August wildflowers

In the middle of August, the birds that nested here near the pond are busy teaching their young to hunt. Or maybe they are hiding while they molt into new fresh feathers.  

Meanwhile, the late blooming native plants have grown tall and display their splendid blossoms.  

Ironweed Veronia fasciculata blooms purple and Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata grows next to the pond.  They both attract pollinators, including bees and butterflies.

ironweed

The tall, stately plants topped by brilliant purple flowers -- blooming now by the pond -- are Common Ironweed Vernonia fasciculata.  Each 5- or 6-foot tall plant has a purple-green stem, dark green toothed leaves along the stem, and clusters of flowers at the top. Clusters are made up of many flower heads, each about 3/4” across. After the flowers open and mature, each becomes a fruit that is composed of a dry seed with a tuft of coppery brown hair. 

This is a host plant for the 'American Painted Lady' butterfly and also has value to native bees.

Ironweed got its common name because of several qualities: tough straight stems like iron rods, fading purple flowers become rusty-tinged, and seeds are colored like rust.

Ironweed is one of about 500 species of perennial plants constituting the genus Vernonia of the family Asteraceae; it's species are distributed throughout the world.

Monarch butterfly caterpillars

The  rose flowers of Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata plants are blooming in several places along the shore around the pond.  Actually, the flowers can vary in color from soft mauve to dusty pink to soft crimson violet.  This milkweed attracts a profusion of butterflies and other pollinators who lap up its nectar.  The Monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus uses the milkweed as its host plant. A host plant is where the butterfly will lays its eggs exclusively, because the larvae that hatch will have a ready supply of the only plant they will eat.  This Swamp Milkweed had two different size caterpillars feasting on leaves.  (In these photos, golden aphids share the sweetness of the plant.)

butterfly

This Monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus was flitting around from flower to flower near the pond. It settled for a moment on a Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea.  But Monarchs prefer their host plant, milkweed, so it did not linger here.  The Monarchs' distinctive colors and pattern warn predators (mostly birds) that they’re foul-tasting and poisonous because of their diet. The milkweed they eat is toxic, but monarchs have evolved not only to tolerate it, but to use it to their advantage by storing the toxins in their bodies and making themselves bad for creatures who would eat butterflies.

Ironweed ready to bloom

Ironweed Vernonia fasciculata is growing tall in the buffer around the pond.  Soon, it will open its brilliant purple aster-like flowers in clusters at the top of each regal plant.  The name 'Ironweed'  becomes this plant because the stem is tough, straight, and strong, up to 6 feet tall.  It is very attractive to butterflies and native bees, and is a host plant for the American Painted Lady butterfly.
In the photo below, you can see the upper 12 inches of a six-foot tall specimen with flower buds.

swamp milkweed blooming

Last summer, a few Milkweed plants were blooming on the wetland surrounding the pond.

This is Swamp
Milkweed Asclepias incarnata; it thrives in wet soil, and we encourage it here for the pollinators who thrive on the flowers' nectar.

It usually blooms pink, on two foot tall stems. There are some white blooms also.

This fall, we will try to coax the seeds of these plants to sprout new plants for more blooms in future seasons.

emerged

We have been watching the cocoon since it was re-attached to a willow stem two days ago.  Today the Polyphemus silk moth Antheraea polyphemus emerged.  This adult will live 3 or 4 days. She will not hunt or feed, only seek a mate in her short existence in this form. The life cycle will start again when she lays eggs; the eggs will hatch caterpillars that will eventually cocoon to become as handsome as this adult.  Look closely -- the 'eye spots' are as transparent in real life as they look!

what is it May 2020

I found an unfamiliar object on a twig laying on the ground near the pond. Deer have browsed the willow shoots in that area, and this was cut but left behind. The object seemed like a gall or growth rather than a seed pod.  It has dried leaves curled around it, and looks to be attached to the twig with a web-like or woven material.  I asked my friends on Botanical Wanderings for ID help -- it is most likely the cocoon of a native silk moth. If so, it should emerge in the next few weeks. Hopeful, I tied it to a sandbar willow branch near where I found it, since willow a host plant where giant silk moths lay their eggs.