheny vine, creeping buttercup
      • Gone to Seed: oldfield cinquefoil
    • Critters:
      • bicolor agapostemon, some other little bees, and at least one bumble visiting purple flower raspberry out front today (the double petaled one)
      • honey bees visiting white clover and foxglove beardtongue
      • tarnished plant bug on yarrow flower buds
      • various little flies visiting yarrow flowers
      • aphid colony almost completely gone on eastern cottonwood
      • black firefly hanging around while harvesting worm bins
      • saw a small orange skipper-type butterfly out front; saw it nectaring on white clover flowers at one point
      • seeing damselflies again finally! (guess the rain has brought them back)
      • black and yellow mud dauber gathering mud from driveway
      • lots of little bees visiting spiderwort flowers
      • observed a syrphid fly on a grass stem out front; feeding on grass pollen or just resting?
      • lots of horizontal spider webs all over the grass and little black spiders patrolling in and on them; think I may have observed a solitary wasp or some other hymenopteran critter walking around on one of the webs, almost effortlessly…hunting spiders maybe and adapted for that?
      • caddisfly, I think (?), resting on Aronia leaf
      • still seeing robber flies; saw one resting on hazelnut leaf
      • more of the sawfly larvae on eastern cottonwood leaf changing from black to green/yellow
      • sunflower maggot flies still active on sunchokes

Field Notes: June 27, 2020




Links:

Tasks: none documented (wasn’t feeling well; didn’t do much)

Observations:

  • Weather: hot and sunny
  • Plants:
    • Germination Report:
      • wild garlic (planted 3/28/20 in cowpot)
    • Leaf and Shoot Report:
      • rescued Apios americana recovering and doing well in its little pot
    • Bloom Report:
      • Flower Buds: hostas, red bee balm (ones from LStH very, very close to blooming; blooms red, just not open yet), snakeroot, pearly everlasting, Canada anemone (other ones that haven’t bloomed yet), panicled bulrush, pink yarrow out back
      • Blooming: spiderwort (both out front and out back), white yarrow out front, purple flowering raspberry (RHF and FW), nipplewort, lovage?, yellow avens, yellow wood sorrel, red clover goutweed
      • Past Full Bloom: white clover, creeping buttercup
      • Last Bloom: creeping charlie
      • Going to Seed: Canada anemone (that first one that bloomed right away; others still just have flower buds)
      • Fruiting: wild strawberries (WSP ones have bigger ones but still a few very tiny ones on some of the strawberries from K; ones from WSP also tend to be more ovular but the shapes and sizes do vary somewhat), Aronia (some of the fruits starting to turn yellow and abort; still none ripe), red raspberries and black-capped raspberries (none ripe yet)
    • Fungi:
      • lots of little brown mushrooms popping up in pots on the deck (mostly in the ones started in cow pots)
    • Critters:
      • black firefly hanging out on tall grass out back
      • white-striped black moths active
      • mud daubers, I think, grass carrying wasps (?) visiting yarrow flowers, along with potter wasps and small bees
      • little green bee visiting catsear flower, which appeared to be teaming with thrips
      • little wasp (very thin, thread-like one) hunting out front
      • observed a bumble bee visiting invasive goutweed flowers; have never seen that before; must be really desperate
      • two different funky little bugs to ID (one on purple flowering raspberry along driveway and other one on hybrid plum out back)
      • little wasp pupae on underside of chokecherry leaf are still there (sort of checking every day to see if I can catch their emergence on camera)
      • lots of folded leaves in the undergrowth around chokecherry (on asters, avens, etc.); lots of caterpillar activity, I guess
      • black sawfly larvae still active and munching on eastern cottonwood leaves; a few appear to be changing color (more green/yellow)
      • aphids on eastern cottonwood are really strange looking
      • Opiliones really active around the garden lately
      • saw a wood roach in wild area where Canada woodnettle grows (across the river), which looked just like the one I saw around the garden here recently; saw a really cool looking little beetle over there as well (was hanging out on elderberry leaf)

Field Notes: June 26, 2020



Links:

Tasks:

Observations:

  • Weather:
    • Morning: hard rain for a few minutes this morning; didn’t last long at all; sun came out again shortly thereafter; got very hot and humid right away
    • Afternoon: overcast and brief, heavy rain again around 3:00 or so, followed by more sun
  • Plants:
    • Bloom Report:
      • Flower Buds: Canada lettuce, queen of the prairie, red bee balm (one from LStH really close to blooming), ramps (fairly close to blooming, I think, at least in one spot)
      • Blooming: spiderwort, purple flowering raspberry, yarrow, wood sorrel, chickweed, red clover, white clover, goutweed, nipplewort, forget-me-not (sporadically where I missed pulling it), lovage, yellow avens, white avens
      • Past Full Bloom: creeping buttercup, chives, red raspberries
      • Last Bloom: creeping Charlie (seeing it sporadically)
      • Fruiting: red raspberry (some are just barely starting to change color), black-capped raspberry
      • Gone to Seed: oldfield cinquefoil
    • Critters:
      • saw a mantidfly for the first time!!! seemed to have a damaged wing, sadly, and was having a little trouble getting around in the patch of spiderwort it was moving around in out front; was really cool to see one in person for the first time, though 😊
      • observed what I’m pretty sure were aphid wasps hunting aphids on the eastern cottonwood, which was also being patrolled by a few ants
      • observed tiny fly visiting wild strawberry flowers
      • tiny bees and wasps visiting yarrow flowers
      • observed some tiny bees visiting purple flowering raspberries out front
      • observed some tiny bees visiting foxglove penstemon
      • Ceratina carpenter bee (I think) visiting chickweed flowers
      • tiny parasitoid wasps around insect hotels
      • little black and red bug (twice stabbed stink bug?) hanging out on wild bee balm and wrinkle-leaf goldenrod today
      • potter wasp and some type of bumble visiting red raspberry flowers
      • sunflower maggot flies active in the sunchokes
      • small black ground beetle scurrying across one of the new paths today; looked like one of the native ones instead of the Carabus nemoralis I usually see
      • potter wasps visiting goutweed flowers
      • Nabis sp. hanging out on goutweed flowers
      • still seeing robber flies; saw one hanging out on a grape leaf today (one from K) with what appeared to be the remains of some prey nearby; for whatever reason, they seem to like that spot

Field Notes: June 25, 2020




Links:

Tasks: watered B.B., F.P., Solomon’s seal along driveway, witchhazel, deck plants, spicebush bed, raised beds, and serviceberry bed

Observations:

  • Weather: sunny, still dry; cooler and less humid today
  • Plants:
    • Leaf and Shoot Report:
      • prickly pear really making a lot of new pads; might need to transplant soon
    • Bloom Report:
      • Flower Buds: yellow daylily next to spiderwort, heuchera?, red bee balm, snakeroot
      • Blooming: Canada anemone, yarrow, purple flowering raspberry (RHF and FW), wild strawberry (WSP), foxglove beardtongue, spiderwort, oldfield cinquefoil, chickweed, white clover, red clover, goutweed
      • Past Full Bloom: red raspberry, creeping buttercup, chives
      • Last Bloom: dames rocket, bigroot geranium
      • Gone to Seed: rhubarb, horseradish, wild geranium
      • Fruiting: mayapple fruits starting to get really big; bigger than last year, I think; may actually contain viable seed, since I planted from several different sources (think they can spontaneously abort the fruit if not cross-pollinated)
    • Critters:
      • have been seeing long-legged flies lately; think I first noticed a few days ago; had also been seeing whiteflies for a few weeks
      • saw white admiral again; passed through garden and into tree line around noon while I was watering
      • firefly hanging out on black-capped raspberry (during daytime; not seeing any fireflies lighting up at night around the yard lately, unfortunately); pretty sure it is a black firefly (Lucidota atra)
      • saw some type of skipper today; was moving too fast to get a good look at it, though; wonder if it is a silver-spotted skipper and whether it will lay eggs on the Apios americana
      • think I saw a bumble bee checking out purple flowering raspberry flowers (from RHF) out front; don’t know if it was actively visiting them, though
      • little bees, syrphids, and tarnished plant bug visiting yarrow flowers
      • mystery eggs/larvae/pupae on underside of chokecherry leaf completely black now; found out that they are Eulophus sp. pupae—which parasitizes caterpillars
      • tiger swallowtail with partially frayed wing landed on sunchoke leaf and rested there for a really long time; may be approaching the end of their season ☹
      • observed potter wasps visiting invasive goutweed flowers; need to really try hard to get more native carrot-family plants in this garden next year
      • sawflies on eastern cottonwood leaf getting bigger; more black than the other ones I saw a month or so ago
      • sizeable aphid colony on eastern cottonwood
      • gypsy moth caterpillar still on mesh basket

Field Notes: June 24, 2020









Links:

Tasks:

Observations:

  • Weather: overcast all day; cooler but very humid; was supposed to rain but didn’t; a few sprinkles here and there but only briefly; no real rain ☹
  • Plants:
    • Leaf and Shoot Report:
      • whatever is afflicting willows seems to be spreading to others that I planted; even beginning to see it on some of the ones on the deck ☹
      • new plantings out back all seem to be doing well
      • Rosa blanda has sent out a new shoot recently
    • Bloom Report:
      • Flower Buds: queen of the prairie, snakeroot, panicled bulrush, Canada lettuce, red bee balm, pink yarrow out back, pearly everlasting
      • Blooming: purple flowering raspberry (FW, RHF), lovage?, white yarrow out front; foxglove beardtongue, spiderwort, oldfield cinquefoil, yellow avens, white avens, white clover, red clover, chickweed, catsear, nipplewort, goutweed
      • Past Full Bloom: creeping buttercup, chives
      • Last Bloom: bigroot geranium
      • Gone to Seed: wild geranium (both out front and out back)
      • Fruiting: wild strawberry (some ripe), Rosa blanda (rose hips, which were already on the plant when it arrived from PN, are turning red)
    • Critters:
      • seeing sunflower maggot flies on sunchokes again (think I saw one a week or so ago but it was on the eastern cottonwood; strange; could have been something else, though…lots of flies with similar wing patterns)
      • also seeing large holes forming on some of the sunchokes leaves; sunflower maggots??? (see these every year around the same time)
      • interesting looking moth hanging out on red raspberries; tan with a few darker brown stripes and odd wing shape and movement pattern (very small, though)
      • bumble visiting red raspberry flowers
      • another round of sawflies have hatched on eastern cottonwood leaf
      • seeing several types of Opiliones regularly; seem to be doing okay this year
      • observed some type of very tiny larvae on underside of hybrid plum leaves; sawflies? caterpillars? any connection to weird white and black egg things I saw before but no longer see on that tree (but still see on chokecherry)???
      • weird egg/pupae things on underside of chokecherry leaf look like they’re increasingly turning black
      • still seeing those strange black flies everywhere
      • little tan fan-footed moths still fluttering around
      • looks like some critter has made a leaf shelter with an ostrich fern frond
      • pale green assassin bug hanging out on red raspberry leaves near F.P./new path
      • still seeing lots of twitchy little solitary wasps I can’t ID
      • strange little brown and white moth on aster near chokecherry; totrix?
      • fourteen-spotted ladybeetle hanging out on hybrid plum
      • don’t recall seeing hardly any insect activity on chive flowers this year
      • gypsy moth caterpillar (a large one) hanging out on one of the baskets I was using to cover groundcherry in butterfly garden

Field Notes: June 23, 2020

Links:

Tasks: watered out front; watered a few things out back

Observations:

  • Weather: overcast and somewhat cooler this morning but hotter and sunnier this afternoon; very, very humid but perhaps a bit better than it was earlier in the week
  • Plants:
    • Germination Report:
      • Canada woodnettle (planted 3/29 in almond milk container?)—could be something else
      • Blue phlox (stratified 2/29, planted 4?/9 in small round green pot)—could be something else
      • Canada lettuce (railtrail, coll. 8/3/19?, planted 3/29? in1/2 gallon plastic container cut down to half size)—could be something else
      • Aniseroot (PM, planted 2/16 in small black square pot)—could be something else
      • Solomon’s seal (PN?, started 2/16 in plastic 1/2 gallon container)—could be something else
      • Swamp buttercup (PM, planted 2/9 in plastic 1/2 gallon container)—could be something else
    • Leaf and Shoot Report:
      • scots lovage out front looking good; groundcherry out front not looking good; hopefully will recover; milkweed and new england aster looking okay; mystery goldenrod seems a bit stunted; most of the nodding onion not looking okay except for one that I planted from WSP
    • Bloom Report:
      • Flower Buds: pink yarrow (out back), red clover, creeping buttercup, queen of the prairie, snakeroot
      • Blooming: catsear, nipplewort, white avens, lovage?, chives, foxglove beardtongue, wild strawberry, red raspberry (not sure about status…past full? last?), creeping buttercup, goutweed
      • Last Bloom: wild geranium out back
      • Fruiting: wild strawberry (some occasional ripe fruits), red raspberry and black capped raspberry (none ripe yet)
    • Critters:
      • thirsty robin drinking from driveway puddle while I was watering out front; also using the opportunity to hunt worms from the damp soil nearby; robin got very close to me; must either be desperate or really used to seeing me
      • saw a very tiny bee visiting purple flowering raspberry flowers along driveway; first time I’ve seen a pollinator on these flowers, I think
      • aphid colony on eastern cottonwood
      • some type of syrphid fly I don’t think I’ve seen before
      • think I may have seen a few tachinid flies
      • saw a green bottle fly (I think) visiting yarrow flowers out front
      • some sort of cranefly resting on wild strawberry flower…nectaring???
      • unusual looking bumble bee visiting white clover out front; don’t recall seeing one like this before and looks like a queen (quite large)
      • slugs attacking sicklepod; keep picking them off and putting them elsewhere but I keep seeing them; hope it recovers ☹
      • strange looking eggs or larvae on underside of chokecherry leaf; think I saw the same thing on the underside of the hybrid plum a few days to a week or so before
      • little sort of thread waisted type of wasp hanging around purple flowering raspberry out front

Field Notes: June 22, 2020










Links:

Tasks:

  • planted a Canada anemone in the spicebush bed; hoping it will help keep the creeping buttercup that’s trying to invade that bed from doing so
  • planted two vervain in willow bed
  • planted bloodrood from LStH next to the red bee balm (also from LStH) near the birdbath (was not in good shape; didn’t realize there was no drainage in the container it was in and it had been sitting in some standing water; hope it’s not dead) ☹

Observations:

  • Weather: hot and sunny; feels slightly better outside today than yesterday; maybe just slightly less humid
  • Plants:
    • Leaf and Shoot Report:
      • the purple flowering raspberry (the second one from T & S, the one closest to the spigot) still not looking good, may not make it; the other one planted near the one from FW is doing pretty well (not blooming or anything but leaves look good)
      • most of the plants in the raised beds are getting crazy tall
      • pawpaw leaves are massive; lots of new growth; wonder if they will start gaining some height this year or maybe next year
      • strumosus bottom leaves looking a little droopy (watered)
      • cup plant looks really good
      • middle grape in shed overhang area seems to finally be recovering and putting out lots of new growth; all the grapes having a good year, actually 😊
      • white avens over by the goldenrod out back (the only white avens blooming right now) are really, really tall! I didn’t think they could get that tall; kinda cool
      • pink yarrow in hybrid plum bed spreading like crazy! seems to be having a better year than in years past; didn’t think it was going to make it a few years ago
      • massive jewelweed patch seems totally unaffected by drought; very interesting, since I thought it needed a wet area to thrive
      • the bloodroot from LStH didn’t look good; too much water and no drainage in its container; foliage dead and broke off; had gone to seed when I planted it today (seed pod was open and little white elaiosomes were visible)
      • some of the grape seedlings now have a second set of leaves
    • Bloom Report:
      • Flower Buds: pearly everlasting, snakeroot, red bee balm (from LStH), lovage? (might be blooming; too high up for me to tell), Canada lettuce (one of the ones I planted last year, I think), pink yarrow (out back)
      • First Bloom: foxglove beardtongue (could have been yesterday, I guess; not really sure), catsear, nipplewort
      • Blooming: Allegheny vine (A. fungosa), red clover, white clover, mystery buttercup I need to ID, purple flowering raspberry (RHF and FW), red raspberry (past full), chives, yarrow, oldfield cinquefoil, spiderwort, chickweed, wild geranium (out back), bigroot geranium (last bloom, I think), yellow avens, white avens, wild strawberry (WSP), wild bleeding heart; also goutweed, dames rocket (past full), creeping buttercup, nipplewort ☹
      • Mature Seeds: bloodrood (from LStH)
    • Critters:
      • saw a bumble visiting the one Canada anemone that’s blooming on the back deck
      • bumble visiting red clover flowers for a really long time
      • there is a bumble (a queen maybe?) that appears to be endlessly searching for something low to the ground; I so hope it’s not a queen still desperately searching for a nest this late in the season, because that would be the saddest thing in the world ☹
      • seeing a lot of robber flies lately, and they almost always seem to have some kind of prey in their mouths when I spot them; very tiny prey too; I wonder what they’re hunting that is that small…mosquitoes or other midges maybe??? (mosquitoes actually aren’t too bad this year); observed one today on pawpaw leaf
      • observed a cuckoo wasp hanging around the shed overhang area; probably sneaking into potter wasp nests
      • seeing a lot of those little tan moths this year; many flitting around the garden around dusk and see them during the day every time I disturb the foliage
      • found what I think was a wood roach drowning in some water; fished it out and left it on hybrid plum out back (these are native and not the nasty kind of roach that get into your house)
      • white striped black moths active around the garden

Field Notes: June 21, 2020





Links:

Tasks:

  • watered out back
  • cleaned out the shed somewhat (still more work to be done)

Observations:

  • Weather: very hot and humid
  • Plants:
    • Leaf and Shoot Report:
      • confirmed that the mystery plant near the front porch is definitely Adlumia fungosa (Allegheny vine), an endangered species in Maine!—not sure how it got there, but I suspect that it was planted by a previous owner at some point and some seeds were left in the seed bank; supposedly it self seeds really easily, so hopefully it will pop up again next year!
    • Bloom Report:
      • First Bloom: red clover, white avens (I think…may have bloomed a few days ago)
      • Blooming: spiderwort, oldfield cinquefoil, chickweed
    • Critters:
      • new moth today!—Xanthotype urticaria (the false crocus geometer)—observed it resting on a lone creeping Charlie plant next to a highbush blueberry (one of the ones in the “acid bed”); was there for a really long time, still there when I went in for the night; apparently, they use blueberry and bunchberry (among other species) as host plants, and both of those were nearby, so perhaps it showed up to lay some eggs
      • seeing lots of white striped black moth and tiger swallowtail activity
      • little potter wasps nesting between shed shingles as well (just like the blue orchard bees)
      • found what I think was a little stag beetle on the deck while sweeping; thought it was dead and picked it up to look at it and soon realized it was alive (at least somewhat), and the little barbs on its legs caused it to kind of get stuck on my finger for a while (lol); eventually was able to release into an area with lots of foliage and woody debris out back