Sunday, July 9, 2023
Tree Hugger
Tuesday, June 27, 2023
Comma Anglewing Butterfly
This is a Comma Anglewing butterfly, with it's lovely Shadow, on burdock. Anglewing butterflies are named for wing shape (the genus Polygonia means many angles). "Punctuation" anglewings include Comma (Polygonia comma) and Question Mark (P. interrogationis), both named for the tiny silver marking on hind wings' ventral surface (underside).
These butterflies, native to the eastern half of the U.S., are colored in burnt orange with dark brown blotches. Resting against tree bark with wings closed, they're virtually impossible to see. Ragged wing edges and cryptic brown/gray coloration on the underside make them look like a dead leaf or bark.
Here is the underside of the wings, so you can see the white comma.
My photographs are available for purchase through EliseCreations.netThanks for your visits, favs and comments. As always, appreciated very much!© all rights reserved by Elise T. Marks. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.
Monday, June 26, 2023
Teasel
My photographs are available for purchase through EliseCreations.netThanks for your visits, favs and comments. As always, appreciated very much!© all rights reserved by Elise T. Marks. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.
Disclaimer
My blog is meant to inform and I strive to be totally accurate. It is solely up to the reader to ensure proper plant identification. Some wild plants are poisonous or can have serious adverse health effects.
Saturday, June 24, 2023
Poppy Love
Monday, June 19, 2023
Happy Pollinator Week!
Bee On Clematis
Hover fly on Bush Honeysuckle
Hover fly, also called flower fly, or syrphid fly, resemble wasps or bees but do not bite or sting. The larvae of many hover flies are predatory on aphids, so I’m glad to see them in my garden.
Bumble Bee Pollinating Cup Plants
My photographs are available for purchase through EliseCreations.netThanks for your visits, favs and comments. As always, appreciated very much!© all rights reserved by Elise T. Marks. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.
Friday, June 16, 2023
Summer Farmhouse Beauty
at the Hudak Farm
My photographs are available for purchase through EliseCreations.netThanks for your visits, favs and comments. As always, appreciated very much!© all rights reserved by Elise T. Marks. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.
Monday, June 12, 2023
It's Peony Time
Peonies are native to Asia, Europe and Western North America.
About ants on Peony Flower buds: Many plant species have special glands on their stems that produce sugary secretions which attract ants. It's not just plants either. Insects such as aphids and leafhoppers famously excrete honeydew that ants can't resist. In each of these cases, organisms are using the ants' natural tendency to guard a food source. The ants will viciously attack anything that threatens this easy meal. Peonies are doing just that with their flower buds. By secreting a sugary substance during their development, the plant are likely recruiting ants to protect the flowers, which for angiosperms, are the most precious part of the plant. It takes a lot out of a plant to flower and the threat of herbivory is ever present. If an insect tries to take a bite out of a bud, the ants quickly swarm and drive it off. It's a win-win situation. The ants get an easy, high-energy food source and the plant suffers less damage to its reproductive organs.
Paeonia 'Coral Sunset' (Peony)