Bee Balm, Coneflowers but ... still no Monarchs

Our bee balm in our flower beds started blooming about a week ago and the wild bee balm I have collected and moved to our garden from our farm started blooming the last two days.  It is lavender and the blooms are not as showy ... but I like the color.  Bee balm from our flower bed below ...

Wild bee balm (Monarda) below ...

Also, our coneflowers are starting to bloom ... I will be able to get some good pictures of butterflies when they visit.  We still have many Great Spangled Fritillary and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails but, still Monarchs or larva in our milkweed patches.  However, we have had an abundance of bumblebees.

I have been able to get some good pictures of bumbles in the early morning just as the sun comes up.  It takes them a while to warm up and get active.  The one below is on slender mountain mint.

 We have started digging some of our potatoes.  The fingerling varieties are not ready but all others have several large potatoes per plant.  Nothing like new potatoes!  My garden fencing project is not finished and a deer had her way with some of our green bean plants.

Finally, our cat Bossy was promoted this week to water quality director and irrigation specialist.  Summer vacation is half over ... still a lot to do on the farm before I head back to a new A/B schedule.

Carolina buckthorn, oakleaf hydrangeas and sweat bees ...

This last week, a major nectar flow here is Carolina Buckthorn.  We have several found along the edge of the wooded areas.  There were thousand of bees (honeybees., bumblebees and many more) on them the times I checked over the last week.  The flowers are small (below) in clusters. Also blooming this week are milkweeds, bee balm, clover and coneflowers.

One of the flowers at our house blooming now are our oakleaf hydrangeas.  They produce a lot of pollen and have attracted many kinds of bees and other insects.

The wildflowers in our garden (and farm) are blooming ... below, a honeybee and bumblebee on butterfly plant (a milkweed).  Also a sweat bee (family Halictidae) on slender mountain mint.  No monarchs yet ...

Snapping turtle ... in the garage!

This week, I heard something moving around inside the garage, the garage doors were closed and it was late afternoon.  I thought it might be a raccoon since one was raiding our sunflower seed in the garage last week.  Instead, it was a common snapping turtle looking for a new home.  It was small with a shell about 9" long.  I saw a much larger version in our front field about a month ago.  We are about a quarter mile from any significant water so the little fellow was on a significant road trip.  I put him in a 5 gallon bucket and drove down the the boat dock on the Barren River to release him.  He seemed happy to be back in the water!

Great Spangled Fritillary

I have not spotted a Monarch yet but, several Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) on the now blooming common milkweed. (pictured below).

Common yarrow,  Achillea millefolium, is blooming now with white patches taking the place of field daisies which are in decline.  I am going to try and move some yarrow to our garden.  It is suppose to be a good companion plant in gardens.  Picture below is with a 4X magnification attachment lens.

Finally, our gardens are doing well.  I think we can dig a few potatoes this week.  I am hoping for corn by July 4th.

Dog or Cat?

Dogs are nice but, a cat to guard your asparagus ... priceless!

Milkweed starting to bloom but no Monarchs

We have several large colonies of milkweed on our farm ... partially a result of bush-hogging around the colonies the last four years and allowing them to grow and expand.  Most of these colonies have well over 100 plants.  One these colonies is in the small field behind our house.

The common milkweed is just beginning to flower this week.  With all the rain, the plants are robust with lots of large umbels (flower clusters).  The butterfly plants are a little further behind the common milkweed.

Although there is an abundance of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and dozens of Great Spangled Fritillary ... still no Monarchs or milkweed larva.  I will keep looking.

Last Tulip Poplar bloom of the season ...

Earlier this week, I was bush-hogging down in the Long Creek bottom and a large tulip poplar tree (in a fencerow) with a rare low branch allowed some pictures of tulip poplar bloom.  This week marked the end of the nectar flow from tulip poplars so our bees will have to move on to the clover.  All blooms were 2-3 inches across and nearly all were past their prime.  I did find one good bloom and the pictures are below.  It is rare here to find blooms close enough to the ground to get some pictures.  Most tulip poplar trees lose their lower limbs as they get larger.

Butterfly Weed Planting continues and a CC pict ...

This week, milkweed planting continues.  I replanted milkweed plugs into 806 containers.  I have had better luck with the milkweed plants since I have taken them out of the greenhouse.  When planting a pollinator oasis, I have primarily been planting butterfly weed, common milkweed, purple coneflower and bee balm.  Plug replanting picture below.

In addition to planting here and at school, Sue Neal and I went over to Joey and Catherine's to add to their wildflower patch ... just in time for the rain yesterday.  I have been scanning some pictures for a couple of summertime projects (thanks Rachel for letting me borrow your scanner! ... finally getting around to it.)  Below is a picture of our CC team about 1990 or 1991.  Joey is second to the right standing.  The boys pictured were on the first team to qualify for the state championship ... lots of years and miles gone by!