Header photo from commentor Jeffg166:
I was expecting white or purple and got pink.
******
And then there’s the Cicada Invasion! From commentor Lapassionara:
We are in the midst of a cicada throng here in the St Louis area, so I thought I’d share some photos of the numerous dead cicada shells, among other sights in my garden. I’m just glad they are not locusts.
Cicadas lined up on my Solomon’s Seal.
Blue-eyed grass.
I thought this was a weed until I went out late one afternoon and saw the little blue flowers.
Prairie Penstemon.
This is the only plant that has not yet shriveled in this spot. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Purple Salvia.
More cicada corpses.
***********
I need more photos, jackals!
Surely some of you can spare time from the Spring rigors to share your latest seedling / transplants / fresh growth?
What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Jeffg166
Are the locust the black one with the red eyes?
I had a Husker red penstemon for a number of years. It died out. About ten years later I reworked the bed it was in. An old seed germinated and came up. I think it is still out there.
satby
I had a lovely birthday yesterday with my funny, rambunctious adult kids, culminating in a wonderful dinner out. Now I’m up to cook treats to drop off for a church meeting before I drive back to see the kids for breakfast before they all take off for home. My garden is in sore need of work, but until the hot, humid air breaks on Wednesday I’m not going to be out there doing it 😂
I’ll send some pics AL, I have stuff blooming.
Oh, and no cicadas here that I’ve seen.
Barbara
Penstemon is tough. Also a good early pollinator.
gene108
@satby:
Happy Birthday + one day!!!!
Baud
@satby:
🎁🧁🎂🎈🎊🎉♥️
OzarkHillbilly
I sent you a few cicada pics yesterday, Anne. They are in full swing now.
In garden news, I am currently working on getting the veggie garden cleared and planted. The incessant rains have put me way behind. Back in March we were in “severe drought”. Not anymore. No rain yesterday, no rain today, tomorrow, and Tuesday, then it starts up again Tuesday night and continues into the wkend. So I need to make hay while I can. Unfortunately, were supposed to hit 91 today.
Sucks to be me.
In garden adjacent news, I’m pretty sure we have a nesting pair of pileated woodpeckers somewhere on the property. I’ve seen the 2 of them a couple times and seeing the male is a daily occurrence. I haven’t looked for the nest yet but I have a pretty good idea of where they are. Or at least, if I was a woodpecker, that knothole sure would look like home sweet home to me. Anyway, it’s nice to see them on a daily basis. Usually they just pass thru while hunting bugs and I would see them just a half dozen or so times in a year.
@satby: You have my most sincere sympathies.
Raven
Apparently copperheads love cicadas AND are great at blending in oak trees.
https://knue.com/copperheads-feeding-cicadas-texas/
lowtechcyclist
I don’t know if anyone else is experiencing this, but comments for this post are stretching across the width of the page, which they don’t normally do. The sidebar with Recent Comments through the VAAC fundraising thermometer is down at the bottom of the page, below the comments.
I’m not seeing this with other posts – things look normal in comments there.
It also seems to be screwing up the front page in the same way, with posts going the width of the page and the sidebar stuff being below the last post on the first page.
And it’s just BJ, no tabs to other sites are any different from usual.
I’ve refreshed the page a number of times (and closed and reopened this tab), but haven’t yet shut down and rebooted.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Mobile site is ok.
Geo Wilcox
We planted the garden a couple of days ago. Lots more flowers this year. We are still eating the dehydrated peppers and tomatoes from last year so I planted less veggies than usual.
OzarkHillbilly
@lowtechcyclist: Same here. shrug
@Raven: Reminds me of the late May night I spent on a Shannon Co. gravel bar with a few friends (30 or so). For some reason all the copperheads in Shannon county decided to migrate thru our camp that night. A lot of us were just sleeping on the ground, sans tent. Which was fine I suppose, as long as one didn’t roll over on one.
One other guy and I spent the night on snake patrol. I don’t know how many I transported across camp. 20? Maybe 30? Same for him I’d guess. Once on the far side of camp, we would put them down on the ground and off they’d slither in the same direction they had been headed. Maybe there was an orgy planned for that evening.
One of the strangest things I’ve ever experienced.
satby
@gene108: @Baud: thanks. I’m a five year old in a 69 year old body 😂
@OzarkHillbilly: 😘 you old goof
spiderink
My garden is about 85% native plants and I have seen more birds since I planted all these native plants. Pollinators, other insects and birds are declining in alarming numbers. The only way to reverse this trend is plant native plants to replace lawn, invasives and double-blooming plants (pollinators cannot feed from double-blooms). I’m happy to send pix of my garden on the east coast.
lowtechcyclist
@OzarkHillbilly:
If it was just this one post, I wouldn’t say anything, but it makes the front page really awkward to read. (Shutting down the computer and rebooting didn’t make it go away, fwiw.)
Kristine
@satby: Belated happy birthday 🎉🎁🎊!
Anne Laurie
As an east coaster myself, I would love to see those!
OzarkHillbilly
@lowtechcyclist: I’m just saying I have no, zero, zip idea of why. Maybe if my wife was awake I could prod her weird techno geek brain into figuring it out, but it’s a Sunday morn and I value my life. No way am I waking her up.
Lapassionara
@Raven: that’s interesting. My son told me to watch out for snakes, but I don’t know that we have copperheads here.
The cicadas get louder during the day, so by afternoon, their noise is deafening. We have two types this year, as two cycles coincided. I think 17 year and 2 year.
scribbler
@satby: Being able to celebrate your birthday with your grown kids sounds lovely. Glad you all had a good time!
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin’, y’all!
Reports from the MS Gulf Coast are that we’re growing seaweed in the backyard due to all the rain.
Lapassionara
@spiderink: I’ve noticed that we have fewer birds here. And it has been several years since I’ve seen a monarch butterfly.
PAM Dirac
We had a pretty warm early spring in Frederick, MD. Most everything was out early including the vineyard. That gave way to a cool (50s), cloudy, wet stretch. Everything except the grass has been kind of in a holding pattern. And getting green. Everything is GREEN here. We went to the San Diego area for a brother’s wedding and that was great fun. My wife and I then took the train up the coast to Paso Robles and visited some old friends and some wineries. Very nice trip. I’d call it a vacation but the day before we left was my wife’s first official day of retirement, so it’s all a vacation now. Got back to lots of growth; weeds especially. So lots of work to do in the gardens and lots of work in the vineyards. We have a stretch of 4-5 days with no rain and some sun, so time to catch up. I getting worried that all the rain will screw up flowering and fruit set in the vineyard. Oh, well. At least the ’23 vintage is progressing spectacularly well
ETA: No cicadas here yet. Two pairs of nesting bluebirds raising some young; one in the front yard one in the back. With young we now put out the live mealworms. We tried feeding them some special bluebird mix, but the bluebirds left it alone and the crows took over. Now the crows line up at feeding time and raise a racket if they don’t get their bluebird mix. Fair enough though, because I’m pretty sure it is the crows that keep other birds out of the vineyard. I’ve had to worry about deer, fungus, Japanese beetles, spotted lantern fly, etc. in the vineyard, but have had almost no problem with birds.
Princess
@spiderink: I hope you do — I’d love to see it!
JAM
@OzarkHillbilly: Same here, we’ve had about 10 inches of rain this month. I have all these plants I had planned to move but I think I missed my chance this spring. at least it’s easier to pull all the weeds.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
OzarkHillbilly
@Lapassionara: Copperheads are everywhere in the midwest including Misery (and the STL area). They aren’t particularly aggressive (unless they are in need of shedding their skin which impairs their vision). The main thing is to be aware that if you pick something up off the ground (like old metal roofing), there may well be a copperhead underneath it.
If one does get bit, they are most likely to need nothing more than an ER visit, maybe a day or 2 in the hospital. I know 2 guys who’ve had that experience and while painful, neither needed to be admitted (a WV politico is spending some time with nurses right now after getting bit “several times” while retrieving yard signs).
I’ve never heard of anyone dying from a copperhead bite but I’m sure it could happen on rare occasions.
Nukular Biskits
@Raven:
Interesting!
I’ve only seen a few copperheads in my entire life, despite growing up stomping through the woods.
They’re very hard to spot in hardwood forests, given their beautiful camouflage.
OzarkHillbilly
They are definitely very beautiful. If you want to see more, come to my place.
Lapassionara
@OzarkHillbilly: I have seen snake skins here and there, but the only time I’ve seen a snake, it has been one of the harmless green ones.
Nukular Biskits
@OzarkHillbilly:
LOL! No thank you.
Unlike a lot of my cohorts, I don’t fear/hate snakes and generally leave them alone as they’d be just passing through.
Occasionally, though, I’d catch a cottonmouth to relocate it away from the house. On rarer occasions, I’ve had to kill a few … adult moccasins can be a bit territorial and they take shit from no one.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@PAM Dirac: I live in the DC area. Lots of overcast rainy days for the past month. I’ve got poison ivy in my yard and have been waiting for a couple weeks now for a dry stretch to hit it with an herbicide. Seems like this week might finally be the time. My yard is an overgrown mess right now. I almost never use herbicide but I’ve tried all the home remedies with poison ivy and it kills the leaves but it grows right back. Also tried ensconcing myself in thick clothes and a facemask, gloves etc and pulling it out. Again, it always grows right back. So weed killer it is.
MagdaInBlack
I’ve not heard any cicada’s yet, here in the Chi nw suburbs. Now that I’ve said that, I’m sure today will be the day they cut loose.
Nukular Biskits
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Make sure you’re using the stuff for woody plants; i.e., a brush killer.
Regular weed killer won’t cut it on poison ivy/sumac/oak.
Kristine
I’m seeing red admiral butterflies for the first time in about three years. Seeing all sorts of bees and wasps and, of course, flies.
Flies really love holly flowers. I have a couple of large hollies close to my backdoor and in spring and summer I need to be reallyquick about opening/closing.
Went to a Master Gardener-sponsored plant sale yesterday. Bought Japanese spikenard, blue lobelia, lugwort, and white turtlehead. Rehabbing the shade garden and long-neglected patch of partial shade in the front yard are the summer projects.
It’s been a rainy spring here in NE Illinois and everything is growing. Including the weeds.
lowtechcyclist
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
I’m in Calvert County, so kinda borderline DC area. I’ve had good luck with pulling poison ivy up by the roots. Each visible poison ivy plant has roots that go down to what I call a ‘runner root’ that connects a whole string of poison ivy plants. The runner roots aren’t very deep, so it’s not hard to pull them up. And once you do, there’s nothing for them to grow back from.
When the kiddo was little, I went on a poison ivy jihad, pulled it up from anywhere in the yard that I could see it. It finally seems to be reappearing, now that he’s finishing up his junior year in high school. I pulled some up on Friday from a bed that my wife wanted me to plant some plants in. I just use disposable plastic gloves for protection. Seems to work.
satby
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: @Nukular Biskits: yeah, there’s brush killer that’s especially good for poison ivy. I used that, and Tordon stump killer on the thicker vine remains after cutting them. And remember the tools that touch it need to be cleaned carefully too. But the one-two punch eradicated it in my yard, at least until a bird poops a berry and plants it again.
satby
@scribbler: thank you!
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Nukular Biskits:
@satby: I got stuff labeled specifically for poison ivy so I’m hopeful it’ll work. I got the roundup version last time and that killed it off “permanently” – meaning a few years – until new seeds were planted by some songbird. They didn’t have Roundup this time so I got a different one.
I live a block from Sligo Creek Park, which is a linear park with a paved multi use trail that runs along the eponymous creek. It’s great in general but the park is lousy with poison ivy. So it’s inevitable it’ll reappear from time to time.
oldgold
Other than the ubiquitous glechoma hederacea blue bells in bloom, not much going on at West of Eden, except the usual. My red capped neighbors frantically chemically treating their borders abutting West of Eden ( love the smell of napalm in the morning ) and the red faced Weed Commissioner, Charles Crawl, continuously driving by.
Probably will plant the vegetable garden on July the Fourth, after I have staved out the June bugs.
Nukular Biskits
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: @satby:
I’ve used both the Roundup product and the Bayer one (Bioadvanced?). When possible, I also pull it up but I have to be extremely careful as I am hyperallergic to the damned stuff. I have to go so far as to wear long sleeves, safety glasses (in case some breaks off and flies towards my face), gloves. Afterwards, I have to wash any tools, immediately throw the clothes in the washer and take a shower.
Yeah. It’s that bad. I’ve had the black blisters from direct exposure.
Barbara
@Nukular Biskits: When we bought a house near the bay in Virginia, it had a lot of “mature” poison ivy. My husband attacked the biggest stalks by lopping off a big branch at its midpoint and hollowing it out, then putting in a mixture of salt and vinegar, and covering it tightly with duct tape. He did this to every significant branch, let’s say, one that had a diameter of at least two inches. It worked pretty well. This approach mimics Roundup, which is basically a kind of salt.
OzarkHillbilly
@Lapassionara: In all my years in STL and environs, I never once saw a copperhead. But it’s a safe bet they are there. Along any waterways, RR lines, etc. that gives them a safe and easy pathway.
Nukular Biskits
@Barbara:
Like @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: , I’m not particularly fond of using potent herbicides (which are indeed usually based on some kind of salt) so I may try that.
If I could only convince the mockingbirds to go poop poison ivy berry seeds somewhere else …
OzarkHillbilly
I’ve had occasion to associate with them from time to time.
Once while skinny dipping in a creek, I was sitting down looking at rocks on a gravel bar. Looked up in time to see one (1.5′ or so, so a youngster) about 3 feet from the family jewels. S/He and I had a staring contest for about 30 seconds before it turned and swam away. I’d like to say s/he backed down but that would be a lie. It just decided I wasn’t worth killing.
OzarkHillbilly
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: @Nukular Biskits: I have seen stuff marketed specifically for use on vines.
Nukular Biskits
@OzarkHillbilly:
In my previous life, I had several acres with a 1/4 acre pond. On the backside of the pond, I kept a brush pile what, when it reached a certain size, I would burn.
One day in when the temp/humidity was approaching a combined 200, I was hauling tree branches I had pruned down to the pile. We’d had a lot of rain that year, so the grass was rather high on the backside of the pond … too wet to cut.
Anyway, as I got within about 10 feet of the pile, I heard the hiss and smelled the “musk” of a moccasin. Before I could react, I saw a VERY LARGE (I conservatively estimate about 5-6 feet in length) adult moccasin raise his/her head above the grass and put on a very convincing threat display from about 5 feet away. I calmly apologized for trespassing, slowly backed away, and once out of danger, ran like hell to the house to get the shotgun. Fortunately for both of us, it was gone (?) when I returned.
I never again let the grass get that high on that part of the property.
I know that folks tend to exaggerate the size of snakes, particularly when surprised like that, but that was THE largest moccasin I had ever seen in my life.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Nukular Biskits: I’m sensitive to it too but not that bad. I get the typical rash but it’s tolerable. I still suit up with long sleeves, rubber gloves, safety glasses and a mask just to spray the stuff because better safe than sorry
OzarkHillbilly
@Nukular Biskits: I’ve seen Moccasins to varying lengths (had a 4′ chase me away from a fishing hole) but the largest moccasin I’ve ever heard of a buddy of mine caught (a snake-aholic he loved them so) on the Jacks Fork river. He said it was 5 feet in length and it’s head was as big as a dinner plate. He was so excited he paddled to catch up with the guy he was floating with to show it to him. Joe was properly impressed.
Nukular Biskits
@OzarkHillbilly:
As someone who has caught and released countless snakes, I’ve found that most other folks do not appreciate the enthusiasm of an ophiophilist (disclaimer: I had to look that up) and especially do not appreciate being presented with a snake of any kind.
Kristine
@OzarkHillbilly: @Nukular Biskits: I grew up in Florida, so yeah, snakes.
For a time, we lived in a house with a screened-in Florida room and terrazzo floors. One day little kid me was sitting on the couch, from which I had a view down the hall and into my bedroom. I saw something black slither along the wall in the direction of my bed and said “Daddy, there’s a snake in my room.”
Dad went in to check. Next thing I know, he’s herding a large black snake—maybe 3ft or so—down the hall and through the living room. He told me to stay on the couch as he kept his distance from the snake, which struggled to gain traction on the smooth hard floor.
He managed to get snake outside—it shot across the carport and lawn and up a tree. Only then did Dad tell me it was a water moccasin. We figure it must have gotten in through a hole in the Florida room screen.
I sometimes think about what might have happened if I had stepped too close to that snake while getting in or out of bed or if it had climbed in the bed and under the covers for safety.
Nukular Biskits
@Kristine: Your story reminded me of something that happened a few years ago.
TLDR version: Yang-Yang Da Stupid (one of the cats) brought a live 2ft snake through the pet door, dropped it and loudly/proudly announced his delivery as the snake desperately thrashed for traction on the tile floor. A large bath towel was thrown over the snake to subdue it and I took it to the back part of the property to release. Fortunately, it was what we call “black racer”, non-venomous.
OzarkHillbilly
@Nukular Biskits: We recently had our power line cuts trimmed (once every 10 years) and the CC Electric Coop riding boss and I were talking. He asked me if I was one of those people who catch snakes and turns them loose again. (I forget his exact phrasing but it was obvious what he thought of those people). I just smiled and said, “Yep.”
He wasn’t ready for that, thought I was a fellow traveler I guess.
@Kristine: Our cat Miss Kitty, Queen of the hollers, breaker of tethers, the unburnt, killed a copperhead in our bedroom one night.
munira
@lowtechcyclist: I have the same thing on my mac. Comments stretched out across the screen.
TerryC
We have finished up this year’s tree plantings with 75 each paw paw and red mulberry seedings. The paw paws look dead, as usual, but the mulberries are doing gangbusters. I might get fruit on my oldest paw paw tree.
We can’t keep up this year at Bratsholme Farm. Everything is growing so fast and I am getting slower. We decided to close down our Blue 9 disc golf holes and let that space grow wild but for a trail this year. Less work to maintain 27 holes instead of 36 and it will be fun to see what the seed bed pops up with.
We’re right on a main landing and takeoff path of the local airport so I am considering taking one of those fairways and writing the word “vote” into it. I’ve got a nice 40×160′ space available. Can’t decide whether to mow the letters or use wood chips.
Kristine
@Nukular Biskits: Lots of those here in NE Illinois. I love ’em. Though one day I did come across one trying to capture/consume a leopard frog. I startled it so that the frog escaped—I can still recall the feeling as it hopped across my shoetops.
No poisonous snakes, though Hognoses do a good job imitating a rattler coiled-to-strike pose complete with quivering tip of tail—I recall one keeping my pup Gaby at bay even as that dog insisted on circling and barking and trying to get close. I was concerned enough to call Animal Control. The guy told me they get calls all the time from folks mistaking hognoses for rattlers, but there are no poisonous snakes native to this area of Illinois.
That was a few years ago. Wondering it that will change as things warm up.
Nukular Biskits
@OzarkHillbilly:
I … uh … not sure where to go with that. Or even if I should. 🤣
Kayla Rudbek
@lowtechcyclist: same here on an iPad running Safari
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist: Thanks for the heads up. Looks like someone in the back room accidentally bumped the setting that tells the page how to display.
I believe I have fixed that, can you confirm or deny?
Kayla Rudbek
@WaterGirl: looks like it’s fixed now
WaterGirl
@Kayla Rudbek: Thanks for the confirmation!
spiderink
Not sure how to send garden photos to the blog, but I do have some up on my own blog: nativefloraforfauna.com
Kristine
@OzarkHillbilly:
!!!!!!!!
Good kitty.