A FEW FLOWERS TODAY

 These photos were left over from our trip to Green Spring Gardens in October.  I remember being very pleasantly surprised that there were many still in bloom.  There were a lot of bees enjoying them also.

This one looked past its showy self but the bee didn't seem to mind.

The leaves are gone on this Royal Lily, but the remaining pods are very interesting.  I have never noticed them in this stage before.  Other names are Regal Lily, King's Lily, Christmas Lily and Trumpet Lily, with a botanical name Lilium regale.  It is a perennial plant known for its fragrant and large white trumpet flowers.  A prolific bloomer, it can produce up to 25 blossoms per stem.  

The next plant has always interested me.  It is a Crimson pitcherplant, also known as Purple trumpet-leaf and White pitcherplant to name two.  Its botanical name is Sarracenia leucophylla.

It is a carnivorous plant that feeds mostly on insects. It blooms in spring with nodding red flowers and tall pitcher-shaped leaves. Native to coastal Florida and Alabama, and commonly found growing in moist and low-nutrient pine savannas but can be grown in a container or bog garden.  

The bushes were full of bright red berries, and called Winterberry and has a lot of other names.  Some are Winterberry holly, Feverbark, Swamp winterberry, Virginia Winterberry, False Alder and Black Alder to name a few.  Its botanical name is Ilex verticillata, and is commonly grown in eastern gardens of the United States.

Next is the Zinnia, also known as Common zinnia, Elegant zinnia, Youth-and-Old Age and Wild Zinnia to name a few.  Its botanical name is Zinnia elegans.  The genus name Zinnia is also often used as its common name.  In fact, the name Zinnia is given to the plant in memory of the German botanist, Johann Gottfried Zinn.  

Next is the Globe amaranth, and other common names are Devil's clover, Red globe everlasting, Makhamali, Vadamalli, St. Francis' cord, Batchelor button and Thousand day red, to name a few. Botanical name Gomphrena globosa.  According to my plant app it is an edible flowering plant native to South America, and attracts insects including butterflies and bees.  

The bees were very active on this Blue anise sage.  Other names for the flower are Anise-scented sage, Salvia and Brazilian sage.  Botanical name Salvia guarantica.  

It is a flowering perennial that attracts bees, hummingbirds, butterflies and resists deer. Very common in gardens and easy to grow.

The bees drew my attention to this plant first.  All the other bees were busy flying from flower to flower, this one was very still. 

When I arrived, it was on its own and appeared to be asleep, remaining motionless even with all the activity around it for several minutes, and who knows how long before. The smaller bee eventually landed, and much to my surprise it was almost like it was harassing the bee. 

The smaller bee seemed to be trying to wake up the larger bee. Eventually it woke up and the smaller bee left. It would be interesting to talk to an expert.

I have other photos to share but will leave them for a while.

This sweet little flower was walking around the green with its human.  Hard to see the expression on Sweetie's face but they both seemed to be enjoying the exercise.

Thanks for stopping by 

and I hope your day is a great one!

GREEN SPRING GARDENS 10-1-23 CONTINUED...

 I was very happy to see the Monarch Butterflies on our last visit.  They seemed to like these orange flowers particularly.  They are Mexican Sunflowers and I will have more information about them in another post.  This time I am concentrating on the butterflies.  I haven't had any luck taking photos of butterflies this past summer. I haven't seen many at all, whether this was because of bad timing I'm not sure. I know they are another that has been put on the endangered list, and that is troubling. The following information came from this website.  I read: "Each Fall millions of monarch butterflies migrate to overwintering sites in Mexico and to a scattering of locations along the coast of California. In the spring monarchs return to breeding areas and the cycle begins again: a two-way migration that is one of the most spectacular on the planet. Yet, this migration appears to be declining. Some theories include: 

Loss of milkweed needed for monarch caterpillars to grow and develop, due to habitat conversion and adverse land management.

Drought conditions in California and other areas in the western U.S., resulting in lower milkweed biomass, and reduced availability of milkweed late in the summer.

Insecticide and herbicide use to control insects and weeds, with unintended consequences for monarchs.

Overwintering habitat loss and degradation in California, due to development within and adjacent to overwintering groves, and decay of overwintering trees as they age.  

Habitat loss in overwintering sites in Mexico due to illegal logging.”

There are suggestions on how we can help.

"The monarch migration occurs twice every year.  Nectar from flowers provides the fuel monarchs need to fly. If there are not any blooming plants to collect nectar from when the monarchs stop, they will not have any energy to continue. Planting monarch flowers that bloom when they will be passing will help the monarchs reach their destination. Creating more monarch habitat will help work to reverse their decline."

Plant milkweed! Monarch caterpillars need milkweed to grow and develop. There are 100 milkweed species that are native to North America, many of which are used by monarchs. To learn which species to plant in your region, and how to plant them, visit Bring Back the Monarchs Campaign (click on their name will take you to their website.

Plant butterfly nectar plants! Monarchs need nectar to provide energy as they breed, for their migratory journey, and to build reserves for the long winter.  Include butterfly plants in your garden and avoid using pesticides.

If you click on this link you will be able to download the free Monarch Plant List in PDF format.

From this link I read: 

The adult monarch butterfly typically only lives for a few weeks, unless it is lucky enough to be the last generation born in late August. The last generation is the migratory generation and can delay reproduction to live 8-9 months. They migrate south to warmer weather, because monarchs cannot survive Midwest winters. These migratory monarchs must make the journey to their overwintering grounds in central Mexico. For Nebraska monarchs, that means a 1,500 mile one-way trip; but for some Canadian monarchs, it can be over 3,000 miles!" The information on this website is from The Nebraska Games and Parks, on which you can read a lot more information. 

The explanation/photos on the difference between the male and female monarch, came from this website.

  In the next photo you will see the orange-red and black insect which is a milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus. It feeds on the seeds, leaves and stems of milkweed (Asclepias). It is found in small groups on milkweed often on the stems, leaves and on the seed pods. The bodies of milkweed bugs contain toxic compounds derived from the sap which they suck from milkweed. Milkweed bugs are true bugs (Hemiptera). Milkweed bugs are more of a nuisance than a threat to milkweed plants. They feed on the seeds by piercing the seed pod and can be found in all stages of growth on the plants in mid to late summer.In the above photo we found these milkweed plants at the garden. There is a great link here explaining all about the milkweed.  In the photo above you can see several milkweed plants. These were taken at another time when visiting Big Meadows on Skyline Drive.

Lastly but most definitely not least, I remember seeing one of Debbie's posts from 'It's All About Purple.' She was giving Monarchs a safe haven, allowing them to go through their life stages until they could be released. You can see her post here.  You can do a search on Monarchs at her blog. She has taken the most beautiful photos of them.

There will be more photos from Green Spring Gardens in a future post. I am spacing them out a bit, so as not to overload on photos.

GREEN SPRING GARDENS 10-1-23 CONTINUED...

This tree welcomes you as you walk up the path on the far-left side of the parking lot. It is a magnificent tree.

Thomas Jefferson, the United States' third president, loved the Willow Oak.  It was his favorite tree. It is a native of Eurasia but is also cultivated in North America and Australia.  On average they can grow to a height of 60 to 70 feet but have been known to grow as high as 120 feet. 

You will find them from New York south to Florida, west to Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. It can look like a pyramid when young and it becomes rounder as it matures. An individual tree produces both male flowers (catkins) and female flowers.  The catkins represent an important spring food source for gray squirrels and many other animals.  Fruit from the fertilized female flowers are the familiar acorns that on the white oak mature after a single season.  These acorns (which are produced in abundance only every four to ten years) are readily eaten by many species of birds and mammals.  The gray squirrel is particularly fond of white oak acorns and is very important in both their dispersal and their planting.  Deer, grey squirrels, flying squirrels, chipmunks, turkeys, blue jays, red-headed woodpeckers and probably a few other critters I haven't read about, are very well taken care of by the White Oak. My information came from here and here.

You can read more about the tree at this link also.  The squirrel looks very comfortable on his perch.  I wonder if this is the same one our corgi friend was interested in from my previous post. We weren't very far away from our original sighting.

The White Oak is a hop, skip and a jump from the old house, which you can see on the left of my first picture.  I have shared this house many times during the lifetime of this blog.  If I had a dream house, this would be it.

There are several flowers planted in their front garden bed, and the geraniums in planters at each side of the steps.  

My favorites are the anemones.  

There are several types and colors.  The ones I share here are the pink and white, called the Grape leaf anemone, botanical name Eriocapitella vitifolia.  

It is also called the Grape-leafed windflower, because "Anemone" comes from the Greek word "Anemoi", which means "winds".  It originated in the Himalayas, is a perennial and belongs to the buttercup family.

We always enjoy checking out the produce garden, which is usually locked up behind a see-thru fence.  They grow their food and donate to the local food banks.  There is another garden we go to that does the same thing.

2,028 lbs. of food is amazing!  Here is a list of all that is grown and given away.  I applaud them greatly for doing this.

All for today!  I will have another post put together soon.

Thanks for looking and 

I hope your day is a great one.