Flowers & Flies

This area just south of the shade garden has experienced its initial weeding where we are trying to change wild ground into garden.  The Sweet William's stunning flowers are surrounded by uninvited plants.  Some of those are Jewel Weed which we believe the deer find unappealing.  After the flowers are past we really should remove the uninvited allowing the Sweet William an opportunity to spread.  We may remove all of the seed pods except those from the brightly tricolored plant.

Becky has always had an eye that sees nearly everything.  It is highly likely that I would have walked right by here seeing nothing special.  Another part of the impressive is that when she returned to the house, she consulted her National Audubon Society book and rather quickly found their photo with the name of this unusual insect.  Scorpion Fly has an unusual appendage dangling from the front of its head.  Just what it eats and how it catches dinner remains unknown to us.

This vicious looking Early Tachinid fly has been noticed before.  It just looks capable of delivering a painful bite.  Once again the Audubon book provided us with a proper name.  That text describes this bug as easily spooked so we know not how Becky got this photo.

We view this jumble of self planted growth as truly special.  One of several such Cardinal Flower plants grow here.  The tall plant holding the lower left corner of the photo is Cardinal Flower.  To its immediate right is an odd looking leaf composed of two connected oval sections joined to an unusually shaped third part.  This is the highly elusive Bloodroot.  We are trying, with little success, to grow this native treasure while this one appears strong in the midst of many other plants.  Careful inspection revealed that both of these plants are growing from the same thimble full of soil.  Intervention is totally unwise so we will wait and watch to see what their future holds.  Given Cardinal Flower's growth habit of replacing one plant with up to six new plants next Spring each with a huge root mass, the Bloodroot may get crowded out but no way to clear ground for the Bloodroot could be found. 

Here is the likely source of the errant Cardinal Flower seed.  The hooded gardener did plant these several years ago in his quest to find a location where this native treasure would survive with only a small amount of help.  Following snow melt, spent Chrysanthemum stems were spread across these evergreen plants.  Several harsh frosts blackened these leaves but they did put out new growth.  Plants from seeds are rarely seen here because their emergence usually happens in June.  Tiny new growth is seen as weeds and removed.  The seeds that blew to the other side of the path grew under the protective cover of other plants and did flower last year.

That clean line of separation between these precious plants and old pasture growth is the result of a visit from the seated weeder.  Blue Eyed Grass can be seen between his knee and the Cardinal Flower.  Becky rescued a single plant from the lawn in Unadilla and has been trying to grow it ever since.  Given its structural similarity to the much hated Quack Grass, its future here has been dim.  This year several were rescued and placed in this well cared for area.  Our timing was perfect and necessary water carried and  provided.  The transplants took a solid hold, flowered and are now growing full seed balls.  With no other grass like plants in the area, these may well hold a bright future. 
 

Finally Seeds

The first hope when trying to grow native plants is that they will remain alive.  That may seem obvious but we have watched entirely too many simply disappear quickly or slowly over several years.  When we transplanted Wild Ginger next to the stones separating planting areas from path, we hoped that the change there in elevation would allow us to see flowers.  That has happened but we never expected to see mature seeds.  We will most likely leave these seeds alone allowing nature to take its course.  Success will be hard to find since the leaves form a solid canopy blocking ground activity from view.  It is enough to simply know that here in our native plant garden, plants are producing seed for the next generation.

  

Twin Leaf has held our attention for many years.  We have had difficulty just keeping it alive and never expected to see seed from this plant.  Watching this seed pod develop has held our attention for several weeks.  Books described these seeds as being forcefully cast about by the design of the plant.  Not knowing if a spring throw was likely similar to Jewel weed, or a ride on the wind like Milkweed, we have been carefully watching frequently not wanting to miss the action.  The lid has opened revealing smooth hard looking seeds that will not float on the wind.  No spring mechanism is visible either.  It looks likely that these seeds will simply fall to the ground.  We will continue to watch every day for this show is not yet over.

Getting perfect closeup pictures with our inexpensive point and shoot camera is uncommon.  Near the center of the picture Miterwort seeds are in focus.  This is another show that we usually miss.  One problem with successful self planted seeds is the small new growth is mistaken for weeds and removed.  This plant naturally occurs in our woods and with a cage cover has maintained its existence in our garden.  Just seeing the seeds is an unexpected bonus.  We will look for new young plants.

 

Pictures of the old grouch are not common.  I was totally unaware that a photo was being taken.  Being able to stand up from a kneeling position is no longer taken for granted.  A spade is nearby and is sometimes needed to have something to push on.  The attire also deserves explanation.  Its strange appearance may discourage interlopers from visiting here.  The old man may be a little crazy.  The white colored shirt, pants and hat serve two useful purposes.  Protection from the sun to avoid any more skin cancers seems like sound thinking.  The hat, neck cover and shirt are all Solumbra products.  The pants are more commonly worn by bakers.  The white colored cloth also makes ticks easy to see and remove.  Trilliums are the chosen plant here and the invasive grass has once again been successfully removed.  New young growth is finally visible indicating that these natives are settling in here.  That gives one something to look forward to next year.