Have you noticed?
“Noticed what, Peg?” you ask.
Have you noticed that I have been incorporating my walk-about pictures into my letter blogs?
Or trying to?
Sometimes I have more pictures to show then I have room to show.
Hence I will do an extra posting this week, with pictures!
“Yay!” you say?
These are a wildflower called blue phlox, also called wild sweet William.
They vary in color from pale blue — like these — to red-purple to rose-lavender and rarely white.
They vary in color from pale blue — like these — to red-purple to rose-lavender and rarely white.
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Gooseberry!
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You would think, from how well focused this little guy is, that the point of my photo was the spider, wouldn’t you?
Truth is, I never knew he was there until I saw the photo on my computer.
“What in the world were you taking a picture of then?” you may be wondering.
When the leaves come out on this tree, it looks like they’ve got horns.
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Lots of dogwoods blooming, and I’ve taken lots of dogwood pictures, but I don’t see a lot with pretty pink edges.
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I just thought the way these leaves grew, all backwards and droopy-like, was weird.
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Field cress is also called pepper grass or pepperweed.
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Steps to nowhere!
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Heart shaped tree stump.
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Trumpet honeysuckle is just starting to come on (at the time I took this photo)
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“If I hold real still, she won’t see me.”
He didn’t move a single muscle the whole time I was taking his picture.
Usually the squirrels don’t stop running and hopping from branch to branch until they are in the safety of their den.
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Lots of honeysuckles are blooming.
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Violets!
Have you ever seen an albino violet?
That’s what I was going to caption this photo with, then I discovered that it is just a variation within the species. White with purple veins. There is actually one more variation called a ‘Confederate violet’ which has grayish-white petals with violet or blue veins.
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I was going to pull the branch down to photograph the pretty green flowers when I spot this little guy living there. I didn’t want to bother him.
A little way down the road I spot another of the same kind of tree. I don’t know what it is. Someday, when I have the time, I will research it — unless you can tell me what it is.
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Mayapple!
Mayapple is also called mandrake.
Did you know that mayapple actually flowers? I’ve never seen one and in fact did not know that they flowered at all, but they do and here’s the kicker.
Flowers develop only on plants with two leaves!
Most plants have six to nine leaves.
There is also a rare pink form of mayapple.
And mayapple is edible.
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I have to tell you that when I took these next photos, I did not know that I was taking photos of living things.
“What are they?” I emailed the MDC.
I love the Missouri Department of Conservation!
“They look like black bean aphids to me,” Kristie replied.
The aphids that hatch in the spring are wingless females known as stem mothers and they can reproduce asexually, and give birth to live offspring.
Isn’t that fascinating!
Conner, asexual means they don’t need a mate.
Aphids suck the sap of a plant and out the other end comes honeydew.
Ants love honeydew!
Ants love honeydew so much that they take care of the aphids, even going so far as to remove the natural enemies of the aphid.
“Who are the enemies of the aphids?” you may wonder.
Ladybugs and assassin bugs — like the wheel bugs — eat them.
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Even though these two wildflowers look different, they are both buttercups.
There are twenty varieties of buttercups in Missouri.
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No clue.
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And lastly, blue-eyed grass.
Which made a beautiful desktop photo for me.
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