planthopper

 

Planthoppers are masters of disguise. A green Acanalonid Planthopper, hiding on a stem, can look like part of the plant -- a seed pod, leaf, bract, or stipule. 

This one is only 3/8 inch long.  It was perched on a stem at the leaf sheath, probably sucking sap from the grass.  Planthoppers, true to their name, can leap many times the length of their bodies.  And they are very agile insects that can move easily forwards, backwards, or sideways. 

alfalfa

Alfalfa Medicago sativa is another forage crop grown around the world. But it escaped and now commonly sprouts along roads and degraded or disturbed areas.  Also called lucerne or purple medic, Alfalfa adds its deep purple blooms to the wildflower palette around the pond.  Known for the remarkable productivity and quality of its herbage, the plant is also valued in soil improvement and is grown as a green manure.  We are glad it is present here to add its color and value to the pond area.

eagle nest

The eagle nest near the pond is surrounded by more leaves each day.  The tree is healthy and shelters the Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus family well.  The strong forked branches are big enough to support the huge nest that has been here several years.  Surrounding their tree, the eagles have fields and several wetlands to hunt for food. 

gooseberry winter

Walking through the woods in snow.

Some plants display interesting winter personalities, very different from their growing season garb.

The Eastern Prickly Gooseberry Ribes cynosbati reaches out its long curving canes to call my attention to their defense of juicy berries this coming summer.

bird feeder garden

The veggie plot converts to a bird feeder garden in winter.  The edible crops have been harvested.  The perennials reach down to overwinter, and the herbs offer up their stems and seed heads for the birds. The feeders beckon the birds; we deter the squirrels from the bird food with a toy "slinky" hung on each slippery pole. 

edibles

The rabbit is so frustrated by the fence around the garden where lettuces and other attractive fare grow!  Today we saw her munching on milkweed.  What about that "toxic" white sap?  Opinions range from "never eat any milkweed" to "edible if cooked, but only the broad-leaved variety". Evidently this rabbit found it edible.

milkweed and tomatoes

My garden has been invaded by Common Milkweed Asclepias syriaca that used to grow closer to the woods.  I usually let some of the stems come up inside the fence; they bloom among the herbs and vegetables so their scent fills the air as I weed and tend the crops.  This week, they are beginning to open and release that fragrance!  The garden is a delight of tomato vines, greens, beans, peas, squash vines, and scented herbs.

borage blooming among the tomato vines

pollinator on tomato blossom

caterpillar

My knowledge of garden pests seems to have evaporated over winter . . .
This 2-inch-long small green worm with a silvery stripe would usually be difficult to detect on green plants, but this one was on a native Penstemon plant with rich maroon stems and leaves.
Since there is so much concern about loss of butterflies and bees, I want to encourage any that I can.
To my chagrin, I realized it is a cabbage looper! 
This caterpillar is the larval form of the white cabbage moth, Trichoplusia ni.  They love plants in the veggie garden -- broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage, collard greens, potato, tomato, spinach, and cucumbers.  They typically eat holes in the leaves and hide out on the bottom side of the foliage.

beaks

Baltimore Oriole

Close up: the beaks of Baltimore Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, and Common Grackle.  All three of these birds are in the blackbird family (ICTERIDAE).

Orioles have a long, thick-based, pointed bill.  They love ripe fruit and will stab the closed bill into a soft fruit, then open their mouth to cut in and drink with their brush-covered tongue.

Blackbirds have a very sharp slender bill to glean seeds from weedy plants like cocklebur. Sometimes they probe at the base of aquatic plants, prying them open to get at insects hidden inside.

Grackles devour crops like corn, eat garbage, and can saw open acorns.  Their bill is long and pointed, but slightly curved down, with a hard keel on the inside of the upper mandible.

Grackle (juvenile on left)

Red-winged Blackbird

insect control in the garden

The birds that hang around the wild woods are helpful as they eat insects in the nearby vegetable garden.  More food for the birds, fewer pests on the crops!

Above, a migrating Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Empidonax flaviventris stops for a few bites mid-day.

Right, a female Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis perches on the garden fence to  get a better view of the bug buffet.

earliest crop

The rhubarb stems push their way up through the mulch towards the light, intending to unfurl their beautiful textured leaves as the sun beckons.  Rhubarb is one of our first crops each Spring.

garden harvest

The kitchen garden at the edge of the wild woods produces a precarious harvest of veggies when the grazing deer stay outside the rabbit fence. On most afternoons there are just enough tomatoes, summer squash, beans, snow peas, or leafy greens ripe for our small suppers.

raspberries

The new row of raspberry brambles we put in last year are bearing fruit -- delicious red, black, and golden raspberries. The three are a wonderful mix of real intense berry flavor, but even better with a few of the little wild blackberries we find tucked in between the buckthorn and honeysuckle along the old fence row in the wild woods.

borage - improves tomatoes?

Last year, I learned that borage (Borago officinalis L.) is not only a pretty flowering edible herb, but it also improves the flavor of tomatoes when grown within a few feet of them. I did plant some borage seeds, and they blossomed profusely. I don't know if it helped my tomatoes, since weather and other variables seem to be in control here. And, this year, the volunteer borage is coming up throughout the veggie garden.