OniOniOniArt

I've been a little uneven since losing my sweet boy. He was always there for me,  and I hope I did all I could for him.  This manifests in the ability to be at times excited about some things that are happening in my life, but other times, especially when all is quiet, I cannot help but remember Maceo. It becomes inertia and a lack of energy. Needless to say I've fallen off the wagon completing the year-long art project I challenged myself to. I will pick it back up, at the very least to finish the Creative Sprint portion, in due time.  The photo above is from the Orlando Wetlands in Christmas, Florida, where I spent a few hours of my Saturday. It was a very good day for viewing animals and I saw my first dusky pygmy rattlesnake (a venomous critter) in the wild: Actually, there were two of them at different intervals along the same path. These are very small snakes, usually maxing out at two feet. You can see this one's tiny rattle, which is about hal...

Here is some anecdotal evidence in support of climate change...this plant should not be blooming. Gorgeous though!

Day 26 Create a frame using any materials. Take it with you wherever you go and use it to capture anything you view as beautiful. Zinnia in the Dirt Patch My frame is made from cardboard, cardstock, gold ink, and glue. The insects are ebony jewelwing damselflies. Sweetwater Park, Oviedo Oviedo Chickens at the Library Creek where it meets Lake Mills A couple of my neighbors Econlockhatchee River - in the backyard Small fern - in the backyard Maceo not cooperating ("WTH is this??") That'll do, cat, that'll do.

I received a division of this ground orchid from my friend AC over a year ago. She had purchased it from a bargain bin and up until this point, neither of us knew what the blooms looked like. What a pleasant surprise it turned out to be, I've not seen a ground orchid like it before. Doing a quick google search, it appears to be a Spathoglottis , from the Philippines.

So I've been neglecting the Dirt Patch during this period of wretched heat, no-see-ums, and thunderstorms, and it's become a bit overgrown. But who cares, I think it looks wild and lovely! Look at all the blooming zinnias! They took a long time to get going; I direct sowed them in early March and the first isolated bloom finally made an appearance at the end of June.  Believe it or not, now is the time to start sowing the winter seeds. In this miserable summer heat, it is difficult to contemplate that cold weather is even possible here (the lengthy FL summer is the main reason I want to flee to the north. Summer in small doses). I was very late getting the seeds started last year, and my winter garden took all season to grow into its own, only becoming full when the heat arrived and it was time to yank them out of the ground. I really have no excuse this year. The seeds are in the fridge, I have the soil, and miracles , I actually have the time. My biggest problem ...

Stokes blue aster This is the first time my garden has had this many blooming plants at one time since I began planting two years ago - hoorah! Almost all of the plants in the Dirt Patch were started as seeds or cuttings - lots of work and waiting finally paying off. And all with what I contend is some of the worst soil in the world ;) Echinacea Sunflower Dianthus African iris Besides these, the marigolds, Hawaiian blue eyes, a peachy-colored black-eyed Susan vine, day lilies, browallia, Mexican petunia, and blue bedder are all blooming as well. Still waiting on those ground orchids...

Broad-headed bug (Alydidae) nymph on blue bedder. There have been numerous Hemiptera nymphs in the Dirt Patch lately. I hope some of the adults stick around so I can get more photos. Above is a strange one- the nymph of the broad-headed bug is an ant mimic. It's a very good one, too, at first I thought it was a slightly larger than usual carpenter ant; then I got closer and thought...velvet ant? It's still strangely shaped for an ant...then I clearly saw its proboscis (visible in the photo above), and scrambled inside to get the camera. It moves very much like the larger species of ants do, very quick and alert. A few years ago I photographed an adult broad-headed bug on the work vehicle I was using for that day's field assignment (third below). nymph Adult broad-headed bug Leaf-footed bug (Coreidae) nymphs  Many Hemiptera nymphs congregate when they are newly hatched through one or two instars (molts). Safety in numbers! Though the br...

Arilus cristatus  nymph on devil's trumpet I really hope this juvenile assassin bug hangs around in my garden! This species is called a wheel bug because as an adult it has a structure on its pronotum ("back") that resembles part of a cogwheel. Adult wheel bug, photo courtesy of J

Phyllomydas parvulus , female  Thunderstorms are one of my favorite things about Florida and I am enjoying this last week's odd weather pattern: afternoon thunderstorms (typical of summer) in April. Glancing out the window at the Dirt Patch I noticed an interesting insect shape and quickly stumbled over myself to grab the camera and dart outside. Success! At a distance I thought, perhaps it is a sawfly (a relative of bees and wasps)...but then its Diptera (fly) characteristics became more apparent: one set of wings (the halteres are clearly visible above) and sucking mouthparts. This is a smaller species of Mydas fly. The female is brightly colored as seen here, and the male is a more uniform black. Prepops fraternus  While photographing the Mydas fly, this guy flew past me and into the palmetto. It is a species of plant bug in the family Miridae. Euthyrhynchus floridanus I am so glad I planted the onion last December - it has attracted all kinds of interest...

  Typocerus zebra on an onion flower They feed on pollen. This one is covered in it.  There was also this antlion larva uncharacteristically moving around outside of its sandy death trap. The larva inches backwards in jumpy erratic movements  The moment it touched sand it began forming a new funnel. "...the hell is she fussing over?" *sigh* "...humans" (Maceo: putting up with my nonsense).

 Alypia octomaculata This is the caterpillar of the eight-spotted forester moth which is a lovely furry black moth with white spots on its wings and fluffy orange "kneecaps". I've never actually seen the adults, which kind of made me wish I had a butterfly house to put this one into (I'd photograph the adult, then let it go). Someday perhaps. Their host plants are grape and Virginia creeper.

Bald-faced hornet ( Dolichovespula maculata ), chewing up the fence to build a paper nest Green metallic bee ( Augochloropsis sp ), emerging from her burrow

Newly hatched lubber grasshoppers ( Romalea guttatus ) in the Dirt Patch. Despite attaining a rather large size for a grasshopper (roughly 2.5 inches just in body length), they do little damage to garden foliage and so this invasion of hungry babies isn't quite so alarming to me. Also, they will disperse. The black and yellow/orange coloration of youth and later bright adult coloration serves as a warning of their toxicity; however if you're a loggerhead shrike you ignore this, impale your tasty grasshopper on a spike, and simply wait for the toxicity to degrade in a day or so.

I am excited to see some new blooms in the garden after the frost took out about a third of my plants! Calendula officinalis  'Zeolights' Dwarf Toadflax ( Linaria maroccana ) Dianthus amurensis 'Siberian Blue' - the anthers are sky blue at least Browallia americana -  growing where it's not supposed to, but it's pretty so I leave it alone. Vaccinium corymbosum - 'Sunshine Blue' Dwarf Blueberry I acquired the blueberry last year... whence I enjoyed a bountiful harvest of one whole blueberry. I'm hoping for a bit more this year.