A mother's love

Yesterday, I spotted this ground crab spider and her egg sac on a black-eyed Susan. Then I peered closer. Some of her spiderlings had already emerged! I also noticed that, when I moved, she'd turn and stretch out her front legs toward me, as if to scare me. I could sense that she wanted me to know that she was NOT going to let me hurt her little ones. Or ELSE! Some spider mamas are just amazing.

 

Blue fingers and parralena

Yesterday, I was kindly invited to attend a Texas Master Gardener meeting at the dyeing and weaving studio of Deb McClintock. At her home north of the Pedernales River, Deb collects plants, lichens, acorns, galls and other ingredients from nature to create beautiful dyes and pigments. During her program, she had us crush leaves from her Japanese indigo in our fingers. At first, I just had a green mushy mess between my thumb and fingers. Then, like magic, the green turned to BLUE! And stayed blue on my hand the rest of the day. Fun!

Before we left Deb's home, I noticed a pretty clump of parralena (Thymophylla pentachaeta) growing by the parking area. When I asked, she said, sure, I could collect some seeds. So I did! The reason why I was happy to get some is because one lone parralena used to grow alongside the street in our front yard. I posted my find in June 2014 and  October 2016. For protection, I put rocks around the parralena. But, sadly, the rocks fell away, and the plant disappeared. 

Before supper yesterday, the skies turned dark. REAL dark. I just KNEW it was gonna rain! So I grabbed my envelope of parralena seeds and headed for the Meadow. I figured it'd be a great time to spread them. Which I did. But alas, the storm split and went around us. Darn. Maybe another late afternoon shower will pop up and wash the seeds into the soil. But that's completely up to Mother Nature.

Indigo fingers!

Portraits with six legs

Giant robber fly (Promachus hinei)

California warrior beetle (Pasimachus californicus)

Snowberry clearwing (Hemaris diffinis)

Put 'em up, buster

Ever wonder how some things get their name? This evening, James and I learned firsthand how this little critter–a glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis)–got its common name of sharpshooter. Take a look at these videos that I took: 

According to Bugguide.net, the family's name of sharpshooters (Cicadellinae) "refers to their habit of forcing excess water droplets out of the tip of the abdomen with an audible popping noise." See another video of the behavior here. What do you think about THAT? As usual, I was AMAZED!

UPDATE: Thank you, Carrie M., for sending me this article: "How some insects fling their pee." 

Happy discovery!

April 19, 2021

In April, I posted a "Taking roll call" list of plants that hadn't yet come back after our rough February weather. Thankfully, we only lost a few. As for our Texas ebony (Ebenopsis ebano), I'd about given up on it. No green buds appeared on its thorny branches. But I kept thinking, It's got to have a good root system because it's several years old (we planted in April 2015).

Well, GUESS WHAT?!

Yes, YOU GUESSED IT!

Yesterday, I leaned over for a closer look and spotted GREEN SHOOTS coming up from the base! Our Texas ebony is ALIVE! After all this time! O Happy Day!

Wet, wet, WET!

By this time of year, the Meadow has turned a crispy brown, and James has it mowed before July Fourth. But not this summer! July Fourth yesterday brought four rain showers and temps in the mid 80s. Can you believe it? Our gardens are like JUNGLES. I am SO outnumbered. Plus, I'm afraid I'm getting VERY spoiled! This is like PARADISE! Thank you, Lord!

Look, a firefly?

 Look, a firefly, I told myself as I was passing the plateau goldeneye yesterday in our back yard. But darn it, the insect flew away. I was VERY disappointed. Then another one (or the same one) landed on a goldeneye leaf that was within easy reach. Bingo–I snapped at least five photos and shared my observation with iNaturalist. Later, I was looking at the photos. Hmm, those antennae sure were long. Longer than what a firefly has… 

In the meantime, someone on iNaturalist IDed my “firefly”–Dylobolus rotundicollis (Mecas rotundicollis on Bugguide.net), a firefly-mimicking longhorn beetle! This beetle even has a luminescent-mimicking abdomen. It’s believed that the larvae feed on the roots and stems of asters and other members of Asteraceae. Like plateau goldeneye in our yard. Amazing!