a bug looking at me.

a dragonfly.  I am happy my garden is the host to these guys since they are voracious predators of mosquitoes.

South  Berwick resident, 12 year old Noah Landis reports an encounter with  newts.  He sent in a report on these little creatures:

Eye of Newt!
I came across this red-spotted or eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) two weeks ago, after a heavy rainstorm on Squam Lake. This common newt begins its life as pond larvae. It sheds its gills, turns orange and develops dark spots during its terrestrial, juvenile stage (what you see here), when it is called a “red eft.” Adult eastern newts are olive green, and spend their life back in the pond. They always keep their spots. The red-spotted newt is the State Amphibian of New Hampshire.  —Noah Landis

Reader Wendy Pirsig sent in a photo of a caterpillar that she researched and identified as an Anise Swallowtail caterpillar.

Shortly after I received Wendy’s image I went into my garden and found nearly a dozen of the same caterpillars happily munching on a rue plant in my garden.  Since they were very absorbed in chewing I was able to get a portrait of one eating a plant stem.

What have you seen today?

a big froggy smile.

… a baby grasshopper sitting on a Stella D’oro Daylily

…a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers working on a dead tree near my house. I think this is the same two who have lived here for several years. We often hear their “woody woodpecker” call and the jackhammer sound they make on the trees. It is amazing to see them.

… an Easter Tiger Swallowtail.

…June busting out all over. Poppies, Siberian and German irises, wood anemones, peonies, salvia, nepeta are all in bloom.  What’s in your garden?

…a green frog sunning itself. This one is rather bold and lets me get very close. The tadpoles in the pond are now the size of small grapes and some have tiny back legs sprouting. If all goes well this guy will soon be joined by about a thousand little friends.

The Blue Flag Irises (Iris versicolor) are in bloom now. They are native New Englanders that grow in moist places. They came a little late this year but are now a mass of blossoms.

e

e

e

e 

Rain! Just a little but now I hear thunder. It is so dry, we need this. My lawn is like a dust bowl and I am having to spot water seedlings in my garden. Fire danger is very high.

This is for Pat R. who saw the first Lady Slipper in Vaughn Woods today. These are growing in an area of my yard that I used to struggle to make lawn-like. About ten years ago I noticed the leaves of a Lady Slipper while I was mowing. I decided to stop fighting against nature and let that area revert to woods. Now I only cut back the trees to keep the area in dappled sunlight. This year I was rewarded with fourteen Lady Slippers in a lovely natural garden with low bush blueberries, partridge berries, and a variety of ferns.

Here are the first tadpoles I’ve seen this year, hanging out on a submerged oak leaf. I noticed the eggs during that warm spell we had two weeks ago and have been watching them change from dots to commas and today I saw these guys. We have a small human-made pond by our house that is a frog paradise. We put it in about fifteen years ago and on the very first day we filled it with water, a frog came and took up residence. Now it is full of frogs. Sometimes in the summer we have to close our windows to watch television because the frogs are so loud.

What did you see today?